The rise & fall of motocross in America
Updated: Oct 26, 2021
Written pre Corona pandemic...
The sport of Motocross became wildly popular in America in the 1970's, it has had some ups and downs over the years in popularity and participation over the years.
For the past 20 years there has been a decline in the number of participants and new bike sales are way down compared to the 1970's. This has been talked about for years and more recently is talked about daily among core fans of the sport in online forums, and all around the industry, it's a lot more fun to have more people that share your passion to ride with.
And as a racer its more fun to get 15th place on a gate of 40 riders than it is to get 2nd place on a gate of 5 riders, lately your more likely to find the latter at the grassroots level. It seems like new people are just not joining the sport anymore.
The sport of motocross needs to have money coming in to keep businesses involved and to be able to pay pro racers to do what they do, it's a tough time in the sport right now for some riders struggling to get sponsors, for some it's a struggle just to afford to get to the races. You wouldn't expect that at the pro level in America. We live in the richest country in the world. There are 30 million businesses in the United States, most other things have recovered from the 2008 recession, it seems like the sport of motocross never did.
I believe that the people in the industry need to find a way to unite and come together, we need to work together and combine our resources for the better of the sport if we want to see the sport we love thrive again.
I am putting together a plan to try to make that happen, I absolutely believe that there are things that can be done I have been watching this unfold for years and no one is stepping up to work on it. Lets stop watching our sport struggle and put our heads and our resources together and start working on it,
As a hard core motocross fan for many years, I have always thought someone was gonna do something to fix the problems, I have thought that somebody somewhere at least has to at least be working on it whether that be someone at the AMA or MIC or maybe someone with a lot of clout in the sport.
I've always thought someone is going to figure something out that will get the gates filling back up again.
However for years it's still been declining, we keep seeing less and less people at the grassroots level, are we all gonna stand by and do nothing and just watch the sport we are passionate about die? If we want it to grow we need to start somewhere.
I have personally been an enthusiast of motocross since the early 1990's. I follow the sport very closely in person and online.
These days the only people at the grassroots level races are people that have raced in the past and their children, as opposed to new people that have not had any connection to the sport in the past.
So I started doing research a lot of research! And I now believe that The AMA and MIC which both work with all types of motorcycles, motorcycling and all types of motorcycle racing, are just to broad to tackle this problem.
Additionally I believe that the other people in the industry that would be capable of making a difference are just to busy with the businesses they are running to put in the time it would take to make a difference.
I lived in just the right era to see everything that changed over the years that it started declining and got to see how it unfolded as it happened.
Things like Changes to the tracks and land use in general, and environmentalists and laws, how the sport evolved, and how the bikes evolved, and how inflation and recession played a role.
I Believe that to fully appreciate even watching pro MX/SX racing you need to have ridden a dirt bike at some point in your life.
I have always been entrepreneurial, and I've always wanted to work in the Motocross industry. So I set out thinking how can I start a business that allows me to work in the industry and allows me to advocate for the sport?
And I think I have come up with a lot more than I originally set out looking for, I now believe I have ideas that will help the whole sport grow and the whole industry flourish.
