Benefits of Being a Pro?

I'm sorry I didn't know you qualified for a National. And you liked the timed practices? How did you end up? Oh, by the way that 5 min. You can't even jump anything. You roll around the track for two laps. You can't check anything out.
 
Had some more thoughts I would like to put out there. For 10 years Chris was told you can't win practice. Practice is just that practice. You check lines, track conditions, time jumps ect. Now you go to your National. You are at a strange track with 45 plus other riders and are expected to put it balls to the wall to get a fast lap time. Remember you are going to be in B practice so you are going to get the crummiest track to do this on. Did you know that only 1-2 riders even qualify out of the B practice. You are only there to help pay that purse money! They don't care about you. They don't care if this is safe, they only cater to the top 15 to 20 riders. They not ony get the best track they can also get in on provision. If they are a top 10 rider and have problems qualifying they can bump you out even if you had the lap time to get in.
So guys when one of our local boys does make a pro program they deserve all the praise and props you can give them. They deserve it.
 
I think that the "simple math" comment was directed at the error in the calculations. 90 x 200 = 18,000 for 2 classes = 36,000. But many local races offer 200% or 300% Pro purse meaning the track will match the entry fees by doubling or tripling. If you have 18,000 per class from the riders, and the promoter gives 300% payout, you are looking at splitting 44,000 for each class. That gives enough to pay a decent amount back through 40th place for making the show. Say $500 for 40th and on up little by little from there......

No matter how you look at it, the riders are getting screwed.

And FMX is different sure, but the concept is the same. Riders make the event that people are paying to see, they shouldn't have to pay to get in, and should be paid like any other sport.
 
They accept 90 entries in each class. They then qualify down to a 40 man gate. Was my math wrong or are you just trying confuse me. I'm a blonde so I guess that would be easy.
 
Footlogicracing, you seem to be totally upset racing the Nationals. I understand it, but NO ONE is making you do it. Maybe you should take up wednesday night softball or something if it pisses you off so much. I do not disagree with what your saying, but why do you do it then? Cherry pick the best paying local races in a three state area, along with the best paying arenacrosses and you will have way less expenses and make more money.
 
John250 said:
Footlogicracing, you seem to be totally upset racing the Nationals. I understand it, but NO ONE is making you do it. Maybe you should take up wednesday night softball or something if it pisses you off so much. I do not disagree with what your saying, but why do you do it then? Cherry pick the best paying local races in a three state area, along with the best paying arenacrosses and you will have way less expenses and make more money.
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I don't think chris has done any this year and has only tried a select few in the past.
 
I think if FMX paid out like say, the NBA per event, we would all be hucking ourselves over kicker ramps and hoping for a miracle lol... At least I know I would!
 
So if you were pro, what kind of benefits would you expect other than discounts and free practices? My thoughts are the guys who normally make it to that level probably have their own track in their back yard.
 
footlogicracing said:
I'm sorry I didn't know you qualified for a National. And you liked the timed practices? How did you end up? Oh, by the way that 5 min. You can't even jump anything. You roll around the track for two laps. You can't check anything out.
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If this was directed at me I kind of took the work for a living route and gave up on an un-obtainable dream. Now I get to ride for fun and enjoy my bikes. They don't have to be worth a ton money.

Not sure if you read my post wrong but I said timed practice ain't bad, it's the 5 free minutes that sucks. They need to be able to have a happy hour like NASCAR to get dialed in. Not 5 free and 15 timed. 8 laps out of nowhere without stopping to qualify is punishment for being a privateer.
 
Get rid of timed pratice. No one qualifies without riding a qualifier.......big boy goes down, sorry about his luck. This is racing! Race your way into the show! Pipe dream of mine but I have always believed whoever shows up should be allowed to sign up (with a pro license) if we have qualifiers run them in the morning, and go racing in the motos! Never happen, but if I were Zar...
 
George I really don't know you well enough to know if you ever did the National scene or not. Yes I am angry. I hate to see the injustice of it all. Ryan Hughes wrote an article about how dangerous the qualifying is so I am not alone in my thinking. This was not our first rodeo in regards to pro racing. My son was an expert dirt (flat) tracker. They had to run qualifying times but they had the track to themselves they didn't go out there with 20 other riders (20 riders went to the gate). We quit the sport when AMA went to bed with Harley and in one seasons time they cut out the 600 support class and you had to have an 883 harley. A heavy ill handling bike not really suited for what they were doing. They also allowed first year pro ams in that class, so it was like putting C riders in with A class. Again, they did not care about rider safety. If you all have not figured it out yet I am for safety first.
We haven't gone to any Nationals this year and didn't even renew Chris's lisence.
 
Didn't they used to race qualifiers the day before a National? Now instead they have amateur racing. More money for them? I understood they changed it for TV coverage. If you are registered for the National you can't race the day before in A class you can stay and race the next day. I don't know what the answer to the problem is. I know when we flat tracked you ran times for gate pick in qualifying heats. Not all made it into the heats but you didn't get there on your qualifying time alone. And again you had the track to yourself for your times and you could wave off and take a second shot at it.
 
Yea they used to run qualifiers in the morning on Saturday evenings and maybe Sunda mornings?Not quite sure but i think top 10 in points didn't have to run those races. Top 10 were mostly factory right? Or did they have some sort of provisional start to use? They always have the edge.

I do remember watching qualifying races when I was younger at HP and steel city.
 
Yes they use to run qualifiers. I remember going to steel city not to long ago and they would run qualifiers all day sat. Amateur day was usually on Friday. In my opinion as a spectator this route was way more fun. If you wanted to go both days there was plenty of racing on sat. and you could cheer for a local pro trying to get into the show.
 
Lotts24 said:
Yes they use to run qualifiers. I remember going to steel city not to long ago and they would run qualifiers all day sat. Amateur day was usually on Friday. In my opinion as a spectator this route was way more fun. If you wanted to go both days there was plenty of racing on sat. and you could cheer for a local pro trying to get into the show.
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I tried my hand at the nationals from 04 to 09 and once they started with the timed practice I was done for. I could never get amped up for practice. Steve Whitelock started the whole timed practice because the GP`s were doing it. Well, they went back to the race qualifiers last year. For example, Scott Metz has never tried a national since timed practice started because it`s just hard to clean a guy out when it`s just practice. I loved it when it was race qualifiers and I would re-new my license tomorrow if they brought them back. It would be worth every penny. Sellards, Pape, Johnson, Metz and a crap load of other guys would too I bet. Thanks to MX213 for not charging riders gate fees and Chillitown mx for giving the first 10 Pro riders free sign up!!!
 
I am glad to see there are others out there who would rather see them race to the program. At least then you get to race instead paying all that money for basically 25 min of practice. When Chris was trying to qualify he had good consistant race times but no go for qualifying. Larry talked to one pro who told him they had to learn to qualify. It kind of crummy too that you have be there early Fri. morning (which gets kind of crazy at some of the tracks because you have amatuer racing going on) to get your spot in the pits, go through tech and then sit all day long.
 
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