TimSr90
PR Addict
Since another very long thread has gotten off track by addressing this topic, which is really unrelated and a separate issue, I thought I’d start a new thread. Hopefully it can be positive and provide some useful feedback for those who truly would like to tap into this market.
I keep hearing that "quad riders don’t support MX", and dismiss it as a lost cause. I don't think it’s quite that simple. I look at it as being related to the question of why rider turnout in general has declined. We all know of the economic reasons, but is general interest in the sport declining as well? I have said many times that I believe we are content to keep competing for a shrinking pool of racers, as opposed to making a serious effort to convert recreation riders into racers, and expand that pool. I think there are a lot of people out there who would be instantly hooked on racing and track riding if they ever tried it, but we concentrate more on luring riders from other tracks.
It is easier to understand the failure to build good quad turnouts if we are trying to get them from the existing pool, as it is much smaller than the bike pool. They are a relatively new market for most tracks, so the problems with competition for the existing small pool of quad racers is much more obvious. This failure to expand the racer pool is the cause of declining bike turnouts as well. We focus on how we can get all the existing racers at our track as opposed to how we can create new ones.
I can't help but think of the tobacco industry that I've seen decline in my lifetime. Not that I’m a tobacco fan, but it’s a prime example of what happens in a market place where we have a very strong industry that relies on competing for the same customers who have always been around, without a serious effort to create new addicts to their product. Old smokers die, and we do not create new ones to take their place. The difference between the tobacco and MX markets is that with tobacco, the results were intended.
I keep hearing that "quad riders don’t support MX", and dismiss it as a lost cause. I don't think it’s quite that simple. I look at it as being related to the question of why rider turnout in general has declined. We all know of the economic reasons, but is general interest in the sport declining as well? I have said many times that I believe we are content to keep competing for a shrinking pool of racers, as opposed to making a serious effort to convert recreation riders into racers, and expand that pool. I think there are a lot of people out there who would be instantly hooked on racing and track riding if they ever tried it, but we concentrate more on luring riders from other tracks.
It is easier to understand the failure to build good quad turnouts if we are trying to get them from the existing pool, as it is much smaller than the bike pool. They are a relatively new market for most tracks, so the problems with competition for the existing small pool of quad racers is much more obvious. This failure to expand the racer pool is the cause of declining bike turnouts as well. We focus on how we can get all the existing racers at our track as opposed to how we can create new ones.
I can't help but think of the tobacco industry that I've seen decline in my lifetime. Not that I’m a tobacco fan, but it’s a prime example of what happens in a market place where we have a very strong industry that relies on competing for the same customers who have always been around, without a serious effort to create new addicts to their product. Old smokers die, and we do not create new ones to take their place. The difference between the tobacco and MX markets is that with tobacco, the results were intended.
