It seems the down turn in MX is nation wide.

hershey said:
From Vital MX

http://www.vitalmx.com/forums/Moto-Related,20/Vital-MX-track-advocates,1289431


What are your thoughts? Also, its nice to see a few people on there willing to try and help tracks across the country do better.
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All the Ohio tracks started the turndown and are the culprit. Daggon tracks running practice and races the same weekend, making the jumps too big, not all having online sign-up, etc. Geesh... ;)

Kidding there. I'll need to read the thread on Vital when I get time. Makes sense it's a national issue more so than an Ohio issue. Would be curious to see the numbers on Ohio AMA, OMA, etc. registrations, etc. What are the numbers for practice? Are more folks just going to the practice tracks vs. racing these days or are there just less peeps riding period? I know most of my friends think it's too dangerous. Of course they are non riders mostly and I haven't done the sport any justice in their eyes with all the injuries I've had, but anyway...

I know my brother-in-law and his familia who got me going at a young age quit riding long ago...
 
Where is MX racing down? Everything from the AMA motocross racing perspective is up. The amount of racers is up (from when it bottomed out in 2012), average entries per event are on a three year high point and getting better at AMA events.

That being said, average amount of races a racer attends a year is down. But we see promoters holding less races, so that could contribute somewhat to that lower average. I recognize that tracks going out of business is not good for anyone but it's a business, I like to say, "not survival of the fittest, survival of the best customer service."

The only thing that is lower is racer's attitudes about the sport, cheer up things are trending in the right direction...especially here in Ohio.
 
Alex186 said:
Where is MX racing down? Everything from the AMA motocross racing perspective is up. The amount of racers is up (from when it bottomed out in 2012), average entries per event are on a three year high point and getting better at AMA events.

That being said, average amount of races a racer attends a year is down. But we see promoters holding less races, so that could contribute somewhat to that lower average. I recognize that tracks going out of business is not good for anyone but it's a business, I like to say, "not survival of the fittest, survival of the best customer service."

The only thing that is lower is racer's attitudes about the sport, cheer up things are trending in the right direction...especially here in Ohio.
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Where are these numbers listed for review? LL numbers are up from what I have seen but other than that the numbers look pretty bad locally. If track owners are telling you turnouts are down thats a pretty good indication the numbers are down. I whole heartedly agree with your quote "not survival of the fittest, survival of the best customer service." Something many track owners dont understand in its entirety.

Did you read the Vital stuff? It seems that tracks across the country have the same input we do here, to many classes, not enough seat time ( together meaning too long of a day) and too expensive. I think the tracks that learn NEW ways to address these problems will be the tracks that see substantial returns on their efforts.
 
Alex186 said:
Where is MX racing down? Everything from the AMA motocross racing perspective is up. The amount of racers is up (from when it bottomed out in 2012), average entries per event are on a three year high point and getting better at AMA events.

That being said, average amount of races a racer attends a year is down. But we see promoters holding less races, so that could contribute somewhat to that lower average. I recognize that tracks going out of business is not good for anyone but it's a business, I like to say, "not survival of the fittest, survival of the best customer service."

The only thing that is lower is racer's attitudes about the sport, cheer up things are trending in the right direction...especially here in Ohio.
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Alex,

I hate to beat on you, but what are you talking about. I know two great promoters locally that are talking about not even having any races next year because of the low attendance. Great tracks, just low attendance. I'm a life member of the AMA and with that attitude it make me want to burn it.
 
hershey said:
Where are these numbers listed for review? LL numbers are up from what I have seen but other than that the numbers look pretty bad locally. If track owners are telling you turnouts are down thats a pretty good indication the numbers are down.
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Either you or I did not read Alex's response correctly. He didn't say the turnouts are down, just the # of races a racer attends are. In Ohio, thinking that means no fair series from St. Patty's Day to Halloween.... ;)
 
I chalk this up to one of the big negatives of the internet. I've been around the sport my whole life, I've seen tracks come and go, happens all the time. Now that everyone is connected, we get overwhelmed with all this negative news of tracks closing. Then we immediately think the sport is declining.

Well, I'm looking at real numbers based off actual results files from every AMA promoter in the country, those numbers show a positive trend upward in participation... at least at the one thousand Motocross events we sanction a year. I was talking with a representative of a OEM, bike sales are increasing. Now these numbers aren't where they were in the mid-90's, but no industry/economy is what is was in the 90's (for the except of electronic/handheld devices).

Keep in mind, building and running a race/practice track, if you're trying to make money, it is a business decision. People make bad business decisions like building a MX tracks away from any population, investing money in their facility inaccurately, bad customer service, not willing to adapt with the changing market, unwilling to partner and work with others. Your right, great tracks go out of business, but good business owners don't.

Please take one thing away from my comment... participation in AMA motocross events is up and it's rising...
 
I have seen the same steady practice numbers for about 6-7 of our 10 years of being open. I have not seen a decline in riding. And our race numbers have increased significantly since 2007.
 
I want to add two more business mistakes MX Track owner do the most (and no it's not track prep). They don't know how to give real value to their customer and they don't know how to market themselves.
 
CTMX has figured that one out. I still wish OMA would maybe run a three race series, Malvern, BC, and CTMX, with a totally different class structure. Just to give it a try.
 
BriarcliffMx said:
I have seen the same steady practice numbers for about 6-7 of our 10 years of being open. I have not seen a decline in riding. And our race numbers have increased significantly since 2007.
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That's because I hear you have the best track on the planet.
 
Scoob said:
All the Ohio tracks started the turndown and are the culprit. Daggon tracks running practice and races the same weekend, making the jumps too big, not all having online sign-up, etc. Geesh... ;)

Kidding there. I'll need to read the thread on Vital when I get time. Makes sense it's a national issue more so than an Ohio issue. Would be curious to see the numbers on Ohio AMA, OMA, etc. registrations, etc. What are the numbers for practice? Are more folks just going to the practice tracks vs. racing these days or are there just less peeps riding period? I know most of my friends think it's too dangerous. Of course they are non riders mostly and I haven't done the sport any justice in their eyes with all the injuries I've had, but anyway...

I know my brother-in-law and his familia who got me going at a young age quit riding long ago...
Click to expand...
We are now all dumber cause we read that.

I didn't read anything or know what I am talking about but can we talk about the price of tea in china?
 
Original44 said:
Alex,

I hate to beat on you, but what are you talking about. I know two great promoters locally that are talking about not even having any races next year because of the low attendance. Great tracks, just low attendance. I'm a life member of the AMA and with that attitude it make me want to burn it.
Click to expand...

Remember, it's the AMA saying this.
 
Alex186 said:
Where is MX racing down? Everything from the AMA motocross racing perspective is up. The amount of racers is up (from when it bottomed out in 2012), average entries per event are on a three year high point and getting better at AMA events.

That being said, average amount of races a racer attends a year is down. But we see promoters holding less races, so that could contribute somewhat to that lower average. I recognize that tracks going out of business is not good for anyone but it's a business, I like to say, "not survival of the fittest, survival of the best customer service."

The only thing that is lower is racer's attitudes about the sport, cheer up things are trending in the right direction...especially here in Ohio.
Click to expand...

RacerX said in a two part article that numbers are down. They even ask how to fix the problems.
Who would of thought they were clueless as well.
 
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