Have we taken a wrong turn?
By John Dickinson on 6th Sep 07
Judging by the number of complaints about tracks and promoters etc., we wonder if it's part of modern life, or have we, somewhere in the past, missed the point?
ONE thing that we are good at in the T+MX officeis handling complaints and criticism - at least we ought to be good atit as plenty comes our way! Not always about ourselves I hasten to add,although we naturally get our fair share of stick, just the sport ingeneral as a rule.
Now I don't know whether it is just the pressureof modern day life, or if our expectations have changed or what, butpeople seem ever more eager to jump out of the blocks and have a realgo at promoters, events, the tracks, the races, the toilets, thecamping and anything else you can think of - not forgetting the sheerCOST of it all. I suspect that the latter is the real problem, it justgets masked behind a fog of excuses.
Take the recent British GP at Donington Park.Never in the history of T+MX have we had so many complaints aboutvirtually every aspect of the event. Some of our correspondents appearto have already had their list of complaints pre-loaded and immediatelyafter the event, vented their spleen on anyone who would listen.
Are things really that bad?
Maybe it's because I have been around for a longtime but I actually have very low expectations. It is not often thatsomething is so bad that I get really worked-up about it. When I go toa motorcycle event whether it is a motocross, trial, road race,hill-climb or whatever the event is, all that interests me. I go towatch the bikes, the riders, the racing and to talk with anyone whowants to pass the time of day. End of. Things like shower-blocks, tradestands, food stalls and all the trivia and hoo-ha that surrounds modernevents I can live without.
Of course, professionalism dictates that we haveto have all the whistles and bells, but does it ultimately make forbetter events? Was the 2007 Donington MXGP better than the 1959 500GPat Hawkstone Park. I barely remember the latter, as I was about sevenyears old at the time but back then you turned up, paid on the gate,bought a programme and enjoyed the racing. During the interval youbroke out the sandwiches and flasks and that was that. The localmotorcycle club ran a coach to Hawkstone way back when and the peoplewho went on it talked about the day for the rest of their lives.
Sure, life was more simple then and you can't stopprogress but, somewhere along the line, we must have made a wrongturning. At least if the number of complaints received is anything togo by.
Maybe it is just a British thing! If you takeMotoGP as a comparison, the specialist road racing press appear to bereceiving a similar in-crease in reader's criticism, mainly along thesame lines. More and more fans are claiming that they get a much betterdeal abroad at Continental GPs than they do in in Britain.
Some people like to make comparisons between thecost of going to a football match or a stadium concert to that of amajor motocross. I'm not a big fan of that method although I can seewhere they are coming from.
My problem is, these events are priced on whatthey estimate the fans will pay - not on what an event actually coststo stage. This is a crucial point. I have never heard anyone,irrespective of what they have paid, complain about the cost ofwatching Bruce Springsteen or Green Day or Girls Aloud or whoever. Youpay up. You go to see them. You go home.
One problem with big-time motocross is that we areall far too close to it, too involved. Because of this we can't helpputting a price on everything from the cost of entry, through theprogramme, the burgers, the tee-shirts, etc, etc.
Yes, its only natural, but it gets out of control and starts to spoil the fun.
I'm not for a second suggesting that everything isrosy and that the poor promoters are getting a raw deal. Sometimes theyare guilty of cutting corners and sometimes they do push the prices outof the comfort zone. But if the racing lives up to the expectations -and one thing we are entitled to is a good track and good racing - thatshould be enough.
One thing is certain, nothing is going to change in a hurry...