Superior Speedway?
SUPERIOR SPEEDWAY?
WHERE IS AMERICAN motorcycle roadracing going? Where can it go might be a better question.
We’re all delighted that new racetracks are being built.
These include Pennsylvania’s Rausch Creek, Barber’s new track near Birmingham, Alabama, Carolina Motorsports Park and now, the new 2.88mile road course being added to Roger Penskeowned California Speedway. New tracks are a Good Thing.
Unfortunately, motorcycles and NASCAR have different needs. Formula One has worked a revolution in Europe-the adoption of wide gravel traps that also happen to be motorcycle-friendly.
Here, speedways are concrete-walled ovals, later modified for other kinds of racing. The fit with motorcycles is less good.
Traditional race promoters are “grandstand” fixated. They want races to be like hit movies-you stand in line, buy a ticket, sit through the presentation and leave. Bike fans want more-look at Daytona’s mostly empty stands. They want to tour the track, spectating from a variety
of vantage points. They want to see the equipment and meet the racers. They prefer events that, like Laguna Seca, are more like rock festivals, with commercial malls and a pageant atmosphere. There have to be reasons why in Southern California, with its vaunted motor culture so close by, bike racing has found only marginal success at
places like the old Ontario Motor Speedway, Riverside, Willow Springs and the parking lot at the Pomona Fairplex.
Is profit possible? Laguna’s recent 91,000 three-day attendance says yes, but at other tracks the accommodation of motorcycling’s particular needs is a fog that’s yet to clear. Will grandstand fixation doom some to failure?
Will safety issues continue to rankle, possibly ending traditions at Daytona and Loudon?
Good prospects for growth are a real incentive to tackle these problems. AMA Pro Racing has had recent talks with California Speedway. That track’s twin, Michigan International Speedway, was once deemed unsuitable for motorcycles. In Europe,
the money that builds racetracks is seeking F-l dates, and that has proved workable. In the U.S., NASCAR is the money mint that attracts promoters. That accommodation is still in process.
Kevin Cameron
