Dirt-Track Is Not Dead... It Was Kidnapped
Dirt-Track is Not Dead... It Was Kidnapped
BIKES AT THE BRICKYARD
Three-time national champion Chris Carr says the slump is over
ALLAN GIRDLER
WHEN THE POWERS BEHIND M0TOGP INCLUDED a dirt-track mile race in last year's inaugural running of the Indianapolis GP, it was assumed the event was a warm fuzzy, a nod to the past in contrast to the technical wizardry of the future. Imagine the surprise in all quarters when first, the fairground stands were packed, then the newcomers from home and abroad were dazzled by the speed, skill and closeness of the racing, followed by the GP losing a fight with Mother Nature.
For the sport’s next trick, says Chris Carr, who won that fierce race last year and plans to repeat in 2009, dirt-track isn’t just surviving, it’s on its way back to the top.
Pause here for background: At the outset of the AMA Grand National series many decades ago, all racers used to ride motorcycles anyone could buy, equipped and modified to suit. There were short-track, TT, half-mile, mile and road races, contested by Singles and Twins, twostrokes and four-strokes from more brands than can be listed here. Then came change. Superbikes replaced exotic roadracers, and motocross became its own series.
“The problems began,” says Carr, “with the eclipse of the all-around motorcycle.”
So the fans rode their four-cylinder Hondas and Suzukis to the track and saw much the same. Ditto for motocross, where Bob Hannah won on a Yamaha like (sort of) the YZ in the garage. And dirt-track? For 10 years at least, you could buy a Harley XR-750, while in the smaller class Bultaco and OSSA offered short-track 250s. Those three excepted, if you wanted a dirt-track racer, you had to build it yourself. Roadracing became the home of intellectuals and import fans. Motocross was racing for the masses, as in Supercross. Dirttrack? Small-town stuff. Despite its humble roots, dirt-track gave us riders who eventually became champions on the world stage, as in Kenny Roberts, Freddie Spencer, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner.
The AMA established a separate roadrace series and then split the dirt venues into a series for Singles, another for Twins. To little avail, as in minimal factory support and less TV time. And then the AMA sold its profes sional programs to DMG, linked to the folks who run NASCAR. DMG in turn hired Mike Kidd, former GN champ and then a promoter, to revise and oversee the dirt-track series.
Here we are approaching the second Indy MotoGP and
Indy Mile. Well, Chris, whaddaya think? “I’m very encouraged,” he says. “First, these are new rules, enforced by new guys. They’re capable of policing the rules as written. The previous guys were too political, the last thing we need in racing.”
The new rules have two debatable sections. First, the Singles class is for 450cc motocrossers, with stock frames only, no more framers. As a racer, Carr is sorry to see the framers go. The 450s are fine on TT courses, he says, “but in short-track, they’re harder to ride and not as fast.. .and they don’t look like flat-track bikes.”
Kidd has made no secret of his hope that the stock-look bikes will attract factory support. “There has been support,” confirms Carr, “but don’t forget, the economy is in the tank. Yamaha is paying 10 times the contingency money Honda pays. I’m not criticizing Honda; it’s just that Yamaha announced the program before the slump, and Honda came in after.”
Chris Carr will be going for another mile win. "lndy is narrow, with tight turns," he says. "It's a technical track, and it rewards skilL I plan to win. And if Ida, when the race is over, the gates will be open and all the fans can come in and say hello. You won't find that in MotoGR"
Meanwhile, the starting grids are a show of red, blue, yellow, green and orange. Even so, says Carr, “you’ll never get a big crowd to watch Singles on the mile.”
True. The Twins are the draw. This could be the key. Without calling anyone names, one reason for the decline must be that for years it was all Harley-Davidson-hardcore only. H-D isn’t the villain: When Casey Stoner was told his dominance was hurting the appeal of MotoGP, he logically asked, should he ride slower?
It wasn’t Harley’s fault that Triumph, BSA and Norton went out of business, that Yamaha quit losers and Honda quit winners, leaving Harley to supply parts and support all alone, with a minimum of marketing.
The AMA made a start nine years ago with a class for big production Twins, as in Honda and Suzuki. They were supposed to merge, but the XR-750 still ruled. Then came a class for Juniors who couldn’t afford an XR, but it remained the opening act.
Enter now the NASCAR factor. The production Twins are now in the class with the XR-750, but with rules and restrictions too detailed to describe here. Suffice it that at the close of time trials for this year’s Springfield Mile, the qualifiers included one BMW, one Ducati, one Aprilia, one Triumph, one KTM, two Kawasakis and five Suzukis.
Okay, only the Ducati made the main event and (sorry, Ducatistas) it broke down and finished in last place. But BMW, Suzuki and Kawasaki are backing the teams using their brands, and the others are doing what they can, while some of the enforcement mentioned earlier has resulted in exceptions for the BMW and Aprilia, as in when Ford gets too fast in NASCAR, Chevrolet, Dodge and Toyota get a tweak here, a push there. There will come a day when the Harley XR is like the small-block Chevy, the Cosworth-Ford or the turbo Offy, part of the good oP days.
Carr is in no hurry. “I’ve got $50,000 worth of Harley-Davidson,” he says. “I’m in no hurry to write that off.”
Why is all this important? Carr says dirttrack will come back because the fans come to watch races, and dirt-track is the best racing going. All due respect, he says, but roadracing’s use of electronics and controls, allowing the computers to override the rider, means less skill and less racing.
“Last year at the Indy MotoGP race there were how many lead changes, two? On the mile, we had 40, and we raced to the checkered flag. Dirt-track is the last holdout for skill.” □
