Whatever Happened to "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday"?

As some of you know, the Daytona 200 took place this past weekend.  Surrounded by the yearly Daytona Bike Week, this event often marks the start of the season for many of us in the colder states.  Thanks to some last minute deals, the race was broadcast on Fanschoice.tv and those of us who couldn't pry ourselves away from the daily grind to make it down to Florida could still enjoy the action.  Although the track has been reconfigured several times and the class structure for the motorcycles has been swapped a countless number of times through the years, the race on the speedway has endured since 1961 and racing on the beach even further back since 1937.  Although the popularity of Bike Week has increased over the years, it seems attendance at the race has been waning through the years.  Although it would provide some comfort to believe that this was a singular phenomenon surrounding the Daytona 200, but paying attention to trends over the last few years might make one believe that this may be indicative of motorcycle racing culture in the United States as a whole.

I tuned into the race in high spirits.  Not only did I have friends who were down there racing, but this was the "world renowned" Daytona 200 with one of the largest purses announced in recent history at $175,000.  I was pretty focused on the action so I didn't pay too much attention to what was going on above the track.  When the commentator mentioned that attendance was higher than usual, I scanned the stands.  To my dismay, the stands appeared empty.  From what I could gather, there were a handful of people along the outer bank fencing and the paddock area seemed to have some activity, but overall it looked like a ghost town.  One of my co-workers made a passing comment about how empty it was and that if it were a Nascar event that every seat would likely have been filled.  At first it was a bit offensive, but it was true.  So where have all the fans gone?

There's a chance that without the Daytona race,
Yoshimura-USA would never have had created their
base in California.

It would appear that this might be what motorcycle racing has been reduced to.  Some in the racing community even remarked that the Daytona 200 was nothing more than a club race with a large purse and who was to argue?  Until the deal with FansChoice.TV, there wasn't even any kind plan for broadcasting coverage at all.  And how it seems the mighty have fallen considering the Daytona 200 was once a race that would attract motorcycle racers from around the globe.  People from parts of Europe, South America and Asia would make their way to Florida to test their mettle in the arena known as the Daytona Speedway.  Racers of all different levels would attend the event; from fully sponsored race teams to privateers who had to bring cylinder heads as carry on luggage in the hopes that they could reassemble their motors in a dinky motel room and still have enough sleep to carry on come race day.. well, sleeping between the drinking and partying that motorcycle racers were known for during these golden years.

In 2014, there were only five scheduled races in the "premier" road racing class for the US and they were all at race tracks east of the Mississippi.  Race fans across the country were distraught and international fans sneered and believed their assertions that America could no longer produce champions and motorcycle road racing was far too advanced for us to understand.  There was a day when American road racers were pushing the boundaries of what could and should be done on two wheels while winning global championships and all of a sudden it seemed like the domestic race scene was circling the drain and producing little more than glorified club racers (as far as the world stage was concerned).  The downward spiral of the sport's popularity in the US seems to be contrary to the rest of the world, however.  In Europe and Japan, new talent and new teams seem to be being found and formed almost on a weekly basis while manufacturers who had long since thrown in the towel in MotoGP are again putting in full factory efforts.

Many reasons have been cited for the decline of road racing here in the US.  Maybe it's because motorcycles carry such a negative stigma in our culture and a major portion of the population just can't get on board for something that is so frowned upon.  Some blame the high costs to get started in the sport while others blame accessibility to race tracks.  There are many who say that lack of television coverage along with the bleak prospects for revenue are at the root of the problem.  Maybe it was just a passing 7+ decade fad that is finally starting to fade away.

Excuse me for using the cliched expression, but maybe there is a silver lining in this dark cloud that seems to have been hanging over the heads of road racers and road racing fans.  Starting with MotoAmerica along with the help of the likes of Wayne Rainey with the KRAVE Group LLC and Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta there seems to be a possible revival of the premier domestic motorcycle road racing series.  Factory support as well as privateer involvement seems to have increased this year at all levels.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, track day businesses are starting to show real signs of flourishing across the country and more and more riders are signing up for racing at various levels and formats.  There seems to be the possibility that we are seeing a renaissance in motorcycle road racing.  So maybe there there's hope.  Maybe it was just difficult to see just how many people were actually at the Daytona 200 this year because the broadcast focused on the racing as opposed to the fans.  Maybe, just maybe we're on the cusp of a new page in road racing history in the US.  Roll on 2015 and let's hope these are all tell tale of signs of great things to come.