I'm also right behind the sentiments expressed in Ken's Sweep Rider column. He beautifully covered a couple of points that I'm passionate about, the promotion of our sport to the general population and the continued interest in the older classes by getting younger racers interested in them. What Ken did by displaying his bikes on Australia day in Macquarie street should set an example to us as a sport. Because we're so involved in our passion we often aren't aware that vintage motocross and dirt track are practically unknown to those outside our circle. How many of us have been approached at a gas station on the way to the races by someone wanting a closer look at the old bike on our trailer and getting into a lengthy conversation with them over "having one of them back in the day"? Most of us I'd reckon. Each time something like that happens we have a golden opportunity to recruit another potential convert to the old bike cause. To take advantage of those situations wouldn't it be a great idea if we had a pre printed flyer in the glove box that spelled out what VMX and VDT are about, a loose description of the available classes and contact details for your particular club? For a very low printing costs VMX clubs are getting the message out to folks who'd otherwise would never have considered it.
Another way of spreading the word is to hold a bike display in public spaces. We held the Klub Kevlar Show'n'Shine two years in a row and the public response was outstanding. We missed out the year before last because the venue cancelled on us and last year because I was ill and nobody within the Kevlar group had the time to organise it. Lately however there has been a bit of a rumble calling for us to do it this year. If the Sydney VMX and VDT population are prepared to support the event, let's do it, we're prepared to promote it. Let's hear some ideas on venue and time.
While I love all things 'old dirt bike' my true passion lies in the pre 78 era and more specifically the pre 1970/65 era's of both VMX and VDT. Our sport was founded on these classes so because they're so important to our history it'd be a shame to see them fade away. The original owners and riders of these old bikes are getting a bit long in the tooth to race on a regular basis so it's a no brainer to assume that for the older classes to continue we need to encourage younger racers to become interested in the bikes. It's reasonably easy to get them to ride the bikes if offered but for them to become old bike owners who want to compete on short travel bikes we need to create a culture where these bikes are considered cool and that the difficulty of riding a short travel bike at speed becomes the ultimate clallenge the old bikes offer up. As we've seen with Brad van B, Nathan and other younger guys who've opted to ride ( and more importantly own bikes) for the older classes, once they get into it it often becomes just as big a passion as bikes from their own particular race era offer up. Because of an aging pre 75 racer demographic there are a lot of seriously good race bikes just sitting under sheets in sheds all over Australia. There are a couple of ways to get these bikes back on the race track..... sell the bike to a newer generation of racer or, as I have done, offer them to younger guys to race for you. I've been doing it on and off for a couple of decades and with only one or two minor exceptions I've enjoyed the experience. There is quite a cool feeling to build, prepare and tune a bike for someone to compete on....and it's even cooler when they do OK.
Kens article has sparked me to spend more effort promoting our sport to the uninitiated, I hope others have been inspired as well.
