03-10-2020, 07:14 PM
Mickey, the fact that you were the announcer at the first Supercross event held in Cincinnati somehow does not totally surprise me. Interesting? Absolutely. What year was that race held? While I have gotten a good amount of enjoyment watching Supercross over the past few seasons I would not call myself a fan of Supercross itself. I pretty much agree with everything that you've noted, yet I still watch. As to the exchanges between riders, they definitely take place as WRXer pointed out (it's ironic to think of Barcia being upset by someone else's "racing etiquette"). But there is a lot of contact that happens and most of the time the riders realize is just part of racing and in Supercross in particular one of the few ways to pass at times on those tight corners that you mentioned. Ricky Carmichael is part of NBC's broadcast team and he does a pretty good job of keeping things in perspective from a racer's point of view.
I have only two personal experiences with indoor dirt bike racing. Once when living in Dallas back in the late 80's I went to a Supercross race held at Irving Stadium. To be honest, I would rather watch from home. While some might appreciate watching from the stands with the entire track sitting down there in front of them I just felt too far away from the racing. If I find myself checking the Jumbotron all of the time I might as well be watching at home.
My other experience occurred in Lubbock, Texas while I was attending school there. The race was held inside of the old Lubbock Municipal Coliseum and while they somehow pulled it off, there was definitely wasn't anything "super" about it. I signed up to volunteer at the race so I didn't have to pay to get in — at least I wasn't out any money. I ended up on the flagging crew and developed a keen appreciation for hay bales as a result. While keeping an eye on the section of the course assigned to me I was knocked flat on my face by one of the hay bales lining the course. The good news was the hay bale was what prevented me from being plowed down directly by the guy who overshot the corner what that particular hay bale was sitting. I wasn't really hurt and when all was said and done it struck me as appropriate given the rest of my experience. I never bothered to check into whether or not they ever held another race there, lol.
The reality is that the bigger money for the riders now comes in the form of Supercross. But for me as a fan of dirt bike racing it serves more as a conduit until the national outdoor motocross season starts. Back when I was attending motocross races as a fan one of the things I particularly liked was the ability to move around and watch the racing up close from a variety of locations. Just the opposite of Supercross racing. They hold one of the national races on the other side of the Columbia river up in Washington [url=https://goo.gl/maps/WbML5sgfKf77DALS8]outside of the town of Washougal which is not far from Portland. I've been to that race just once since I've lived here in Oregon and it wasn't too long after we moved here (17 years ago). I've considered going again a few times but never made it happen. Maybe this year...
I have only two personal experiences with indoor dirt bike racing. Once when living in Dallas back in the late 80's I went to a Supercross race held at Irving Stadium. To be honest, I would rather watch from home. While some might appreciate watching from the stands with the entire track sitting down there in front of them I just felt too far away from the racing. If I find myself checking the Jumbotron all of the time I might as well be watching at home.
My other experience occurred in Lubbock, Texas while I was attending school there. The race was held inside of the old Lubbock Municipal Coliseum and while they somehow pulled it off, there was definitely wasn't anything "super" about it. I signed up to volunteer at the race so I didn't have to pay to get in — at least I wasn't out any money. I ended up on the flagging crew and developed a keen appreciation for hay bales as a result. While keeping an eye on the section of the course assigned to me I was knocked flat on my face by one of the hay bales lining the course. The good news was the hay bale was what prevented me from being plowed down directly by the guy who overshot the corner what that particular hay bale was sitting. I wasn't really hurt and when all was said and done it struck me as appropriate given the rest of my experience. I never bothered to check into whether or not they ever held another race there, lol.
The reality is that the bigger money for the riders now comes in the form of Supercross. But for me as a fan of dirt bike racing it serves more as a conduit until the national outdoor motocross season starts. Back when I was attending motocross races as a fan one of the things I particularly liked was the ability to move around and watch the racing up close from a variety of locations. Just the opposite of Supercross racing. They hold one of the national races on the other side of the Columbia river up in Washington [url=https://goo.gl/maps/WbML5sgfKf77DALS8]outside of the town of Washougal which is not far from Portland. I've been to that race just once since I've lived here in Oregon and it wasn't too long after we moved here (17 years ago). I've considered going again a few times but never made it happen. Maybe this year...