Latest / B 4EVA Kool "Race A Motorcycle" Podcast / Throwback vibes: beginning of the MotoGP era

Transcript

Throwback vibes: beginning of the MotoGP era · B 4EVA Kool "Race A Motorcycle" Podcast

0:00
You're listening to the Be Forever Cool podcast.
0:02
My name is Rex 45 and this is season 5.
0:05
And I think episode 43 got two more episodes before the end of
0:11
season 5, which will start next year.
0:14
But we have a lot of cool things that we're going to finish out
0:17
the year with. I'm excited to hear about some
0:20
of the talks that's happening in in and around the paddocks,
0:23
whether in the US world Super bike, Moto GP with with the
0:27
fellas. So with no further ado, let me
0:30
bring those guys in on a time, introduce them and and see
0:33
what's what. What's good TJ man, welcome to
0:36
the show. How's things?
0:38
Man, it's if everything is good, it's just cold up here, man.
0:43
I'm still throwing out from home, from work.
0:46
It's like. A good. 20 something feels like
0:49
11° up here but my patriots are still with them on a bi week.
0:57
I was up. We always bring it up, but we're
0:59
we're, we're doing good. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:01
Now I was up there this weekend, man, and, and definitely chilly.
1:05
I got back down here last night. The, you know, it's the scene
1:08
from Snatch at the sort of ends when, you know, the guy got sick
1:13
of going to the UK and after the shootout, he just got on his
1:17
passport and came back to the US.
1:19
It's kind of how I felt when I landed in Florida.
1:22
It's nice to walk off and it's nice and warm.
1:24
Yeah, the Patriots had a bye week too, man.
1:26
And I, I saw that, so I didn't even text you nothing and to, to
1:30
complain. But, you know, we'll see what
1:32
happens in the next next week, man.
1:33
It's looking pretty good, but let's keep it moving.
1:38
What's going on? Louis, man, welcome to the show.
1:40
How you doing tonight? What's going on?
1:41
I've got something to declare. Don't ever go to the UK.
1:46
Too late, man. And great movie, by the way.
1:52
Nothing here, man, just grinding out.
1:54
You know, everybody thinks that because motorcycle racing isn't
1:57
happening, we're not busy, but we're as busy as can be, man.
2:01
This is this is a hectic part of the season where a lot of moves
2:05
are happening, a lot of things are changing, last minute
2:10
surprises. And so, yeah, man, we're, we
2:13
have to be on our toes this time of year right up until the first
2:16
race of the year. Once the first race of the year
2:18
is done and dusted, then we can kind of calm down.
2:21
But between now and then, it's 100% gas and trying to get
2:25
everything in place to get ready for the season.
2:28
Yeah, I mean, you know, I, I don't know why I like, you know,
2:31
not that I go to the theater shows and stuff like that.
2:34
I mean, I have gone to stuff, but not frequent enough.
2:36
But it kind of, it makes me think of like, you know, when
2:39
you're rehearsing all the time or when you're in a band or
2:41
whatever, you spend a lot of time just practicing just to,
2:43
you know, make everything get right.
2:45
So when the show comes on, you're tight.
2:47
So I got to assume it's kind of the same thing and you really
2:50
don't know until that first opening night.
2:53
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's what it is.
2:55
The duck on the pond, man. Up top it looks nice and calm,
2:58
but below the water it's just hectic.
3:01
No doubt, no doubt. You know, Speaking of hectic,
3:04
let me bring Reese in here and see what's happening with him
3:07
because I'm pretty sure he got something hectic to tell me and
3:12
I don't know why my these things are not working properly
3:17
tonight. This is unbelievable.
3:19
What's going on man? Welcome to the show man.
3:21
How you doing tonight? It seems like I might need some
3:23
rest. Yeah, man, you might need some
3:25
rest tonight. Boy, you seem like you are tired
3:29
today. You know what?
3:31
What's good, man? I see you got that.
3:33
Indiana. It was actually Indiana, not
3:35
Indiana. I'm thinking about that some
3:37
reason, but I I know it's the motorcycle T-shirt.
3:40
What's good, man? How are things with you?
3:42
Man can't complain, you know, just out here working and trying
3:47
to stay warm at the same time. Man literally up there in
3:49
Montana -7 so. Oh man, that's.
3:53
That's cold. That's real cold.
3:55
Is it is it pretty accurate what what Lewis is saying about you
3:59
know duck in the water you guys are running around right now,
4:02
even though it looks like y'all are chilling I.
4:05
Mean pretty much. I mean, it's, it's this is the
4:08
hectic time, man. I mean, our test test dates just
4:12
came out. So we got a bunch of them for
4:14
the new season and we just finished winter testing and it's
4:17
time to take a little bit of a break for, you know, the
4:20
holidays. But right after that, it's it's
4:22
all gas and gold, man. Right, right, right.
4:25
That's it. Oh man.
4:27
All right, let's let's, let's jump into it.
4:30
You know, let's talk, you know you, we'll, let's talk about the
4:33
what testing looks like for Motor America.
4:34
Right, right. Is this year?
4:36
How many testing rounds do you guys get before the season
4:39
start? I mean, honestly, I think I saw
4:44
about 6-7, something like that. I mean, that's literally just
4:50
with the team. I mean, that's not with Moto
4:51
America. So we got a bunch of them, man.
4:55
That's not even extra ones he's going to include so.
4:58
Oh, got you. So does Moto America restrict
5:03
how much personal or private testing you guys can do when
5:06
they come out with testing? No, we, we get as much test as
5:10
we want because you know, we get track day.
5:11
We can go out there for track days and do testing.
5:14
We can rent the track out ourselves.
5:15
I mean, we have a, like I said, I think I saw, you know, 6 at
5:20
down in Arizona at the Podium Pub and I think we got one at
5:23
Coda. OK, OK.
5:26
That's what's up, man. Well, we're going to hear all
5:29
about it as as those things. Come on, let's start with Lewis,
5:32
man, because I, I, I know this guy.
5:34
He, he got his ear to the ground with the with the rumors and
5:37
stuff like that. So get us up to date on what's
5:41
going on. I guess let's start in the Motor
5:42
America before we move to Moto GP, but obviously disclose what
5:47
you can, you know? I won't give away any secrets.
5:51
I will say that most of the most of the seats have asses in them,
5:55
so anybody that who's still looking for a ride better show
6:00
up with a big paycheck to buy a ride because at this point most
6:03
of the seats do have people in them.
6:06
From what I've heard, the Yamaha Attack team, both rider spots
6:10
have been filled. Bobby's in one.
6:12
The other person has yet to be announced but should be getting
6:15
announced probably in the next couple of weeks or when the team
6:19
officially is out there. Anybody that's gone to some of
6:24
the testing might have seen some of the people that are testing
6:27
the bike. So that'll narrow down what they
6:29
have. Obviously the War Horse team is
6:32
all set for super bike V2 from what I understand is still going
6:37
to be Cam P Orange Cat. There's two super bike riders
6:43
are set in stone. They're going to have a big
6:45
announcement actually in Europe. They're actually going to fly
6:50
the two riders out to Europe and do a big BMW presentation.
6:53
So they'll have the riders out there.
6:56
They are also going to be riding, have two riders in
6:59
another class and those two suits have also been occupied.
7:02
They're going to make an announcement of that, I'm
7:05
guessing also in about the same time frame within the next month
7:07
or so because these guys need to get out there and start testing
7:10
for that class. Obviously Strack super Bike, we
7:15
know that it's going to be Matthew Schultz on an R1 Strack
7:20
Super sport. As far as I know right now, it's
7:23
only going to be Blake Davis on the R9 for that team.
7:27
So it'll be a 2 rider team, one in super bike, one in super
7:30
sport M4. The only rider that I don't
7:35
think is going back to M4 is SDKI believe they're going to
7:39
retain Richie Escalante and Taylor Scott.
7:45
And then Honda, I think a couple of the spots for Honda are
7:49
secure. So like Hayden Gillum and maybe
7:53
one other rider are secure, but there's a couple of open spots.
7:57
So there's a, there's still a lot of movement throughout the
7:59
paddock, but the good the the better rides, let's put it that
8:02
way, are pretty much all locked up.
8:06
And then on the baggers side right now, I haven't heard too
8:09
many changes in the baggers. I know that there's a couple of
8:11
guys scrambling for some bagger seats and we'll see what
8:15
happens. Obviously the there was a big
8:17
change. So let me not Vanson Hines is
8:24
moving to Indian from Harley and now the Vanson Hines team is
8:31
going to consist of the Han, the Indian riders plus the one
8:38
previous factory Indian rider, not both of them.
8:42
So only one of the factory Indian riders will move over
8:44
there. And I'm I'm I'm still waiting to
8:48
see the full line up for the Bagger racing series for Moto GP
8:53
that's still coming together. There's still a couple of
8:56
opportunities, still a couple of open seats.
8:58
I just don't know who's getting them.
8:59
It seems like a lot of Europeans are getting those seats, like
9:04
there's not too many US riders getting those seats for whatever
9:07
reason. That which is we could talk a
9:09
little bit more about that because that's I, I, I heard
9:12
some things about that as well. I wanted to talk about Reese
9:16
man, for, you know, you heard as much as you could decode from
9:20
from Lewis there about, you know, riders not having seats it
9:25
for a for a rider who doesn't have a seat at this time of the
9:28
year, the new year haven't started.
9:31
Is is it panic mode? I mean, are you, are you
9:35
starting to look at, you know, trying to, you know, see how
9:38
many cars you can sell in your driveway kind of thing to, to
9:41
to, you know, do not necessarily do the worst, but make deals
9:44
that you prefer to not make. I mean, yes and no.
9:48
I mean, you could start panicking now.
9:50
I mean, a lot of the good seats are being taken.
9:53
I mean, there's still a couple of good seats.
9:55
You know, the M4 that's still out there.
9:59
I mean, there's I think there's another spot, but it's really
10:04
getting everybody started to get filled up.
10:06
I mean, now, right now, you may even take something you might
10:09
not want to take, you know, just to have a ride and still be in
10:12
the paddock. So it's it's getting down to
10:15
that crunch mode because normally by the new year, by
10:18
January 1st, all teams are almost all wrapped up and it's
10:21
all the contracts already signed.
10:23
A lot of things are in play already because like Lewis said,
10:26
come after the new year, after the the first of the new year
10:30
coming a couple maybe like another week into it.
10:32
It's it's test time. It's just time to get out there
10:35
on the bikes. So, and is it, I mean, you know,
10:39
I guess what is it like for the team as well?
10:41
Because if you, if you're a team and you don't have a rider right
10:44
now, are you in a better situation than a rider?
10:48
Or because if, if, as you say, the good seats are taken up and
10:53
the good riders are taken up. So is it the teams that may not
10:56
be, as you know, good, for lack of a better word.
10:59
And and and, you know, is it, is it, is it, I mean, is it just
11:04
the average we're getting together and kind of work it out
11:06
kind of thing. I mean, it is.
11:08
I mean as a team we always want to have all our riders in play.
11:11
Coming into the new year, you want to be able to go into the
11:13
holidays kind of kind of more on an easy mode and you know, kind
11:17
of like, all right, we know who our riders are.
11:19
We know what we're gearing up against, you know, where we're
11:21
going to be and not sit there and worry about, all right,
11:25
who's going to be in this seat or who, who do we who's still
11:28
left out there that is, you know, one of the top quality
11:32
riders? Like who can we go get?
11:34
So, you know, you don't want to be sitting there scrambling at
11:36
the last minute And just like, OK, we're just we'll, we'll
11:39
we'll put a butt in the seat. You know, we're not, you know,
11:43
we're we're out here to win and you want to be on a, you know,
11:46
especially when you're the top tier team, you want to be on
11:48
the, you know, on the top podium.
11:51
Right, right, right. And TJ, you know, as a fan, you
11:55
know, and you know, you see one of your favorite writers who who
12:00
is looking for a seat. I don't know if he has 1 yet or,
12:03
or close to it. You know, how do you feel about,
12:06
you know, from the fan perspective, where you see names
12:08
from last season, the season that just finished that next
12:10
year you may not be rooting for them?
12:13
I know we've seen it in the past with other riders that, you
12:16
know, for whatever reason couldn't get those deals.
12:18
And you know, and and a lot of them come back to do some club
12:21
racing and stuff like that. But you know what your thoughts
12:24
on on scene riders not not getting a ride and and from your
12:27
perspective still look like they deserve a ride.
12:31
Yeah, man, I, I just always just try to enjoy the moment when you
12:35
see a great rider because you never know, like, what can
12:38
happen. Like now being into the sport,
12:40
you know, realize how expensive it is and what you got to put
12:44
forward. And yeah, it's a lot of money
12:46
and you have to have a lot of talent.
12:48
So it is, it is kind of bittersweet to not see it, you
12:53
know, the same rider, repeat, moving on.
12:57
But as long as they're out there, you can still see them.
12:58
It's pretty cool, I think. My God, Josh Herron did pull it
13:02
out. So I think he's with Rahul
13:04
Ducati, but he's going to be in Super Sport now.
13:07
So I don't know if that's like a downgrade to him.
13:10
But you know, he's I guess he's just back out there on 2.
13:15
So it is good to still see him out there.
13:18
Well, good to still see him perform for 2026, you know, But
13:24
yeah, I would say is just to see riders move on.
13:27
And I think it sucks because it's not how expensive it is.
13:31
You just don't know the the, the real in, in details that go into
13:37
play. But as a fan, you just think
13:40
they should just be out there because they're they're around.
13:43
There's just so much going to it.
13:45
Yeah. There's a reason why Jennifer
13:46
Lopez been engaged 5 seven times and got 5 rigs.
13:51
Just because you look good don't mean nobody want to keep your
13:55
ass. You know it and quote to that as
13:59
Lewis as it what Lewis just say. You know behind every good
14:03
looking woman there's some dude tired of her shit.
14:06
And and when you've been I think on every bike in the paddock and
14:11
almost every team and you have to come with money to get a
14:15
ride, yet you're a champion, a multi time champion across
14:19
several different class, I think it tells more about you than it
14:22
does about the team. Gotcha.
14:25
And with that said, we heard TJ it said he didn't know if it was
14:30
a downgrade or not. We see Matthew Schultz do this
14:34
the last couple of years ago from super bike down to super
14:36
sport and back up to super bike. Is this kind of, you know, like
14:41
the G League in a, in a sense that, you know, for whatever
14:46
reason or it's just kind of where contracts are, where
14:50
opportunities are and they just kind of just doing what's best
14:54
for them? Is this a downgrade for for
14:55
Heron or is it just good business sense to, you know,
14:59
keep the cost low? Want me to take that one, Lou A.
15:03
Downgrade. A downgrade would be
15:05
unemployment. That's the other option.
15:08
You can either ride this bike or you can stay home and watch.
15:13
You know, if nobody else in the Super bike paddock wanted to
15:17
pick him up and there were seats available, Orange cat had a
15:20
seat, Honda had a seat. M4 has a seat, attack has a
15:24
seat, but attack doesn't want him and four doesn't want him.
15:28
Honda doesn't want him, BMW doesn't want him.
15:32
Like that's you're a multi time champion.
15:35
Nobody wants you. To me, again, that says
15:37
something about you and you have to go out and find money to pay
15:42
for a ride to get into super sport because realistically
15:46
that's that's what I see happened.
15:47
He went and found a sponsor that was willing to buck up the money
15:51
that it would take for Ray Hall to put out another V2.
15:54
He was able to do that and that's good for him because he's
15:57
one of the few riders that takes his collateral online and is
16:00
able to monetize it. Most of the riders are horrible
16:04
at that. You know, I have arguments with
16:05
riders almost weekly about how much they suck at selling
16:09
themselves. You got no other product man.
16:12
You have no your your talent and your ability to rise your only
16:15
product. And if you can't market your
16:17
only product, you suck as a company.
16:20
Right. So, so I mean, you know, and,
16:24
and and so I mean for him to and you know, we, we see this in
16:28
we've even heard this. I believe in Moto GP as well.
16:31
Some people have had to bring money.
16:32
I thought, I think it was Miller that that that said Miller.
16:36
I. Mean a lot of guys that had to
16:38
bring money to keep a ride. Right.
16:40
So it it is kind of the way these days and we've seen we've
16:44
heard other riders in super sport and stuff like that.
16:48
But here's the thing, if you if you bring money right, at least
16:52
you have a ride and you're in the paddock.
16:54
If you win, you have the opportunity to win money through
16:57
sponsorships and through other deals.
16:59
If you win a championship, you set yourself up to possibly move
17:02
to another team that the following year will pay you to
17:04
ride the bike. At least you still stay in the
17:07
conversation. Right, right and and and Reese
17:10
is is a championship and super sport for Jack Karen enough to
17:14
make all be forgiven. Not that I know what all is.
17:22
Maybe not. I mean, I, they, people will
17:25
never forget what you done. I mean the, the paddock is real
17:30
small and sometimes people will never forget what you done.
17:32
Sometimes you can leave a sour taste in people's mouth.
17:34
That's anybody that's not just one person.
17:37
That goes for anybody, you know. But then again, sometimes just
17:42
being honest, sometimes going down, which like Matt did and
17:47
Josh is doing, it can actually humble you and actually
17:52
sometimes save your career. Right, Marquez going to Grazini.
17:56
Yeah. And then the other thing you
17:59
have to look at here is, you know, you know, he has an
18:01
opportunity. Obviously if he goes to Daytona,
18:03
he gets, you know, in the V2, he gets an opportunity to win
18:07
another Daytona if he could win in the Daytona.
18:09
So at this point, at least he's doing some stuff, one to stay
18:12
relevant, to stay in the conversation.
18:15
I will say this, PJ, if you see him showing up with a yellow
18:19
suit and keeping it in his bag, be careful man, because the
18:25
second you get hurt, trust me man, the first guy is going to
18:28
be in line for that seat is going to be him.
18:31
Go check, check the torque on your on your bolts and make sure
18:35
that you got a good chain because I'm not putting it past
18:39
somebody, but. Is isn't isn't PJ on AV4 this
18:42
year? Next year.
18:43
Not AV 4, but you know. If he's not as.
18:47
Heroin. And you know, they're both an
18:49
Alpine stars. I'm sure heroin's going to be
18:51
like, yo, get me an extra yellow suit just in case God forbid
18:55
something happens to PJ, I can slide right in there.
19:00
Oh, I see what you're saying. Yes, he can.
19:02
He can race up. You never know.
19:05
And you know how you know? Oh, PJ got hurt?
19:08
What? His chain fell off.
19:09
Oh. Man, you know.
19:14
It's so magically how his chain fell off I don't know.
19:16
What? He just fell off the bike?
19:19
Dude, I could fill in. I could fill in for that.
19:23
He's. Still in he's going to, he's
19:26
going to market himself. He's she tells him.
19:28
He's he's available. I that's, that's I've always
19:31
said that man, as much as I might not like him as a person,
19:35
from the interactions that I've had with him, I still appreciate
19:39
his ability to sell himself and pitch himself and mold himself,
19:44
at least in the eyes of the people that follow him as like
19:47
the hard grinding American racer that you know, I can, I can see
19:53
eye to eye with. I'll give him that.
19:58
Hey, man, that that's listen and and we see what Michael Jordan
20:03
and 2311 is doing with NASCAR and trying to, you know, fight,
20:07
fight and get and get there and get their piece of the pie.
20:11
You know something similar may trickle into motor America and
20:14
in the sense the get right is to have don't have to do things
20:18
like this. To to to stay in a sport and and
20:21
make a living. I'm not just the writers, the
20:23
teams as well 'cause it costs money.
20:29
A whole lot. If you only knew what that bill
20:33
is a weekend. Yeah, I'm fine.
20:37
I I, I'm still surprised when fans don't understand the
20:40
economics of racing. I understand their fans, but the
20:43
economics of racing, you know, I've always said it, that that I
20:47
deserve this or this rider deserves that.
20:50
No rider deserves anything, man. Like you have to negotiate it.
20:53
You have to work for it. You have to put yourself in the
20:56
right position. You have to have a good amount
20:58
of luck as well as a good amount of skill.
21:00
And if you have some deep pockets, that helps.
21:02
Also, you know, there's guys racing today that the only
21:05
reason they're still racing is because they have deep pockets
21:08
or they know people that have deep pockets and able to keep
21:10
their eyes on them because every year they're able to come back.
21:14
I mean, you know, I'm not going to throw anybody out there, but
21:16
you know, there's this dude's buying super bike rides, this
21:19
dude's buying super sport rides just to stay in the game.
21:24
Right, Yeah, man, it's expensive, man.
21:25
It's an expensive game. And you think you think you guys
21:30
tire bills are expensive a year, but you when people pay a year,
21:34
we pay a weekend. Formula One pays 30,000 a race.
21:41
Exactly it's it's expensive man, like God damn.
21:48
It is expensive and, and that's the unfortunate side of it in
21:51
the sense that I think, you know, others, other areas like
21:56
the NBA, baseball, football, they've figured it out.
22:03
Even, you know, Formula One, obviously at the highest level
22:07
is figured it out to where these riders can't, can make a good
22:10
chunk of money and stuff like that.
22:12
And I, I think, you know, Motor America will get there or as, as
22:15
the sport starts to get more rejuvenated with, with young
22:20
people and stuff like that. So let's talk about some other
22:23
offseason things that we could be doing.
22:26
Even though, but like, like Lewis mentioned early on, it may
22:31
seems like there's not a lot to do, but there is, you know, I,
22:36
I, I last year, earlier this year, I did the Saperano Endora
22:42
race and, and so I've, I'm doing it again next year.
22:45
And so training has started for me to too.
22:48
And we're not going to be a feeling rider like I was earlier
22:52
this year. I'm I'm on a team.
22:53
Yeah, let's go. So I'm going to be running the
22:58
lightweight class on Ducati Monster.
23:01
So I'm excited about that. 2-3 hour races and 1/5 hour races or
23:05
five hour race. So it's going to be interesting.
23:08
So when you guys going to sign up for a team for next year,
23:12
guys trying to get you out on a race track besides besides am I?
23:20
Am I being paid the race? Or I might be.
23:22
That's what I'm. Gonna say I'm gonna be paid.
23:25
You gonna put some money in my pocket and.
23:28
Lewis, this is where one of your, your, your phrases will
23:31
come, right? Perfect for these two guys
23:33
saying you might be paid before anything happened.
23:39
If you can't afford to to to fix it, you can't afford to buy it.
23:46
I can afford to fix it. Can you afford to fix me?
23:50
If. I, I think, I think everybody
23:55
should be looking forward to some track days next year.
23:58
You know, try to get out to some tracks.
24:00
There's a lot of rumors going around about Coda not being
24:03
available to riders in 2027. I've actually spoken with a
24:08
couple of the people that work at Coda.
24:10
They've said very vehemently that that's not true, that there
24:14
is going to be over 100 days available for people to rent in
24:17
2027. And this is for either car or
24:19
motorcycle days. There's going to be a big chunk
24:22
of days that are going to be leaning towards people that are
24:26
paying into memberships that are VI PS that are buying some of
24:31
the housing and the garages that are around the track.
24:35
There's even rumors about building an additional track or
24:38
an offshoot of Coda to specifically cater to, you know,
24:43
high end personnel. But the main track itself is
24:46
going to have something like 100 plus days in 2027 that'll be
24:50
available to rent. Now, I will say this having
24:54
spoken with them to try and understand what it costs to rent
24:58
a day at Coda. It is expensive and you're
25:02
taking a huge risk because if you don't sell a certain amount
25:05
of spots at a certain amount of dollars, you will take a
25:08
bloodbath. And This is why most of the
25:11
motorcycle track days that go there do 4 sessions each session
25:16
or each group gets maxed out of like 55 riders and then they can
25:20
sell that for 600 bucks a spot. But 600 bucks a spot for almost
25:30
200 riders is $132,000. So that not only covers your
25:36
cost of getting the track day on a peak time of the year, either
25:41
on a weekend or a weekday, but you still walk away with
25:44
probably like thirty, $40,000 in your pocket every time you go.
25:47
So there's an incentive for the track day companies to go there.
25:51
But if they have to put more money up front or they have to
25:54
do all this other stuff, that's where these track day companies
25:56
are starting to like pull back a little bit.
25:59
They want to take some risk, but they don't want to take all the
26:01
risks. And I think it's disingenuous
26:04
for some of these companies now going out there and trying to
26:06
bash code and saying, oh, it's going to be for rich people only
26:09
and it's going to be not available to.
26:11
It's not it. They're asking you to take more
26:14
risk than you are taking now. And you maybe don't want to take
26:18
that risk, which is understandable.
26:21
But that doesn't mean turn around on the back end and make
26:23
it seem like the track is not trying to have any days for
26:28
motorcycles. That's not the case.
26:32
I think the solution for this is at some point I think Coda is
26:36
probably going to do well like New Jersey Motorsports and a
26:38
couple other tracks around a company country have done and
26:41
create their own in house motorcycle track day club that
26:45
they manage themselves. They rent themselves a day, they
26:50
maybe don't make a profit but they break even and that way
26:52
they can still keep motorcycles involved in their tracks outside
26:56
of NASCAR tracks. Only because NASCAR owns most of
27:01
the NASCAR tracks or has a big percentage ownership in NASCAR
27:05
tracks. That's why you don't see a lot
27:06
of motorcycle events at NASCAR specific tracks, but all these
27:11
other tracks are typically independently owned or owned by
27:14
a consortium of people and they want to make money.
27:18
They're there. You know, it's a business like
27:19
anything else. So I think enjoy whatever track
27:22
days you can find at whatever really good tracks you can find
27:25
because it's really getting hard to find track days at certain
27:28
tracks. Like VIR doesn't have a ton of
27:30
track days like they used two years ago.
27:32
Obviously pit race is going away.
27:34
They're going to build something else on pit race.
27:38
So if you don't support the local track and you don't
27:41
support the local things, you're going to see prices go up,
27:45
availability go down, and that's not really helpful for the
27:48
sport. Great.
27:51
No, I agree, spending money is always a good thing and getting
27:55
to the tracks and the tracks you like is a great thing.
27:59
And I know you guys just gave me a little bit of a grief about
28:02
coming racing and and so forth. So, you know, for folks that are
28:07
not training for the race season next year, that love to watch
28:12
motorcycle racing at any level, we thought it would be a good
28:16
idea to start talking about the races from yesteryear.
28:22
You know, we're going to go back to 2002, the first year for Moto
28:26
GP, coming from the 500CC era. Guys, you know, pretty crazy
28:32
time back then because they were racing on 500CC and 1000.
28:39
A few reasons why they switched bikes one they wanted to keep up
28:46
with the modern bikes so a lot of street bikes were selling
28:49
thousands and stuff like that. So the 500CC wasn't a good
28:53
crossover. Also pollution who thought think
28:56
that bikes would be would would cause pollution?
28:58
I mean, we think of trucks and all these other.
29:00
Things you. Know these big tankers and and
29:04
all this stuff, but you know, 500CC bike, you know, I also
29:10
will you guys, you know, let's talk about when you started
29:13
watching the Moto GP racing and what are your thoughts on or
29:18
what your yeah, what are your thoughts on 500CC versus 1000
29:22
that transformation? What's that with TJ?
29:28
Then you said oh oh what? When did I first start watching
29:31
Moto GP or like? Just just to give, just to give
29:33
the audience a little bit of you know, you know, and how long you
29:37
been watching versus you know, when the 500CC's came out and
29:41
the, the, the thousand CC's came back.
29:45
So I started watching Moto GP probably 2018.
29:50
Yeah, I sound pretty young, but once I started watching it, I
29:55
fell in love with every second of it.
29:58
So I tried to watch every aspect of it, trying to learn
30:01
everything. And then I did watch back a few
30:03
years. So with that being said, I was
30:06
pretty much bred into 1000 CC. So going back watching the five
30:12
hundreds and and all that, it's cool.
30:15
And it's it's good to see like just the just the, you know, not
30:21
having technology on the bike and just the different riding
30:25
angles that these riders are doing.
30:27
And obviously the things were way different back then like the
30:30
track layouts and stuff like that and the safety.
30:35
But that was pretty cool going back to watch like Finches
30:38
racing. And this is just a lot of things
30:42
have unfolded and it's actually pretty good to see like how far
30:46
is expanded. It's definitely got a lot safer.
30:51
Even though they are all one thousands now, I still think
30:54
it's as safe as it's been. Just looking at just seeing one
30:58
of the riders crash and his suit was pretty much done after one
31:02
crashing. No, it's just a lot of change.
31:06
Yeah, of course. I don't, I mean I, I mean I, I
31:10
don't think, I don't think I'd race.
31:11
I got a suit with I got suit with stuff without airbags in
31:14
them, but I don't think I'd race 1 today.
31:15
So pretty sure there's a lot of people like no airbags, no, no
31:22
electronics I'm not getting. On that right, just like a
31:25
Ducati rider. Listen, listen here, Reese, I I
31:30
know you're giving me crap, but you know, you heard TJ call you
31:32
vintage man. How long you been?
31:34
Watching. I'm a little more vintage than
31:39
TJ, man. I think I've been watching this
31:41
about 2000 and seven 2006. So when I, I came in in the 800
31:49
era, so I didn't come in a 500, but I did, you know, take a look
31:53
when I first started watching and seen the 500 era, I mean,
31:56
back then that was a little sketchy, but I mean, even 800
32:02
was still sketchy then and then they went into the 1000 CCS.
32:06
I mean, I, I, once I started watching, man, I got hooked and
32:11
I, I never looked back, man. So I kind of like I said, I
32:14
started in the the O 7 era and that's I think when I started,
32:18
that's when I first started track days back then in O 7.
32:21
Wow, sketchy times. Sketchy times, man.
32:26
Lewis, man. How about yourself the the
32:30
original captain? You're going to age me again,
32:32
man, that's why that's. Why he's bald, man.
32:39
I want to say my first experience with the Grand Prix
32:44
championship was probably in the late 70s, early 80s.
32:54
You know, I remember, I remember watching some races and knowing
32:59
that Kenny Roberts won a championship.
33:02
So I want to say that's like late 70s, early 80s, seventy,
33:06
980, something like that. I really didn't get into it on a
33:10
regular basis until about 83 or 84.
33:13
And that was had nothing to do with not being interested in the
33:16
sport. It had to do with cable.
33:21
My town didn't have cable TV like so we could only get normal
33:27
channels, which back then there were only like 3 channels.
33:29
There was, you know, Channel 2, Channel 4, Channel 7.
33:32
So it wasn't that I wasn't interested in.
33:34
It was just very hard to catch it.
33:36
And then as cable TV came to my town and more channels opened
33:40
up, I was able to follow it a little bit more.
33:42
And then in the late 80s into the early 90s, I was definitely
33:46
watching it constantly because I loved it.
33:48
I, I, I love the thrill of it. So, yeah, a long time, man.
33:52
Like a long, long, long time. Can I, can I say something real
33:58
quick? You showed that quick, right?
34:00
Yeah. I I think I saw that live.
34:05
This is what I meant about safety.
34:08
Like they've been like, I don't know how many laps while he was
34:12
just still laying on the straightaway.
34:14
Like they didn't really, they didn't move him at all.
34:16
They didn't red flag it. They didn't do anything like
34:19
after that start and that accident happened like he was
34:22
laying on the straightaway sideline for a while.
34:24
That was what I mean, like things have changed.
34:27
So it's pretty pretty crazy. Oh, no, thanks.
34:31
How, how you know? I say more fear like, like we
34:36
had No Fear back then basically last year.
34:39
Yeah, what's sad is that he's been watching GP since I've been
34:42
born. I was born in 82.
34:44
He's been watching this city. God, yeah, I I wouldn't.
34:50
Say I'm a young pup. Making it through a season back
34:53
then just making it through a season and making every race was
34:58
in itself impressive. Because I mean, the the amount,
35:01
if you look back, if you were able to go through and see how
35:04
many like substitute riders and fill in riders they had back in
35:08
those years. I mean, there was guys that one
35:10
weekend would be on a Honda and the next weekend would be on a
35:13
Yamaha as a fill in rider. Because they would literally
35:15
jump from manufacturer to manufacture just because
35:18
manufacturers couldn't keep guys healthy throughout the whole
35:21
season. So even though 500CC was
35:23
exciting racing, it was inherently very dangerous.
35:28
It it was and you know, and maybe I might catch a clip of
35:32
one of the guys that made it look beautiful was Gary McCoy.
35:37
Man, he was a rider that would slide that 500CC bike around the
35:41
track and back then, you know, seeing the rear spin up wasn't
35:45
something that was you normally did.
35:47
I mean like how we see it today, you know, You know, can you guys
35:52
list some of the, I guess I should outlist some of the
35:54
riders. Back then in 2002, we had Max
35:57
Biaggi. I think everybody knows Biaggi
36:01
for the most part. What was Caparossi?
36:05
Yeah, Caparossi. Who else we got, We got John
36:09
Hopkins. Hopkins was his first year as a
36:11
rookie in 2002, coming out one of one of one of the Americans,
36:17
and unfortunately through injuries and whatnot, didn't get
36:22
to have the kind of career I think he he would have liked to
36:25
have had in in Moto GP. He walks like a cowboy.
36:29
Lot of lot of Japanese American, lot of Japanese racing at that
36:33
time a. Lot of Japanese.
36:35
I'll let you run off the Japanese names.
36:37
I'll just do the I'll. Just do the last names.
36:42
I'll do the last names so I don't butcher their first name.
36:45
But you've got Abe, you've got Nakano, you've got Yoshikawa,
36:51
Ryu, Kagiyama, Ayoki, Yanagawa, Ito, Harada Kato.
37:02
I mean dude, it was just so many Japanese riders were either a
37:07
full time wild card or feelings. You sound like you're speaking
37:11
gibberish man. Like I ain't know none of them
37:13
names for real. You know, you know Carlos
37:18
Checker, some of these guys you still here, they mentioned in
37:20
the paddock and stuff like that, which is British, which is
37:23
pretty crazy. And obviously Valentino Rossi,
37:25
who won the championship on the 500CC the year before and, and
37:30
also won this year, for those that don't know, was it was that
37:37
a good thing for Moto GP? And I mean, obviously in
37:39
hindsight, it's easy to sit here and say what was good, what was
37:41
not. But just being able to see the
37:43
trajectory of of what was happening with within the street
37:47
culture of motorcycle racing and saying, hey, we need to do this
37:51
thing. And I'm pretty sure like
37:53
anything else, the old heads were sitting here saying, what's
37:55
wrong with the 500 CCS? They're the best bikes in the
37:57
world. It was money. 500CC motors had
38:02
to be constantly rebuilt because 2 stroke motors, that's just the
38:06
way they're built. Like you have to constantly
38:08
rebuild them. And so they were, you know, they
38:10
were trying to bring down the cost of the motors themselves
38:14
and you know, reduce pollution as well because obviously in a 2
38:17
stroke it's a different type of setup with oil and gas versus
38:21
conventional motor. So the switch to the four stroke
38:25
was money savings more than anything else, and it also
38:29
helped the manufacturers align more with what was being sold in
38:33
the street. Even though most of the motors
38:36
that were in the Moto GB class when it first opened, it never
38:40
made it to the street as a production motor like Honda's V5
38:46
never made it to the street as a production motor.
38:49
All these weird configurations, but the cool thing was that if
38:53
you look at the bikes that were being sold at that time and the
38:56
companies that are participating at that time, Honda, Yamaha,
39:00
Suzuki, Kawasaki, those were the guys in in this sport
39:05
participating because those were the four companies that were
39:08
selling a shit ton of bikes to the street.
39:11
Like, a massive amount. Nice.
39:17
But your thoughts, Troy and all you guys, because from watching
39:21
the races in, in in 2002, in the beginning of the season, it
39:27
seems like, you know, some folks thought that the 500 CCS bikes
39:32
would have a chance. But like halfway through the
39:34
season that you you saw Rossi and his teammate.
39:37
I figured his teammate's name off the top of my head.
39:39
I think it's. Yukawa.
39:42
Yukawa Yeah, yeah, I mean, they were, they were, they were
39:44
ghosts on on on those bikes. I mean, it's similar to what
39:47
we're seeing with the Gen. 2IN Super Sport right now, you know?
39:52
What are your thoughts, TJ? Yeah, I mean, I mean like I've
40:00
only even seen those bikes a few times.
40:02
So like the 500CC you see like people bringing them out, like,
40:06
you know, their vintage bikes, but.
40:09
Yeah, I mean, like the the switch up, I mean, yeah, it's
40:14
like what I was saying when I watched this season, it was just
40:16
like, you had to really lock in because there's no commentary.
40:22
And you know, he's just like, you know, just just got to lock
40:26
in and figure out what's going on and who's on what bike.
40:29
And, and and yeah, the competition was pretty cool.
40:33
Like obviously Rossi blew away with it.
40:38
But yeah, I think the switch up was definitely necessary just to
40:41
help grow to sport. You see that this this seemed
40:46
pretty new, like not nowhere the direction to go Like like I
40:49
said, no commentary like outside of the money to help grow to
40:54
sport, you know, like you want people to watch.
40:56
And like I say, the following year, I'll say it got a little
41:00
better because, you know, it was a little commentary and and he
41:03
was able to follow more and pay pay attention and I should see
41:06
what's going on by people being there explaining what's going
41:09
on. So.
41:12
That looked like it hurt, I'm sure.
41:20
It's like there's like barely any elbow sliders.
41:23
I don't even think just knee sliders back then man.
41:26
What are your thoughts are Reese on the 500 and and the GP?
41:30
Bikes, I mean, I agree with Lewis, like what he's saying,
41:33
man, it's like you got to realize it was a lot of money to
41:37
just maintain those bikes and you don't know, trying to sit,
41:42
you know, keep costs down or trying to help out the sport.
41:45
And it was just so much to maintain them and pollution the
41:48
way the combustion is with a 2 stroke motor, which is causing a
41:51
lot. It was hellified racing from you
41:54
know what I saw and everything else.
41:56
It was great racing, very close, very competitive, but just to
42:01
maintain them to where it where it was at, what it was needed.
42:04
It was just a lot, you know, and then they actually started
42:06
trying to change up. They do different things to be
42:11
in the nature of the, you know, the help out in the street bike
42:14
world and like you know, and then say none of a lot of the
42:17
motors didn't even come to play, just like a lot of the motors
42:19
that we have now in GP probably won't even come to play, but
42:23
they'll take the concept of that motor and build you a street
42:27
bike. We, we, we, we like that.
42:32
And, and also I know you don't. I know only Ducati riders like
42:35
to hear about techs, but tech coming from the the GP bikes to
42:40
street bike has really made a lot of people safe right?
42:45
No, it has, absolutely. But there's also a lot of tech
42:48
that went to GP and never made it to your street bike.
42:53
You know, I've yet I've yet to see a a street bike with a
42:56
seamless transmission and never came to the street bike.
43:00
I've yet to see a bike a a street bike with AV5
43:04
configuration. You know, Honda, Honda had the
43:07
VFR 5 VFR, which was AV type motorcycle, but it wasn't built
43:14
for sport. You know, it's, it was more of a
43:16
touring bike that had very clean power delivery, but it wasn't
43:20
maxed out for torque and then horsepower and everything like
43:23
that. Well, I guess I wouldn't say
43:26
seamless, but it isn't the new V4 first gear is.
43:31
I mean neutral is beyond first gear now on the on the new V4 my
43:34
my did I mishear that? So instead of instead of 1
43:39
neutral, it's. Neutral one, yeah, but that's
43:44
just a change in the configuration of the gearbox.
43:46
It's not necessarily a seamless gearbox.
43:49
So like a seamless gearbox would be as you change gears, you'd
43:52
lose no momentum from the motor to the transmission to the rear
43:56
wheel. You literally just go through
43:58
this. So it's almost like a double
43:59
clutch transmission on a high end sports car where as you go
44:03
through the gears, you're not losing any substantial torque to
44:06
the rear end. So you never seen that come to
44:09
street bikes because it turns out that it's very expensive to
44:13
make and it's it's not reliable long term.
44:16
So the maintenance cost for that would be very expensive.
44:19
So it's not worth it to bring it to the street bike for the guy
44:22
that's only racing from this red light to the next red light and
44:24
back. Oh.
44:31
Man, I, I, I, I, I see what you're saying, but let's, let's
44:34
also talk about we mentioned the riders who were here and there
44:38
and, and, and there then, which were a lot of more non
44:43
Americans. There's some of the Americans.
44:45
We had Kenny Roberts junior, we had John Hopkins.
44:48
I don't remember if Carl Elrose is still there.
44:50
Colin Edwards was still there. Super bike.
44:53
Super bike and there's some to come, but let's talk about some
44:58
of the race tracks that we did no longer race at.
45:01
I mean, like, you know, they raced at Rio.
45:04
I don't know if that's a track on your list that you'd want to
45:06
go to today, Lewis and you. Know that track still exists.
45:12
A lot of tracks don't exist, they're just like sitting there
45:14
rotting away South. African Grand Prix.
45:18
I mean, Suzuka, obviously they don't go there because that's a
45:21
death trap. You know, the World Endurance
45:26
Championship goes there, but nobody else really, you know, GP
45:29
wouldn't go there. That track is an absolute death
45:32
trap. Yeah, South Africa.
45:36
Moto GP hasn't been to South Africa in a long time.
45:39
And it's sad because they should go to South Africa, but I don't
45:42
think they have AFIM homologated track there.
45:47
But I would love to see Moto GP go to South Africa.
45:51
Perez is still there, Lamont's is there, Majello's still there.
45:54
Catalunya's still there. Aston's still there.
45:56
Donetson's still there. Saxon Ring still there.
45:58
Bruno Esterol, Rio de Janeiro, So obviously this coming year
46:02
Moto GP is going back to Brazil to race, so that's going to be
46:08
good. Motegi's still there, Sepang
46:09
still there, Phillip Island still there, and Valencia's
46:11
still there. So really, it's only a couple of
46:13
tracks that have gone away, and the ones that have gone away are
46:15
either closed indefinitely or just not safe to race on dude.
46:21
Laguna, you forgot about your own home track.
46:23
Well, Laguna wasn't in the in the series at that time.
46:28
No, they didn't. Come to what, 8?
46:29
They didn't. Come to the US at that time.
46:34
Were you guys, I mean, again, I saw in hindsight how quickly
46:39
some of these guys got fast on the 500.
46:42
You look at Rossi and even his teammate from the previous year
46:46
to jump on on the 1000 and and you know, the seamless in a in a
46:52
sense. What are your thoughts on just
46:56
the adaptation of of of the bike and just watching it over the
46:59
series? And even though there was no
47:00
sound and we could talk about the sound a little bit because
47:02
there's some races that do have audio is is that just licensing?
47:08
Is it me or when you do watch the race in your head the voice
47:12
is in English when it's saying the guy?
47:18
When I watch it I actually hear a commentator in my head with an
47:21
English accent. I can't help it dude.
47:27
I think it's pretty cool. Like, yeah, I think like I said,
47:33
the 500 CCS, I feel like going into the new 2027 that's going
47:38
down to like the 800CC AMCC is kind of like that same version
47:42
to me. But I think they definitely
47:45
improved and learned a lot on those bikes.
47:49
Yeah. They seem not explaining how
47:51
Lewis explained it. Yeah.
47:52
But definitely hard to maintain. So you don't want to crash and
47:55
mess them up or anything like that.
47:57
And yeah, the season wasn't as long.
47:59
But for Washington, just the conversation, See, it's kind of
48:03
still the same vibe where they have like a celebrity guy there,
48:07
like a boxer or a dancer or someone there.
48:10
And so like that tradition I still see carries on.
48:14
So that side of it is still pretty cool.
48:17
But yeah, that's, I don't really know much about the 500 CCS and
48:22
how they maintain it. So I'm sure you can outgrow that
48:26
bike pretty fast. I want to say fast, but like,
48:29
you know, for the size of the track, you can definitely, you
48:34
know, Max out. And I'm sure that's why we got
48:37
up to 1000 CCS that we feel like it's so dangerous or we need to
48:41
go down a step. A500CC two stroke is a very
48:50
powerful motorcycle. Even though it's only 500 CCS
48:52
it'll put down a lot of power. The problem with A500CC is just.
48:56
If you think about a 2 stroke dirt bike, it's power band is
49:00
very spontaneous, like it's very, you know, it's not linear.
49:05
It has this like ring like it just you know, it will go from
49:09
zero to 100 really fast. So you have to be super smooth.
49:12
And I think that's what allowed a lot of the riders that went
49:15
from the 500 CCS to the four strokes adapt very easily
49:19
because they went from being super cautious on the throttle
49:21
because they didn't want to go launch to the moon.
49:24
Now that they're on a four stroke that delivers power in a
49:27
little bit more of a linear way and a little bit more
49:29
predictable way, they can actually go faster because they
49:32
don't have to have that hesitation when they first crack
49:35
the throttle and get back on the throttle after the braking.
49:38
They can actually start to roll smoothly because it's not going
49:40
to have that unpredictable spike in power that you have to kind
49:43
of manage through. So This is why you saw like
49:46
halfway through the season, I mean they when they really start
49:49
to getting adapted to how the throttle and how the motor
49:52
responds, they started, I mean dusting the five hundreds.
49:56
I mean they were beating the five hundreds by like laps.
49:59
Like this is back when GP riders used to get lapped.
50:03
You don't see that now, but back then GP riders would get.
50:06
Lapped. Lapped.
50:09
That power ban on that 2 stroke is definitely a scary moment.
50:14
So I know that for for sure, but definitely impressive for these
50:19
guys to have their, you know, the patients in the front to to
50:23
show their skill level to keep up.
50:25
But yes, it's it's that they I knew they had there was no time
50:30
to go to that, that ICC as you're saying.
50:34
No, before, you know, we, we see what Marquez is doing right now
50:41
in Moto GP and you know, Rossi wanted in 2002, won in 2001.
50:48
The next rider behind him was, you know, 140 something points
50:52
behind. Granted, Rossi only had 355
50:54
points. You know, there were some
50:56
talented riders in, in, in the sport back then.
50:59
Is it is there more talented riders today in, in Moto GP or
51:03
the bikes are just the bikes and teams are just closer together.
51:07
So it seems like we're we're on a more equal playing field
51:13
today. What are your thoughts, Reese?
51:18
Let me see how I put this, how we were talking before my uncle.
51:23
I think the riders back then were more of a dog.
51:29
It was more aliens back then than it is now.
51:33
The riders now they are very talented, but the riders back
51:41
then have more skills because of as like Lewis said, you had to
51:46
learn with the power ban on the 500 and with transitions you
51:52
into the thousand CC era very easily.
51:56
You know, it just the way the power came out with the lineage
51:58
and the 4th of you know, the fourth stroke and versus 2.
52:02
So and then a lot of the riders nowadays, as you know, we're all
52:07
based off of electronics. You know, once we go down to
52:10
the, you know, the 8:50 era back down again now and take away,
52:16
you're taking away some things from the rider now it's pretty
52:19
much putting the, you know, putting everything back in the
52:21
rider's hands. And now it's going to take a lot
52:24
more skill for you to actually be up there instead of just
52:28
twist A twist of the throttle. That makes sense.
52:31
So now, I mean, it's kind of hard that the guy nowadays, it's
52:36
like the machines is made the work a lot easier.
52:40
The machines made everything a lot easier versus what it was
52:43
back then. Back then you had to actually
52:45
work. Now you don't have to just kind
52:48
of twist the throttle and go and let them let the electronics
52:51
kick in and do it. Right, right.
52:54
What are your thoughts, Lewis? I I look at it like any sport
53:00
that evolves. The athletes in the sport evolve
53:04
with the sport. So at the time of the five
53:07
hundreds and the early adaptation of the one thousands,
53:11
there was a lot of talent because there wasn't a lot of
53:14
shared skill, you know, like you had to have your you had to come
53:18
with talent. But I think over the years we
53:23
have very skilled riders now, but very highly talented riders
53:29
are still a, a, a dime a dozen, if that makes sense.
53:33
The thing is now more guys know the technique to go fast and
53:37
learn the technique to go fast, but there's only that few riders
53:42
that come with the talent that not only go fast learning the
53:46
skill, but then can find that extra notch or that extra peg.
53:50
So like a Jorge Lorenzo, for instance, he came in a little
53:53
bit later on. So when the when the 1000 were
53:55
introduced, he was still in the 120 fives.
53:58
He was still a kid and he was seeing what they were doing in
54:01
the one thousands. And he was able to come into the
54:03
one thousands and quickly adapt to the motorcycles and become
54:06
very talented. Why?
54:07
Because he had the ability to see the people before him.
54:11
Before somebody saw somebody dunk in the NBA, it was all
54:14
layups because nobody could reach the the rim.
54:17
And as soon as one guy started dunking, everybody started
54:19
dunking because that was a new way to score a point.
54:23
And then some people just started taking Duncan for
54:25
granted. So then some guy started jumping
54:27
from the free throw line and that was a new talent that
54:30
nobody else saw. So all the guys are just coming
54:33
up under the rim and Duncan were like, oh damn, this dude is
54:35
Duncan from 8 feet away. I can't do that, I'm just going
54:38
to stay here. And then somebody came and
54:40
dunked from 9 feet away. So there's always going to be
54:42
skill that goes higher over time because you learn from the
54:45
people before you, but there's always going to be those one or
54:48
two talent guys that take that skill and have that couple extra
54:51
notch. I think we have a lot of very
54:53
skilled riders now because they've had 20 years of learning
54:57
what came before them. And then we do have a few
55:00
incredibly talented riders that are also skilled.
55:03
So you have your Quatararos and you have your Marquez's and you
55:08
have a few others, but like Alex Marquez, I would call them a
55:11
very skilled rider, not necessarily a very talented
55:14
rider. His brother's the talented
55:16
rider. He learned the skills that his
55:18
brother put down and then he adopted them, but he didn't come
55:21
up with them. And you know, I feel back then
55:24
there was a lot more talented riders because they didn't have
55:27
anything to latch onto and learn from.
55:31
They were the first ones. They were the the first man
55:33
walking on the moon, you know, So I got to figure this out.
55:36
So, oh, so if I clamp this hose, I'm going to die because there's
55:39
no air up here. Later on, the guys that went up
55:42
there like, Oh yeah, we know exactly what to do.
55:44
There's been so many people on the moon already.
55:46
We know exactly what to do. Right, TJ Man is, I mean, in
55:50
hindsight and we know how great Rossi is now, but just watching,
55:54
you know, if you just watched the, you know, up until 2002 A,
55:58
you know, can you tell that he was going to be as huge as he
56:03
was because he was smashing everybody in in O1 and O2 And as
56:09
we go on with the the next few seasons as well, I mean this
56:13
guy, this guy was his B. So I mean, is it, you know, we
56:17
see the comparison between Mark and and and Rossi, but and Rossi
56:21
had the era of the 500CC and had to have that skill set, a
56:26
sharper skill set than Marquez and Marquez don't know that era.
56:31
So I mean, does Rossi get the the notch because of that as
56:34
well? A2 Part TJ.
56:36
Yeah, I'm sure. Rossi looks down and Marquez
56:39
like, boy, you know what I've done?
56:41
I've I've bred you into this, you know, you gonna treat me
56:43
like that, but. Like it's like Jordan's saying
56:47
that one's the original. But yeah, I mean, like, I would
56:54
definitely see like if I was watching continuously after
56:57
2002. Like, yeah, Ross is that guy
57:00
because, you know, he was just, he was dominating pretty much.
57:05
But yeah, I would see him as, you know, being a Good Friday
57:10
going forward and winning championships for sure.
57:14
One thing I did notice, though, that the the grid age gap was
57:19
pretty widespread. So like Reese was saying, like
57:23
these guys out here is more of like the dogs out there and like
57:26
the aliens. And now Fridays these days are
57:29
more talented, but I felt like the age gap is a lot more or
57:34
broader. Like there's some 39 year olds,
57:36
37, some younger guys feel like now in the Moto GDP paddock like
57:41
this, the talent is just shrunk to a shorter age.
57:45
There's this select few that are still got their skill level at a
57:49
higher age. Like, you know, you know, some
57:53
riders like even in a world super bike, a baltista.
57:56
But yeah, I see now it's just the town has shrunk to a small
58:00
age gap and you know, we've learned everything, like Lewis
58:04
said, from, you know, everyone taking these these leaves of
58:08
papers and steps to experience something and and learn
58:13
something new. So.
58:14
Right, right. Reece, what are your thoughts
58:16
on, I mean it does the ability for Rossi to race in the 500CC
58:21
ever win a championship? Does he get the you know, I
58:24
think they have tied for titles right now, something like that.
58:26
Does that give a notch over over Marquez?
58:29
Like I, like I asked TJ, being able to, you know, ride the
58:34
500CC and be exceptional and then turn around in the in the
58:37
premier class, do the same thing.
58:40
It gives a little bit of a notch over it, just a little bit.
58:43
Not that much. I mean, like Lewis said, I mean,
58:47
Marquez grew up watching Rossi, so he's learned a lot from him.
58:53
And he took what he learned and just enhanced it to another
58:58
level. And, you know, but what Rossi
59:02
has done, accomplishing his career and what he has done for
59:06
the sport, that's what gives Rossi that little bit of a notch
59:09
up because no one else has done that.
59:14
And for what he has accomplished, what he has done,
59:17
yeah, Marquez, we can look back and say Marquez has done where
59:21
he's won with a Honda, but then he now won with a Ducati.
59:25
But now you still have Rossi, where Rossi's won the title with
59:29
the Honda, the one year to switch manufacturers the same
59:33
the next year to go win the title.
59:35
That's following year with a new brand that where that brand,
59:39
which was Yamaha was down, was one of the worst brands on the
59:43
grid, was down in the dumps was not where it was, but it took
59:47
that brand to a whole, to a whole nother venue.
59:50
Right. Yeah, and and he kept winning,
59:52
too, so it wasn't like he goes, you know?
59:57
What are your thoughts, Lewis? You want to add to anything that
1:00:01
TJ Reese or or you know, argue against?
1:00:04
No, I mean, I won't argue with them.
1:00:06
Rossi has definitely done, you know, stepped on more unclaimed
1:00:11
ground than anyone else. I mean, you're talking about out
1:00:13
of the the one O 125 championship, a 250
1:00:16
championship, 500 championship, 1000 championship, 800
1:00:21
championship, back to A-1000 championship.
1:00:23
I mean the dude has won on almost every configuration on a
1:00:26
motorcycle known to man short of winning the Baja on an adventure
1:00:31
touring bike. I mean, when it comes to winning
1:00:34
on a motorcycle, the guy set the standard very, very high.
1:00:38
The one thing I'll say is that standard that he set, you know,
1:00:42
all records are meant to be broken.
1:00:44
You know, the only the only record that hasn't been broken
1:00:46
to this point right now is Giaco Gomo Augustini's overall title
1:00:50
run. But you know, again, this is
1:00:52
we're talking about a very long time ago when he was the most
1:00:56
talented rider in the grid with the best bike in the grid.
1:01:00
So he had, you know, a very long run where 1, he was lucky never
1:01:04
got hurt, but two, he was the right guy in the right bike at
1:01:07
the right moment and he just killed it.
1:01:10
Rossi was the right guy on every bike, on every motor, just
1:01:16
killing it, making it happen. And then same thing Marquez
1:01:21
learned from what he saw from Rossi.
1:01:23
All these guys learned from what they saw from Rossi and then
1:01:26
they were able to go that next step.
1:01:28
I mean, I think if Lorenzo would have stayed in racing longer, he
1:01:32
would have had a few more championships because Lorenzo
1:01:34
was an incredible rider. I think Casey Stoner, if he
1:01:38
didn't drop out of the Moto GP championship, he would have had
1:01:40
a couple more championships as well.
1:01:42
But he just, he didn't have it in them.
1:01:44
So, you know, by default, Marquez is the last man standing
1:01:49
among, you know, the, the, the Mount Everest of of the best of
1:01:53
the best. And I think at the end of the
1:01:55
day, he'll probably exceed Rossi or match Rossi in championships,
1:02:00
but he will never match Rossi in the impact that Rossi made in
1:02:05
bringing the sport one to the mainstream and changing the
1:02:09
perception of the sport even to the people below him, even to
1:02:12
the kids that look up to him. Because you know, 1 of Rossi's
1:02:15
famous sayings when he started doing the leg dangle is why do
1:02:19
you do the leg dangle? And Rossi says, I can't explain
1:02:23
why I do it, but I can tell you why everybody else does it
1:02:28
because I do it. So that's that's the kind of,
1:02:33
you know, rider that he was. And you you can never take that
1:02:36
away from him. Controversy, no controversy
1:02:38
whatever. Even though Marquez ends up
1:02:41
winning more championships in Giacomo Augustini.
1:02:44
At the end of the day, I look at it the same way I look at the
1:02:48
the LeBron and Jordan debate. LeBron just has more points
1:02:53
because he's been around longer. But at the end of the day, who's
1:02:56
the guy that made everybody in the in the NBAA millionaire?
1:03:01
Because before Michael Jordan, millionaires were a dime in a
1:03:04
dozen In the NBA. Now everybody's a millionaire.
1:03:07
Why? Because Michael Jordan set this
1:03:09
new bar for what you get paid and how you play and how
1:03:12
intensified you go to the sport and everything else.
1:03:14
And that's what Rossi did. He set the pavement where
1:03:17
Marquez can get $22 million a year to ride a bike and and all
1:03:22
this other stuff. We don't buy, we don't buy
1:03:25
Lebrons, we buy Jordans. Yeah, man, I see Lebrons at the
1:03:29
close out aisle at the Nike outlet all the time.
1:03:33
Every color, every size, always available.
1:03:36
Always, always available it is. It's interesting to hear, not
1:03:39
just here, we'll hear and see the players that said if Michael
1:03:44
Jordan wasn't around, I would have won a ring.
1:03:47
And then the same players that say it around LeBron James when,
1:03:50
you know, everybody had to go through him to try to get a ring
1:03:53
and but a different caliber players that are saying this.
1:03:58
I mean, anybody who had to go through LeBron to get a ring
1:04:00
probably got a ring because he didn't keep too many people from
1:04:04
winning rings. But you know for a fact, you
1:04:07
know, Michael Jordan definitely kept a lot of people from
1:04:10
winning rings. You know, there's, you know,
1:04:12
Charles Barkley will tell you, you know, he loves him and he
1:04:16
hates him because he doesn't have a ring.
1:04:18
There's a lot of guys that when he retired for those couple of
1:04:21
years to go play basketball, try to take advantage and get as
1:04:23
much as they can while that moment was there.
1:04:25
Because as soon as he came back, yeah, the Rockets looked
1:04:28
unbeatable. And then as soon as he came
1:04:30
back, one on another winning streak and kept guys from
1:04:33
winning again. Man, I think that's it.
1:04:39
We're over a little bit overtime guys.
1:04:42
What are your thoughts on the 2002 series series season?
1:04:46
Anything I miss that you want you you want to bring out a
1:04:49
point out besides the amount of Japanese that were on the grid
1:04:54
for that year and stuff like that.
1:04:56
Any, anything you want to add and or maybe tell the world that
1:04:59
they should go watch these old series because it is still, even
1:05:01
though there's no commentary. And like Lewis says, kind of
1:05:06
like when when you're reading subtitles, after a while, you
1:05:09
don't even realize you're you're reading or hearing the words.
1:05:13
You understand what's going on though.
1:05:15
What are your thoughts DJ on that before we get out of here?
1:05:19
Yeah, I mean, I thought it was pretty cool to go back on on
1:05:22
like for me history, you know, to to see like the evolution of
1:05:27
the game, you know, and you know, just by says in still
1:05:31
relevance, like I was looking like Proton had a bike that it's
1:05:36
not really you know, it's it's gone.
1:05:39
You know, like, I don't know if they like transferred the KTMI
1:05:41
was seeing or and and or like NBA Guster some some history on
1:05:45
that I want to read upon. But Proton you can see it at the
1:05:48
Barbie Museum. Yeah, yeah, I was serious.
1:05:52
Like they have it at the Barbie. Museum yeah, but it's cool to
1:05:55
see like Kenny Roberts got a bike, you know, for, you know,
1:05:59
named after him and stuff like that.
1:06:01
And I know this penalty has continued all the way to I think
1:06:05
2019 and that's kind of like around the time I started.
1:06:08
But the ride through penalty sucks.
1:06:11
So like, you know, when whenever you get into like something, a
1:06:15
ride through penalty, your race is done.
1:06:17
Like, like, you know, so it's cool like to see like how we
1:06:21
evolved and the long life penalty now.
1:06:23
Now for people who are just getting into it, just knowing
1:06:26
that, you know, it's pretty cool to see like where we evolved
1:06:29
this. Nice, nice.
1:06:31
I agree. What are your thoughts, Reese?
1:06:35
I mean, it's cool to go back and like TJ said, it's always cool
1:06:37
to go back and there's, you know, it's the same.
1:06:40
You never know where you're going till you know where you've
1:06:42
been and to to know where we were when initially started,
1:06:48
like he's even going to O2 to see who we are now, to see what
1:06:52
the bikes evolved, to see what the riders that the equipment,
1:06:55
the technology, to see where everything is.
1:06:58
It's just a a unique atmosphere. The know that, you know, this
1:07:03
industry can grow to that to that extent is almost we were
1:07:08
almost we're we're almost at F1 races.
1:07:11
You know, electronics, you know, that's technically where we are,
1:07:14
you know, Morelli system, all that.
1:07:16
And that comes from F1 racing and you know, it's just
1:07:21
surprisingly where you know where the series is gone.
1:07:24
And like, you know, the, like TJ says, long lap penalties, you
1:07:28
know, the double lap penalty, you know, it's just there's an
1:07:32
era of stuff that we didn't have back then.
1:07:35
Now we do have, you know, rider safety airbag suits and, you
1:07:39
know, winglets and ride height devices.
1:07:42
So it's kind of nice to see where we're at.
1:07:45
All right, all right, Key maker, the guy that delivered the
1:07:49
blueprint for Moto GP. For me, the one thing I when I
1:08:00
look back at these names, you know, I remember watching these
1:08:04
guys race live and knowing how many of these riders are no
1:08:08
longer with us because of, you know, these guys truly were
1:08:13
risking it all. They were on tracks that didn't
1:08:16
have the safety we had. They were on bikes that didn't
1:08:19
have the electronics that, you know, do protect riders from a
1:08:22
lot of the crashes that we used to have previously.
1:08:25
They didn't have the safety equipment.
1:08:26
They didn't have the airbags. I mean, these guys were
1:08:28
literally some of these guys were literally smoking a six
1:08:31
pack in the garage before they got on the bike because if the
1:08:34
bike wouldn't kill them, they can't they the cancer would kill
1:08:37
them. I mean, you know, Marlboro, all
1:08:41
these cigarette companies were sponsoring these guys because
1:08:43
they were using the product. But looking back at like guys
1:08:47
like, you know, the Girocado and Abe and all these guys that lost
1:08:51
their lives doing this, you know, it's always good to go
1:08:55
back and see how talented these guys were and and, you know,
1:08:59
appreciate what we have now because these guys didn't have
1:09:03
it then. You know, run off back then was
1:09:07
10 feet and I might hit that wall.
1:09:12
You know, we look at now like, you know, the last time I was in
1:09:15
Italy, I was looking at how we take data, crash data, and we
1:09:19
share the crash data from the suits with the FIM.
1:09:24
And this is how the FIM then is able to take this data and
1:09:28
calculate how far back they need to push runoff areas or if they
1:09:32
need to add gravel or if they need to pave a certain part of
1:09:36
the area. So if you do run off, you have
1:09:38
the ability to ride the bike a little bit or So like all this
1:09:41
data, this is stuff that's all happened in the past 20 years.
1:09:44
Back then, these guys were just wake up in the morning, strap on
1:09:47
their helmet and, you know, kiss their family goodbye.
1:09:51
And then it might be the last time, but they still did it,
1:09:53
man. They went out there and they
1:09:55
rode their asses off and these bikes weren't slow.
1:09:58
They were as fast. I mean, maybe they didn't have
1:10:00
the top speed some of the bikes have now, but they didn't have
1:10:02
the electronics they have now either.
1:10:04
They were still pushing it, man. So do yourself a favor.
1:10:07
If you're a true fan of the sport, you don't have to watch
1:10:10
the whole season, but just go back and catch one or two races.
1:10:13
You're definitely going to see a lot of crashes because there was
1:10:15
no electronics. I mean, high sides were like
1:10:20
every weekend there was at least a dozen high sides, you know,
1:10:22
every. Weekend they crawl.
1:10:24
A shame off the track. We used to have a, we used to
1:10:28
have a chart of like broken collarbones a year because that
1:10:32
was the most broken bone. And in this time, I mean, almost
1:10:36
every guy that raced in this era ended their their careers with
1:10:40
plates in both shoulders because they would always break both
1:10:43
collarbones, break arms, broken legs.
1:10:45
I mean this was like The Walking wounded and they got up and
1:10:51
still went and raced again, man. Oh yeah, it was your.
1:10:54
Depreciation. Yeah, You know, we, we kind of,
1:10:57
you know, make not make fun of Alex Ren's limping around, but
1:11:00
limping around in a paddock. You like if you watch the
1:11:03
highlights and stuff, you see the guys.
1:11:05
There's a lot of limping. If you weren't limping, if you
1:11:07
were a rookie man. If you were a rookie, you
1:11:09
weren't even racing, if you weren't even racing back then.
1:11:13
You were a mechanic or you were a rookie.
1:11:15
That was the only two dudes that wasn't limping.
1:11:19
You know, it's funny, like nowadays, like when someone
1:11:23
noticed that I was a rookie on the track because I had no
1:11:25
scratches on my seat. So like, you know, like it was
1:11:28
like a saying at club racing that you know, like my suit was
1:11:31
too new. So now people have got to roll
1:11:33
around on the ground and get posed and stuff like that, so.
1:11:39
I remember Louis got on me when I first came to the track with a
1:11:42
new suit. He like, are you a new guy?
1:11:44
Nice. White suit.
1:11:52
Yeah, I, I, I definitely agree with you guys saying Lewis about
1:11:57
watching it. It is cool to know where things
1:12:01
started. It's always good to know where
1:12:02
you come from personally, but from a sports, if you're into
1:12:05
sports or anything. So it was good to know the
1:12:07
history of it. And if you're, if you're paying
1:12:09
for motogp.com to watch races and you have nothing else to do,
1:12:14
now's, now's a great time to catch up on all the, the, all
1:12:17
the fun stuff and learn about some of these writers.
1:12:19
And you can see where Gracie, when Gracie genie started and
1:12:22
what that was like. You'll see what pawns started
1:12:24
and what they was like and all these other teams that are now,
1:12:28
you know, beautiful large Moto GP teams.
1:12:31
They were they were just satellite teams back in the day.
1:12:33
So it's definitely worth to watch.
1:12:36
My name is Rex 45. It's the bee forever cool
1:12:38
podcast. We got TJ with two wheels and
1:12:41
coffee. Reese from Attack, Yamaha, the
1:12:43
Rio, Luis Ortega, Peace. Peace, Peace.