By Larry Lawrence

In the early 1990s when I first started doing media work in motorcycle racing one of the old veterans in the PR field told me motorcycle racing was always going to be a niche sport. I was sort of shocked to hear this coming from him since this person had been doing PR in motorcycle racing for years. I, on the other hand, knew better. I came in thinking I was going to be the guy who took motorcycle road racing to NASCAR levels of popularity.

In the mid-1990s Jeremy McGrath was as mainstream as it gets. Supercross soared, but even with McGrath was Supercross a mainstream sport? Most would say no.

It’s nearly 20-year later, and while I still don’t quite have the jaded view of that grizzled racing PR veteran, I have come to the realization that the popularity of motorcycle racing is organic – meaning it ebbs and flows naturally. I’m not saying the sport is faddish, but it’s something close to that. I still believe consistent, and persistent media work can help move things forward, but if any form of motorcycle racing is to become more popular, it’s going to be because a particular rider catches the attention of the general public, like Lance Armstrong for instance, and not because people finally catch on to the beauty, skill, athleticism and bravery associated with the sport.

There have been so many milestones in our sport that once met were going to catapult us into the stratosphere. I used to constantly hear assertions like – “If only we had TV Superbike racing would really take off,” or “If we had a major sponsor we’d get the kind of money it takes to promote motocross,” or “If the AMA only did better PR we’d get thousands more to the races,” or “If the riders got paid real money people would pay attention,” and so on.

MJand me. Michael Jordan's involvment in motorcycle road racing has raised the level of awareness of the sport only slightly.

I’m sure you’ve heard the same thing. Here’s a recent example: A couple of years ago how many times did you hear “Now that Michael Jordan owns a road racing team the sport is really going to take off.”?

The fact is there is an ounce of truth to all those statements, but the reality is motorcycle racing has been on TV since the start of television. Over the years it’s been well sponsored by some of the biggest Fortune 500 companies out there; the AMA, periodically, did an outstanding job of promoting the sport to the media; we’ve had big money races that attracted nothing but yawns; we’ve had riders who make millions; we’ve had riders who became household names and there have been well-known personalities involved in the sport going back to Clark Gable in the 1940s, who never managed to quite put racing “over the top.”

Motorcycle racing has its level. It’s unlikely to ever reach NASCAR levels of popularity. Does that mean I’ve given up on promoting motorcycle racing? Absolutely not. As I said motorcycle racing has its level. I believe that level can be nudged in one direction or another depending on if it’s being properly promoted or neglected. At this moment I see some areas of the sport being promoted decently, and others being uncared for in a terribly neglectful way.

More details in a coming column.

Thanks for reading and please leave your thoughts.