It took searching for a place to hold a motocross test to really drive this point home for me. Here we are, supposedly in the hub of off-road activity, and I could find only two tracks in the Los Angeles area that would allow ATVs without requiring that we rent the entire place for a hefty sum. That's two out of about a dozen, to put it in perspective for you. Is this some kind of anti-ATV conspiracy headed by the two-wheeled side? We always hear the usual excuses, such as, "They're too dangerous," or my favorite, "Quads ruin the tracks." But a couple of tracks have managed to run both two- and four-wheeled motocrossers without too much drama, so what's the deal?
As I watched the numbers dwindle-two more tracks joined the no-ATV list in August alone-I pondered the same thing. One park shut down its ATV-specific track because too much dust was being raked up. In my book, that excuse came partially out of laziness to keep the place adequately watered and partially because the clay soil dries and gets super silty on top. However, there had to be a bigger issue causing this shortage. If other parts of the country enjoy a thriving ATV moto environment, as I'm told, then why is this area-one that enjoys a rather robust sport ATV scene-so barren?
I discovered the real reason is basic economics. After all, track owners are business people simply trying to make a buck. To be successful they need a good number of riders to show up, pay the gate fee and ride. At $20 a pop, it takes a more than a few quad enthusiasts to make enough revenue to pay the wages of the track workers, cover the fuel cost of the water truck and the water bill itself, budget in all of the equipment needed to build and maintain the facility and write checks toward a host of other expenses that come with doing business. And then there's the monster that really costs-liability insurance, thanks to those clowns who ride over their head, get injured or killed and then seek monetary restitution for their actions. With daily insurance rates and expenses adding up to around $350 per day, you can do the math. It takes an army of ATVers to make opening the track for use financially beneficial to the track owners.
A solution is out there. One is for the owners to either allocate certain times just for ATVs or alternate the ATVs with the bikes since allowing the two on the track at the same time elicits evidently ghastly expensive insurance premiums and other issues. The obvious improbability of this occurring brings us to a possible resolution. This one requires a lot from you, the reader, who wants to spin laps on a motocross track. If you want a track open to ATVs, let the owners know, and if they do carve out a day or even part of a day for us four-wheelin' moto guys, then show up! Kind of like the opposite of the oft-repeated line from that baseball movie with Kevin Costner: "If you build it, he will come." Instead, if you come, they will build it. It's just like trying to keep the trails open; you have to get involved to reap the rewards. Hopefully, there are enough motoheads out there to form a loud enough voice to convince the skeptical track owners there really is a demand for ATVs on the track that will make them money-because that's how this economic problem will get solved. Bryan Nylander