DIVERSITY

Many people, especially with all the new people coming in, who didn’t grow up on racing that don’t know much about it, can be intimidating to jump in and learn. It’s something where everyone else seems to know all the Insider language and the culture. So it can be intimidating, and therefore I think we have opportunities to educate. So let’s develop content, including where it’s live streaming the races.

More content and storytelling behind the scenes about the Drivers. How did they get into it? What training and preparation did they do to prepare for it? Share a bit more of the human-interest story to help broaden the appeal. And once they are invited in, show them a path forward that is accessible to them.

SCOT HARDEN

That’s something that we’ve been thinking about for a while as well. It’s great to hear it. It reinforces that we take a lot for granted, having grown up in the Sport. We need to put ourselves on the other side of the fence and look in. I’ll bet it’s pretty intimidating. We need to break those barriers down. And obviously, one way is through our class structures.

PAM KERMISH

Go to our YouTube channel and watch those Trails Talk videos. We should be doing the same for racing. Create something for people who haven’t aren’t as familiar with racing. It’s about meeting them where they’re at.

ROBBIE PIERCE

For as long as I can remember, people always talked about the golden days of off-road and off-road racing, and that it is all in the past? I’ve had this conversation with people before; I’m not so sure that that’s true. I’m not so sure that now isn’t the golden years of off-road racing. And people say, well, how do we take desert racing to the next level? What if it’s already there, right? I mean, we’ve accomplished a lot. Maybe it’s just about changing your perspective and seeing the world more positively.

If I could change anything, I want to slow it down just a little bit so that we can preserve and enjoy what we already have. Enjoy the spirit of camaraderie, pre-running together, the shared experience of the pits and the other teams. Too much of a good thing isn’t necessarily a good thing. It’s always been a recreational sport. We’re all recreational racers. I don’t care who we are.

I don’t know if that’s limiting… it seems all forms of motorsports want to grow; I don’t care if it’s Top Fuel or NASCAR or Off-Road, but it seems there needs to be a balance there.

GREG COTTRELL

The shorter events, the more concise they are and the more local where there is adequate lodging, not out in the middle of nowhere that helps us. We do 92 events a year. We have a lot of support trailers traveling all across the country doing events. Our team works very hard. They need basic accommodations.

Event coordinators and promoters need to take into consideration that we need infrastructure out there to function properly. On the other side of things, when we come down to the financial aspect as a company, we are always looking for more exposure.

We need more racing televised. We need more spectators. Yes, you have the race clientele in front of you. That’s great. They’re important. You have the race clientele, of course, but they want sponsorship, which is fine, but you can’t give everything away for free. I understand that. Okay, on the other side, though, you have to balance it out for it to make business sense. Now, what makes sense? I love venues that offer racing and spectators.

Currently, it’s very small as far as the expansion of people outside our industry. We love off-road racing. I’ve been offroad racing since my dad first raced the Baja 1000 in the late 70s. So I’ve been in it to win it from day one. And the thing is this, I’d love more exposure. I’d love an opportunity to get more people involved, to experience what we experienced.

That’s where television comes in; I’ll never forget growing up with Wide World of Sports. When they had the television coverage of Baja, I watched that. When they covered racing at Riverside Raceway, I watched. Oh my gosh. That was so much fun. It was just incredible as a kid. Those were some of the highlights of my time. How do we get that back? No question about it, we need to televise more events.

One group of people that is amazing is Desert Vets Racing. They are an amazing group. It’s just an awesome program, and it’s so exciting. Every time they put another vet in that car, we have a new member of the off-road racing community. They want to do it again and again. How can we expand that? I don’t know what that magic answer is or how to do that, but I guarantee if we had more groups like Desert Vets racing out there, we’d be home free.

BRIAN GODFREY

We make specific products for off-road racing and off-road racers. We have a whole group of dedicated people to service, support and sell to that market. And we offer, as you know, racer programs, including supporting quite a few athletes that are helping us drive our brand.

We intend to continue to do that. Our efforts to expand outside of traditional desert racing into International racing are our focus. This impacts everything we do, including the type of product we make. We invest quite a bit in R&D through racing. Our goal is to leverage everything we do through racing to support the brand. And from what I can see, off-road racing is doing very well right now. I would imagine the interest level is at an all-time high.

The only issue right now negatively impacting racing is that the experience has been altered due to COVID. I just did the NORRA race, for example, and it just wasn’t as fun not having the parties and not having everybody in the same space for a driver’s meeting. Like me, I think most people look forward to those activities as much as the race itself. These are people with the same interests and I want to be near them and share my passion. I think that’s something all promoters need to consider as they emerge from COVID regulations, putting a considerable effort into getting everyone back together. Make it fun— as much fun for the people that aren’t behind the wheel as the people that are behind the wheel.

Editor’s Note: The information shared by the participants in this article is greatly appreciated by Dealernews Magazine. We hope it helps provide a little more insight into the off-road industry as a whole. We sincerely appreciate the time they spent sharing their views.

AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Scot Harden has enjoyed a nearly 40-year career as one of the world’s top off-road racers and compiled a set of records that few can match. From 1971 until his final professional race in 2007 — at the age of 51 — Harden mastered a wide range of off-road disciplines. He also has compiled an impressive executive management resume within the motorcycle industry as a brand builder, race team manager, sales professional and product planner with such companies as Husqvarna, KTM, BMW, Zero Motorcycles and Best in the Desert. Harden also is owner of Harden Offroad, a business consulting practice. He was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2008.

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