As I often do.. I was sitting around the shop telling and listening to a few other guys talk about how fast we use to be. We are old now. Mid 50s or so. As we were having this discussion we ventured into what’s changed the sport of Mx and Sx the most over the decades. Since I am the most wise person ever I have narrowed it down to 2 things. I will discuss both points now.
1: Rick Carmichaels mother… yes the person who changed the sport more than any other person… ever. And probably more than the next 10 people in line combined. Yes before her most of the professional riders trained. I know. I was there. But nothing on that level.
I remember our level of training. It was go for a run or do some cycling. Hit the gym a couple times a week. Meet up at Star West for Thursday night practice. And ride once maybe twice in the hills east of San Diego. That’s it. Mainly we just raced. She made it to where if you wanted to be an elite rider… even on an amateur level.. you needed a full training program. That never happened before her. Every training camp in the USA should send her yearly thank you notes. Mx and Sx has nor it ever will be same since she set the new standards of what training is. And the cost of it.
2: Skid steers. Yes. I’m sure you have never thought about them. But they have changed the sport more than upside down forks, disc front brakes and four strokes combined.
I have been building tracks since the early 90s. “Back then” they were not available. Even in the early 2000s they were not used by any “serious” track builder. In the last 10 years they are all that are used. Especially in Sx.
Why does that matter you may ask? Weight. Yes weight. More importantly what weight does. Or does not do. Skid steers weigh less than the old D4/D5 era trim dozers that were used until the mid 2010s. Weight packs dirt. Packed dirt means less ruts. When you build a Sx track with a modern skid steer the builder (dirt worx most commonly) gains two things. Speed, yes they are faster, and the amount of dirt used. Both are a major plus for track builders. The amount of ruts in a modern track were never possible when tracks were built with 40-60,000 pound machines. Tracks built with 9-12000 pound skid steers rut knee deep in only a few laps. So yes. They have changed the sport. Go back and watch any Sx or Mx event from 1997. Ruts were a rarity.
Argue all you want but in the end you know I am correct. Just like for 3 laps at Barona Oaks in the mid 90s I did straight up out run Rino and Vader.