Ask Ping!
Friday, October 28, 2011 | 9:50 AM
ODI dates back to the 1980’s as the leader in grip manufacturing. Focusing primarily on the bmx and mountain bike industries through the 90’s and early 2000’s, ODI re-entered the motocross scene when they developed the patented lock-on grip system that eliminates wire and glue. Continuing to advance the way riders hold on to their bikes, ODI has worked closely with the teams they support such as Troy Lee Designs to create the product that is now being used by some of the top teams in the industry.
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Dear Ping,
I’m a father of a newborn baby boy and would love for my son to follow in my footsteps. I never made it as a pro rider and I don't have millions to spend on my kid’s racing program, so I’m asking you, what do I need to do to get my son to the FACTORY level? How young is too young to start? Should I be reading Racer X magazines to him at night in his crib?
Thanks,
Mike
Electronic Ping is a great bedtime story.
Well, from the looks of that photo you are doing the right things so far. He’s got a good magazine to study, a set of grips and a confidence-building outfit. Good stuff. Now if you can get the angry, moto-dad scream down and brush up on tossing things across the room as you belittle your little guy for finishing second you should have all the ingredients for grooming a champion. Or you could try encouraging him to participate in the things he enjoys and see where that leads you both. Maybe it’s the PGA tour instead of the AMA MX and SX series. Would that be so bad? If you are absolutely unwilling to bend here I will pass along your email to Ricky Carmichael’s mom and she can give you some tips for raising a winner.
PING
Dear Ping,
What are your thoughts on the current riding styles of our top motocross riders versus twenty or thirty years ago? I personally enjoyed the flashy styles of 1981—open-faced helmets, drab riding gear, and insane whips (handlebar turned to the right OR left). All joking aside, today's technology and advancements most likely allow riders to travel at a faster pace over certain obstacles, but can also be attributed to riding style changes, such as the scrub. Is that the real reason though? Is it because the hippies of the '70s weren't smart enough to scrub every jump they approached? Could you imagine Bob Hannah attempting to scrub the face of a massive triple for the first time? And instead his rear tire hooks-up and sends him 150 feet into the hot dog stands! With that said, what is your prediction for future riding style change?
Adam
Pennsylvania
Mad scrub skills or nasty getoff? Too close to call.
As a tip of my cap to the heroes of yesterday I would like to direct your attention to this photo I found. Look at that thing and try to tell me they didn’t know how to scrub a jump. That scrub makes anything Stewart can muster look short-bus status. He’s going to throw a hand drag just for gits and shiggles. Hang on a sec. You know, maybe that guy is just completely out of control and on his way to auguring in like a field plow. I don’t know for sure.
Have you ridden old bikes, Adam? And I don’t mean, like, old as in 2001 RM250. I’m talking about a bike with no radiators, drum brakes and footpegs so razor thin you could shave with them before you went out on a date. Have you ever ridden a bike that vibrated and handled so badly it felt like you mounted a pair of Renthals on a Home Depot paint shaker? That’s what the heroes of days gone by had to deal with. They were more concerned with trying to keep their scrap heap piles of junk from flicking them off like a stubborn booger than turning two doubles into a quad, skimming whoops or scrubbing jumps. Maybe those racers were dealing with some residual effects of their parents smoking dope 24/7 throughout the 1960s and dropping acid in their shaggin’ wagon vans on the way to the local races. How does that NOT affect you? But you know what I love about motocross? The one thing that has never changed is the competitiveness and drive inside the very best riders in our sport. DeCoster, Hannah, Johnson, Stanton, Ward, Bailey, McGrath, Carmichael, Stewart, Carsten, and Villopoto all share a fiercely competitive spirit and more heart than the others they lined up against. That’s what won them titles. Those characteristics transcend time and as a fan of motocross you can appreciate them no matter what kind of bike they were riding during whatever period of time. What does the future hold in terms of riding style and advancement? I can’t imagine that it’s possible to go faster than the very best are going right now. But I’ll bet Bob Hannah said the same thing back when he was killing it on his YZ490 with a Mono-Cross swingarm. Of course he probably said it with more attitude and swagger than I ever could. And after he got done saying it he probably grabbed the closest good-looking girl he saw and made out with her. Bob rules.
PING
Dear Ping,
I have asked Matthes this question and I would love to hear your response. If the FIM, FELD, and the AMA came to you and asked you what three things you would change about supercross, what would they be and why?
Love the podcast shows with you Weege, and Matthes. Keep up the good work!
Jason Rambo
Oh, no... where's my workboots?!
Wow, where do I begin? I mean, just seeing the DVD cover sends me into Vietnam-style flashbacks and I break into a cold sweat. The other night it came on Cinemax and the next thing I knew I woke up in my closet wearing nothing but steel-toe work boots cutting all the shoes in half in my closet with a serrated butcher knife. The two-stroke sounds over four-stroke motorcycles, ridiculous editing, and Team Nami are just too much for any movie to overcome, regardless of how amazing your stunt doubles are. And that scene where the hot, blonde chick clowns the younger brother by nonchalantly throwing a backflip during a morning ride was just too much. Add in my ridiculous cameo as Tyler Evans’ wingman and it just adds up to be embarrassing. So, I’d say pull it from every video store and let’s try again. There you have it. You were talking about the movie, right?
PING
Got a question for Ping? E-mail him at [email protected].
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Check out THE COMEBACK KIDS
in our Latest issue of Racer X available now.
Absent from the supercross tour since 2008, the KTM Junior Supercross Challenge remains a favorite of fans nationwide. And now it’s back! Page 136.
Look for the verified symbol 
Impulse Studios
What ever happened to the planned "Motocrossed" sequel with Alana Austin?
Nice answer the "style" question, I was raised on Bultaco's/ Harley Baja 100's. Have done my fair share of "out of control scrubbing" .Too bad most posters here won't know who Barry Carsten was.
Ping when You Mentioned Carsten were you talking about Barry Carsten? There is a name I haven't heard in a while. I raced in D6 and D3 back in NY and PA growing up and Carsten was always at Hurricane Hills and Broome for the state championships. I used to love watching him ride the East coast 125 supercoss as well. Never did get a chance to meet him but I loved seeing a guy from my local track racing on TV, as I kid I really looked up to him. That guy was all heart..
Hope you were talking about Barry, if not please disregard the previous rant..
Adam- the biggest difference in bikes now vs. way back is the suspension. It was horrible! I'm not talking about a BSA with 4" of travel. When the long suspension movement started bikes pretty quickly settled on 12" or so of travel. This is not the same 12" you enjoy today. It looks the same but trust me, it could beat the living hell out of you. It was barely OK at absorbing jumps that aren't much different that are being jumped today. Moreover, if you did miss, even a little bit, even if you didn't crash, there was a high likelyhood of getting hurt, even breaking something. Ask Jeff Ward about his ankles and Red Bud.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the motors. Many, many times they were just powerfull enough to clear a double. That's if you lined up just right, limited wheel spin, and pinned the f*&k out of it. If you missed, well, see the previous paragraph.
So, some of the technique is no doubt advanced from back in the day but a lot of that advancement came from advances in the suspension which enabled riders to dream up new ways to ride.
Ping, you forgot to advise the new moto Dad to start practicing is "air throttle" asap. Anyone who knows 50cc racing, knows that the kids whose Dads are screaming with a full on air throttle are the future champs.
Carsten is still racing almost every weekend at D6 events, now with his son. And I believe we'll see him at the Winter Ams here in Fl. again this year.
And Ping, despite everything you said about Supercross the Movie, it's still my all time favorite! That blonde is SO smoking hot!
In that pic above the guy is not gonna do a hand drag he is gonna push the bike back up and then whip it the other way. Gee Ping I thought you kew how we did it in the old days? Guess Im gonna have to make a video called motocros 101 by Welker. No copywrite infringement intended.
Also Bobs Hannah's problem was the "The stinkin bike wont go any faster"
Big Bore Barry Carsten. This guy's "125" with a stock pipe was pulling the PC bikes down deep plowed straights against guys 30 lbs lighter than him. But then I could name alot of guys on the National tour that were doing that but some were more obvious than others. Big Bore Barry!! And yeah Barry was still racing up until 2009 when I stopped anyway. I raced him alot at the Winter Ams in Florida in 08 and 09 but I don't know about now days.
The old scrub photo above... It looks like the aftermath of a pulling a tear-off gone bad :(.......One thing I miss in my old age of 40 is my 1980 RM60... Metal tank ,dual shocks, 6 speed tranny buzz bomb, perfect for a 9 yr old.......we went into the Suzuki shop in 1980 dad bought a 60 for me, 80 for my brother and a 125 for himself.....all 3 for $2200 bucks..... A lot has changed in the motocross world, it use to be a family sport, now the whole family has to work to buy 1 bike :(
When I read that list of bad ass rider's I was thinking, "Who the hell is Carsten? Why is he listed after Stewart and before Villopoto?" For once a suitable answer was in the comments section!
Dont worry Ping, there are hardly any more video stores...sadly, Amazon will always be able to find it
The picture is former factory Kawasaki rider,
Wyman Priddy mid-air in a 65-70mph crash at Kingsville,TX
(10/21/73)on his 450 Kawa. Steve Wise had led him for 3 or so laps and he passed him on this back straight-of-way. He was knocked unconscious after going sideways over a small 3' jump and was taken away by ambulance (as I recall).
Surprisingly he had only one broken rib!!! Note: The day before this,he taught an MX school to 50 eager,enthuiastic riders,spending considerable
time at this section of the track and the jump especially,telling them how
to go fast through this section without crashing!!! Photo was taken by
Tommy Gunter (Cycle News) and it may have appeared as a small photo in that periodical.
this info was taken from "Texas Vintage Racing Club" website
Ahhh the good old days ....clutches that took two hands to pull and still drug on the rubber band starting line. Carbs that soaked you or at least your boots to get it primed up, seats that were either wide and low or to hard (ktm ) or soft (ktm) . Massive 35 mm forks with no rebound ,shocks that started to top out 10 minutes into a 45+2 end of day in the dust and sun going down 500cc moto.Squealing locking non stopping MAICO brakes.greasing the ball bearing steering head or swingarm bushings....REAL GAS from the pump. 300x21 metzlers(maybe the longest lasting front tire ever) Chains slapping the spring mounted tensioner and rims so soft the spokes needed done every moto. Sometimes riding my rmz450 I start laughing just because it seems unreal I was there every weekend on that sh*t ,lovin it.
Hannah rules! Nuff said.
The story Ping tells about getting passed by Carsten and looking over to see a stock pipe is hilarious.
Way to go Ping dropping Carsten in that list, a real workman motorcrosser that could show today's top stars how to be approachable.
Seems Carstan always had dirty riding gear too. Before the moto started.
Brrrrrrrrrr.........Ting, click .......Ting..........BRRRRRRrrrrrrrrr..........ting,...... squeel, Brrrrrrr miss those too
Barry Carsten, yes we all know who that is ! What about my days ridding the blue frame Gary Bailey 250 special, now that was the bike, of course my memories were me winning every race, not the part of swapping back and forth through the woppie dooos ! ha ha Reach down and turn the shock a few times when you need more preload !