I would disagree, I would say a 76% increase in attendance in 2017 with over a 100,000 tickets sold over 2016 is quite the improvement. Add in 1.5 million television viewers, and 250,000 streaming events live and that is a pretty good improvement. And that is 2017 alone. The rebirth of the old Indian/HD wars has been a great benefit too. Along with the improvement in the venues. All these things point in the right direction for Flattrack racing and better motorcycle sales in another generation.

Race on Sunday. Sell on Monday...

Plus and the AMA sport are under one umbrella now, which bodes well for all motorcycle sports.

https://www.latimes.com/business/aut...016-story.html

 

Some great answers to (some of ) the usual questions!

Flat track racing, like any sport is a personal thing. Exposure to gain that initial interest is the big dilemma for the past generation. For a combination of reasons, many are "discovering" flat track and falling in love. Most importantly for H-D being the Hooligan fad. There is a whole industry revolving around this non-sport bastard sibling that showcases Sportsters! ...do not be confused. I am a devoted FT fan. Have been for 40+ years, but Hooligan - real Hooligan racing, not the Arlen Ness BS - has been a huge boost in that exposure of the sport to a new generation. Many of we 50+ riders may overlook it, or not even notice, but perhaps the hottest thing right now among the 30somethings is street trackers. Most often Sportsters! I can only speak for myself, but if not for buying that first sporty as a kid back in 77, I'd probably be riding some other brand today. That is one aspect for the MoCo.

Indian is winning races. Indian is attracting teams & riders. They are because Indian has a purpose built machine that took everything the XR750 is and added what it's outdated design (sorry guys) lacks. H-D allowed the XR to become outdated due to lack of continued development, due to nobody else having any real threat - sure Kaw's were winning races to and other brands were becoming competitive, but the XR was STILL the gold standard. ...and along came polaris with a goal. The question was is racing relevant? Yes and no. I doubt Harley's sales have suffered because of losing, but I'm sure Indians have benefitted by winning. Does that make sense to you? It IS a sales tool. Polaris, when they put all their moto apples into one basket, banked on nostalgia to sell them. What better than reviving the nostalgic H-D / Indian rivalry? It doesn't mean squat to street bike riders! It's ALL hype, but they'll bicker with one another over it till the cows come home.

As to the new rules being fair or not to Indain, I just don't see that as a question. ALL of that focus is on H-D not winning, but, nobody else but Indian is winning. Three years ago it was once again becoming common to see four or five brands in the main at a national. H-D will be there win or lose. Can't say the same for Yamaha, Kawasaki, Triumph, Ducati, or anyone else with even less chance. THAT is what AFT needs to guard against (and I think is) rather than granting favors to Indian OR Harley-Davidson!

 

Anybody notice the contingency money announcements this week? Indian is still dumping buckets of money into this. Not merely the fact that their contingencies are higher, but 4X as many riders are on Indians and ALL of them have better chances at winning (judging solely from the past two years) than anyone riding something else. For those who aren't riding Indians, the prospect of an almost guaranteed paycheck every race is sure going to soften that initial $50,000 cost.

Polaris' goal is not merely winning, it is to dominate the sport! AFT can't afford to allow this to turn into a one-brand event - again. If that happens, those new fans will be drifting away instead of continuing to "discover" flat track.

 

Honda has also put together a nice contingency package for 2019:


https://www.totalmotorcycle.com/hond...gency-program/

 

They say history repeats itself,I remember Bubba Shobert running away from the Harley factory bikes in the 80's,what was the answer, disallow the Honda.Then Kenny Roberts showed up on the tz750 Yamaha triple, again the Harley's could not catch it,half a track lead in some races, again no more Yamaha. So now Indian is running away from the Harley with their new FTR scout. Two years of getting their butts kicked, and again detune the Indian. Come on Harley, the street 750 can't beat the Indian so get a flat track team, not a drag racing crew. I wish Triumph jumps back into the American flat track game. I would love to see the new Bonnieville in a modern frame, compete with both the Indian and Harley teams. Too bad Gary Nixon,and Larry,Chuck and Denny Palmgem are no longer around to race for Triumph.That would be fun to watch.

 

Ummm, not to be argumentative, but you are aware nothing has changed on the FTR right? The rule change allowed changes to everything else. EVERYTHING else, not just the XG750! Triumph was back in the game. Here's Mikey Martin from 2014. The team/brand struggled. Indian I'm afraid nailed that coffin shut before it got a fair chance to develop.

If as you seem to wish, this is going to be a multi-brand game, something has to be done to even the field before the others shrug and walk away. What mystifies me is how folks talk about how unfairly Harley gained dominance thirty years ago, yet think it is GREAT that Indian is doing the same thing today.

 

I don't think Indian has an unfair advantage, the rules changed the throttle body this year in the FTR. So isn't that detuning the bike in attempt to slow it down ? Is it racing or not ? Instead of trying to make it more competitive by restrictions,why not build a better and faster machine ? Indian designed and built the FTR in a year or so, and it has dominated . I think trimuph should give it another go with a factory team and stick with it. Harley should give Shanna Texter a factory ride and let her move up to the 750 class. They restricted Nascar and now it looks like a parade in my opinion. Not everyone wins and gets a trophy mentality in racing. I think they should let racing be racing. If you can't compete reengineer and come back with a better bike. Did they ever think Jerriod Mees just mighty be a better rider? What's next, weight classes ? You can't weight less than the next rider because that's unfair ? Let them race and the best rider with the fastest bike wins in my opinion.

 

There is NO restriction on Indian!!!!!

"increasing the allowable throttle body diameter from 38mm to 40mm for production-based engines. The Scout FTR750 is not a street-legal production motorcycle, and Indian feels that it will not be able to compete on a level playing field with its smaller 38mm bodies, citing a 20- to 22-percent increase in airflow in a 40mm throttle body over a 38mm unit."

All the other non-purpose designed race engines are allowed larger throttle bodies. That's not only Harley-Davidson, but EVERY other bike in the paddock. I have mixed feelings about this, but (and it is a big BUT) AFT has to do something before this degrades into an Indian only sport. Most people agree today that XR750 races lost a lot of potential interest in the last several decades. Do the XG haters really want to go back to that just because it isn't Harley that wins every race?

It can be argued that the race XG engine is not the same as the one in the showroom. Yes. Of course, and neither is the Yamaha, Kawasaki or Ducati. DUH! they are racers!!! The new production class will deal with that. Championship level racing is expected to employ trick components. The basic engine though, is still based on the one in the showroom. Not so for the FTR. The FTR is a Scout in name only. I don't understand the controversy, except from Indian's standpoint. A standpoint where they just may no longer have a guaranteed win every race.

Here's a link to the article cited above.
https://www.cycleworld.com/new-aft-t...te-controversy

Oh and by the way... several years ago when Triumph was in the game with factory support, Shayna was one of their riders, along with Mikey! It was after that she choose to go back to singles!

 

It's a big improvement % wise but still no where near what it was in the past. And "race on Sunday sell on Monday" isn't the same as it used to be. Just how many Scouts do you think Polaris sells and how many are a result of FTR?

If FTR helped sales that much Harley would spend more to win.