Great information!

As a 25 year rider and a father of a 7 year old racer, I am very concerned with many of our tracks and the number of serious injuries. At the rate supercross is going this year, there won't be anyone left by the end of the year. I am going to send your web address to our local track owners and talk to them about saftey issues. One local pee wee track has large pine trees within 10 feet of the jumps, very young flaggers that do not have a clue to what they are doing, and a small double that causes many crashes and pile ups. We have a great sport that is going in a bad direction. Shouldn't the AMA be doing something about this instead of fighting over control of the supercross $$$$$?? I would appreciate any advice that you might have for me to use in talking to the local track owners and promoters.

Thanks,
Dan Prince
Seattle,Wa.

Rich's Response:  Of course the AMA should be doing something!  But they're not.  Most parents are under the false impression that AMA tracks are inspected and regulated.  The AMA leaves it up to the promoters.  Years ago, there was a feet rule on trees next to a track, they no longer have it.  You and the other riders have to try and help regulate track owners.  The sad thing is, MXers keep going to Supercrosses.  If NASCAR had this many injuries, attendance and interest would be down.  

My son, Patrick Wilson, 17 of Winterville, NC missed a 65 foot double at a new track. He crossed up, landed on top, then switched. The bike slammed on his right leg breaking his femur, tibia and fibula. He was airlifted to our hospital where he had titanium rods and plates. The outlook was good and he was on crutches the next day. Then he developed compartment syndrome that went unchecked by the trauma team. By the time he was rushed into surgery, his calf muscle was turning blue. The doctors had to remove about 40% of the muscle that was dead and now he also has nerve damage, can't feel or move his foot or toes. He has been in the hospital 4 weeks with another week to go. Outlook is uncertain, but we are praying for the best.

Andrew Wilson
metaldyne
Operations Engineer

Rich's Response:  Andrew, being an engineer and knowing forces and reasons, doubles probably seem more ridiculous to you than the average person.  Hope your son recovers and hope the track owner fills the double in so that he doesn't lose another enthusiast.

My son, Josh Long, was seriously injured on July 28, 2001 while attempting a triple during the warm-up practice for a race in Los Banos, California. My son's class (125cc novice) was the first class to practice that night. The track had been watered down. He noticed the terrain rather wet but attempted the 75 foot triple he had done several times at previous races at the same track. This time, when he jumped apparently his rear wheel stopped spinning because it was caked with thick, sticky mud. He had no time to correct his position and landed straight on his head. He was rendered unconscious. His helmet and goggles caked in mud and blood. He did not move. EMT's called on Paramedics and in turn Paramedics called on a life flight crew. He began seizing from this "high speed deceleration brain injury" that left him comatose. He suffered multiple bleeds throughout his brain, fractured his left cheekbone and nose. He suffered a popped right lung and then pneumonia from aspirating blood and vomit.

Physicians on the trauma projected he'd be in a coma three months based on his CT scans. After three weeks he awoke from a post traumatic amnesia. In additional he injured his 3rd cranial nerve (affects vision.) He also tore his ACL and MCL (knee.) He has relearned to walk, talk, and eat, but his personality has changed. We are all devastated by his injury and wonder whether higher helmet standards and better control over the track may have reduced his injury. We are thankful he was wearing a cervical racing collar. Physicians are certain the collar prevented him from breaking his neck. Perhaps cervical racing collars should be REQUIRED. If anyone should read this, I hope that at the very least you put a cervical racing collar on your racer...perhaps it will save his/her life.

Karen Long

Rich's Response:  Karen, very sorry about your son.  A cervical collar is a good idea, but there were several problems here.  A big triple is risky even with good track conditions.  A watered down or muddy track slows acceleration and top-speed before a jump, which is probably one of the reasons your son came up short.  I'm hoping that the track owner filled the triple in after your son's tragic injury.  There are two school of thought here, some owners don't want this to happen again and change to a more forgiving jump design (table top).  Other owners are afraid to change anything with the mentality that they would be admitting track error and possibly bring on a lawsuit. Instead, the injuries continue. Please don't feel like your son was an incapable rider, the best riders in the world can't ride supercross without getting injured.

Our family just started racing last year. This is our second year racing and I now have a boy on a 65. Things get a little scary when your kids start jumping big and believe me you can spot the potential bone breaking jumps. I've sat around campfires and listened when safety issues come up for about a year now. The answers you get are quite astonishing. There are actually people out there who believe that since motocross racing is dangerous you will get in accidents, it's just part of the learning curve. This was yelled to me quite adamantly after I made a comment that the track designer must have gotten what he wanted as we stood over a tattered 12 year old boy who had missed what I call a "suicide double" on his 80. He came up about 2 feet short on a 45 foot double jump which has a landing ramp so steep it might as well be a vertical face. When the kid's rear tire hit the face, it of course immediately endo'd this boy into a bad looking face plant. I was wondering how the boy will learn from this?

He had miss timed the jump, okay next time he will either: 1. not jump it (while all his peers are goading him) 2. Try to remember a month later what that exact jump was like the 1st time he tried it, or 3. Not race at all because the orthoscopic surgeon convinces his parents that it would be in his best interest not to race.

This all could have been avoided if that jump was a table top or at the very least had the peak knocked off of it with a slight decline on the back of it. Are there any jump dimensions, angles, length x height percentages, etc. available. I am a Designer by trade and would like to put to paper safe style jump drawings to take to a track that a contractor could actually use to build with. I would rather try to help this problem than sit back and watch the needless carnage that I will undoubtedly witness in the years to come. We are now doing more as a family than we ever have racing but I will end it as quick as we got into it if I can't find tracks that look out for the rider/family.

Paul Kuchnicki

Rich's Response:  Paul, you're now my hero instead of Roger Decoster.  You are speaking out and concerned with rider injuries.  And you're right, if the rider's parents like their kid, they will listen to the surgeon and take choice number three.  It's too bad that our sport is coming to this much danger.