January 1998

 Vintage World

Racing Large

 Living Large: Fat is Back

This headline screamed from my wife's fashion magazine. I just had to check this out. Maybe I was back in style? Long haired fat guys with graying beards were not what the article was about. It was about Hollywood actresses like Christina Ricci. If she is fat, sign me up! This article and the entire magazine in general made me think about how unfair the fat - thin thing is. Especially when it comes to dirt bikes.

In the current motocross world we have our own big vs. little battle. The YZ 400 has caused a lot of controversy in the racing world. Suzuki went so far as to place an ad congratulating Doug Henry for his championship and calling their rider, Greg Albertyn, first 250 in the 250 class. Why do we have all these classes for displacement or age? It seems stupid to me.

CZ and rider causing a 4.2 earthquake centered just outside of Hollister, CA.

I'd like to see racing classes being based on fat. Currently, like Christina, I'm stuck competing with all these skinny people. It's not fair. When I wrestled in high school and college, I had to compete against guys my size. Why not now? The 250 class would take on a new meaning and be much more competitive for me.

Instead of moving from Sportsman, to Vet, to Senior, to Super Senior, to - who knows what, why can't I just move from the 250's, to the 265's, then the 275's, etc…? I really do not care about the age or the sex of the people I race against, but I do worry about the power to weight ratio of my competitors. I lose in this area against almost everyone I ride with, except maybe Jay. He who lists his weight at 230, yeah without his arms and legs. Unfortunately Jay doesn't race vintage bikes.

Since this is not gonna happen, I'm looking for a 501 Maico or one of the 760 Maico specials that were made for the ISDT. At least I'll have the power to catch, and hopefully run over, all the little guys I race against. Sumo motocross at its best.

"Vintage World" by George Vadney