26th Annual MTA World Vet Championship

If you are a vet mx racer at some time you probably have wondered " How do I stack up" ?  If I didn't take that job or hadn't gotten married could I have been a champ. Well, you may never know but you can find out where you stand today. If you are a racer there are certain events you have to try before your race career is over. The MTA World Vet Championship is such an event. A national track, riders from all over the world and history, so much moto history.

Listen to what Tom White (White Bros.) has to say about the beginning;

In 1985 several of my close friends that included Jody Weisel (Editor of MXA) and Alan Olson (friend and competitor) were lamenting the lack of respect that older riders get from the motorcycle industry.  At the same time Saddleback Park had closed and a short year later, Indian Dunes also closed which took our Saturday racing to Perris Raceway.  Our concern was that more and more riders would move away from the sport as they got older, got little support from the industry, and as the track builders added more man-made supercross style jumps to the few tracks that were still open.

White Brothers customers were always the older riders, so the idea to sponsor an event for veteran riders seemed like a great idea.  I contacted the Perris track promoter, Jim Beltnick (some of you may remember his name as the Saturday Saddleback promoter) and asked him to run a vet only championship race at the raceway.  I told him that I would try and bring in a lot of industry support to assure the event would be a success.  He refused!  He said that he didn’t feel that there would be enough “over 30 year old” competitors to make the event profitable, even with White Brothers and other industry members throwing money at the event.  Not one to deal well with rejection, I talked to the track owner, Barry.  Sorry, can’t remember his last name!  Barry said “No problem!”  

At the first event, every rider got a free t-shirt – almost 200 shirts were given away, lots of prizes were passed out, and the event was declared a success by all. 

Last years event had almost 900 competitors (down from the pre-recession 1000 riders) from 18 nations of the World, but though the size of the event has grown, some things haven’t changed.  Older riders still come together to catch up, kind of like a high school reunion, and though the competition is keen, with very few exceptions, everyone has a lot of fun and come off the track “hi-fiving” the guy that sprayed mud all over him during the moto.  It’s an event were competitors get to hang out with legends like Jeff Ward, Roger DeCoster, and Gary Jones and the roles are reversed between fathers and their racing sons as the kids spin the wrenches and pack the starting gates for dad.

The “centerpiece” of the weekend is Sunday’s 12:30PM Edison Dye Lifetime Achievement Award presentation. The award has been presented each year since 1997 by Glen Helen’s Bud Feldkamp and I to the person/persons that we feel have made the biggest contribution to motocross in America.  This year’s honoree is Broc Glover 6 time AMA Natioonal Champion.  The presentation will be conducted in front of the main grandstands.  Please join us and stay around to enjoy the special exhibit honoring Broc (behind the grandstands on vendor row) and get autographs from him and the other champions present.

Best of luck, ride safe, and LET'S GO RACING! 

Tom White

I could not have said it better. If you're a racer you'll be on the line.... staring at the Talladega first turn come Nov. 6, 2010.