HARD WORK, HARDLY COMPARED TO WORKING IN A STEEL MILL
Dear MXA,
Do you believe the factory riders when they say that the racing season is too long and they work too hard?
Of course not. Anyone who works for a living knows that life is a struggle, but no one who works eight hours a day, 50 weeks a year, for an average income of $48,000 a year has any sympathy for multi-millionaires who whine about the hardships of racing motorcycles for a living.
The average factory supported 250 East/West rider makes six times the average income of an American worker. The superstars, like James Stewart and Chad Reed, make 120 times the average yearly wage. Make no mistake about it, they do work for their money and they do have to apply themselves to their careers, but Chad Reed and James Stewart plan to race only 17 AMA races in 2009 (thanks to the factories incredibly generous Supercross-only contracts). Their work year will be done in May (and if they get bored they may ride the occasional extra race). No one begrudges them the money they make, they just don't need to try to make it seem like their work ethic is greater than that of a garbage man, auto mechanic or crane operator.
On a side note: Stewart and Reed don't want to race the AMA outdoor races. It should be noted that James Stewart could make over $3,000,000 by racing the 12 AMA Nationals in 2009. It is obvious that he could quit training, stop testing and just show up on race day and still win. The fact that he can’t be bothered to work 12 extra days a year for $250,000 a day flies in the face of local racers who scrape and save just to be able to race.
The average local racer, with 1/10th the talent and 1/100th the support, not only races more times than either Stewart or Reed, but they dig deep to do it.
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