I think all sports fans probably feel that their favorite athletes deserves more pay (though I’m baffled by how fans of the “Big 4″ of football, hockey, baseball and basketball can possibly think anyone involved is *underpaid*). I’m also aware of the economics of the whole thing where the money available is directly related to the popularity of the sport. Despite all that I’m still appalled by how little motorcycle racers make relative to the risks they take. I just did some quick googling and found that most professional golf tournaments have purses *per event* in the range of $1 million. The 2005 Asia Golf Tour has a total prize over 14 rounds of $20 million. By comparison, last year the combined purse for all finishers in the AMA Superbike class at just one round was around $40,000. Now, its not that I have anything in particular against golf. I find it boring but then again I find a lot of things boring so that’s really not a big deal. But I can’t believe that someone can earn a $1 million bucks in one day for swinging little clubs at little balls while most professional roadracers are literally putting their lives on the line for a fraction of that per race.

Over the past few weeks I’ve done a couple of blog postings giving the health updates for the riders in the various roadrace series. Unfortunately, this past weekend has added new names to the list:

Topping the list is the popular Czech Team M4 Emgo Suzuki rider Vincent Haskovec. Vincent was seriously injured in an accident at Infineon Raceway when he crashed his Formula Xtreme bike. He was slammed into trackside tire wall and was then hit by his Suzuki as it cartwheeled into the barrier behind him. Initial reports show a broken collarbone, broken ribs, punctured lungs and an ominously vague “back injury”. There hasn’t been any updates on the Team Hammer web site despite surgery being performed on Monday. I’m trying not to be too grim but my fingers are certainly crossed for Vincent. Whatever the extent of the injuries my thoughts are with his team, friends and family.

Also on the injured list is Jason Pridmore who suffered a huge crash at Barber which very nearly killed him. He was highsided off his GSXR and came down flat on his stomach. The impact split open his spleen and started lots of internal bleeding. Thankfully, the injury was found but not before Jason lost a lot of blood. It was a welcome site to see Jason hobbling around the pits at Infineon and it would appear he is well on his way to full recovery. He will miss this weekend’s race at PPIR but should be back for Rd America in early June.

The French doctors got a chance to chat with MotoGP star Max Biaggi on Saturday after he got thrown off his RC211V. His hard landing resulted in bruising on his back and a knee injury. Max went on to race on Sunday and even netted an impressive fifth place finish but apparently the knee injury was bad enough that he skipped Monday’s test. Max started the year with a broken ankle and now has a bum knee. Not exactly how his dream year as a factory Honda GP star was supposed to work out.

Also visiting the hospital this past weekend, though thankfully for less severe injuries, were MotoGP riders Alex Barros and Shane Byrne. Barros had a painful visit to the LeMans gravel traps after loosing the back end of his Honda and getting slammed down on his back. He checked out of the doc shack with just a lot of bruising but the scene on TV of Barros lying in the gravel trap was a worrisome sight.

The other big name getting press for the wrong reason was KTM-Proton’s Shane Byrne who had a huge highside on the first lap of the MotoGP race at LeMans. The accident resulted in some cuts and bruises on Byrne’s back which, when combined with the scars on his hands after a scooter crash in Jerez, make him the Dr. Costa poster child of the ‘05 MotoGP paddock.

So its this grim news, week after week, that have me feeling that these guys just don’t make the money they should. Sure, there are big names that make decent salaries but other than the top few names in both the international MotoGP and national AMA series the bulk of motorcycle racers are getting a pittance for their effort. This is amplified when you take into account the relatively short time span of a professional roadracer’s career and the likelihood of injury during that time period. I just hope that AMA roadracing will eventually gain the popular following that it deserves and that if/when that happens, some of the money that will be generated makes it into the pockets of these gritty riders.

[image from the Team Hammer web site.]