But these are not daredevils. They are finely tuned athletes, the fastest of whom earn seven figures a season.
Yet Supercross is as dangerous as it is spectacular.
Most riders are broken or retired well before their 30th birthday. And some riders pay a much bigger price.
Since the 2000 season, one rider has died during the annual Supercross at Qualcomm. Another, James Marshall, was permanently paralyzed. A third, Jimmy Button, suffered a serious spinal cord injury. Two more riders suffered paralyzing injuries at other events last year.
It's the side of the sport you don't see on those flashy television commercials.
“Riders know the risk,” Button said Thursday. “But you are young and believe it can't happen to you. For motocrossers, there is a small window of opportunity. At the same time, you need to be aware it can end in an instant.”
Since recovering from the injury he suffered here, Button has become a rider's agent. He has also founded the Road2Recovery Foundation, which offers assistance to injured riders and leads a drive to improve rider safety.
“Riders today have neck protection that reduces some of the risk,” said Button. “But the sport is what it is.”
Currently, a pro Supercrosser has to pay $39,000 a year for $1 million of disability insurance.
“Most riders can't come close to affording that,” said Button, whose group is backed by riders, fans and sponsors. “So Road2Recovery helps any way we can.”
Button's road to recovery from his 2000 accident at Qualcomm was long. He still walks with a decided limp. “But I walk,” he says. Button was hospitalized for eight months after his accident.
Button, who considers himself fortunate, was paralyzed when he left the track that night.
“Four weeks after the accident, one of my fingers started to move,” Button said. “Five months after the accident, I was able to stand.”
The common link between the three most serious racing accidents at Qualcomm is that none was a product of speed or a jump.
Jason Ciarletta, 19, of Riverside was killed on Jan. 24, 2004, when he crashed over a berm while braking at a turn. Marshall and Button were injured when they hit a hole.
“I was moving a little quicker than I could walk, maybe three miles an hour,” said Button. “I was just studying the track after they made some changes. I hit a hole and plunged face-first into the ground.
“When I was lying there, I realized not a damn thing was working. Had I been going faster, I probably would have bounced and rolled and broken something. But at those speeds, I was like a lawn dart. I'd have taken a broken femur any day of the week.”
Instead, Button, who was one of the series' top riders at the time, suffered a bruised spinal cord and damage to the area of his third through sixth cervical vertabrae..
“I never lost consciousness, which probably saved my life,” he said. “I was having a terrible time breathing. Had I been out, I don't think I would have kept breathing.”
At the time, Button's accident was the first serious accident in Supercross since 1987.
By Bill Center
0 comments:
Post a Comment