ASK MOTOMOM: When Politics Follow Us to the Gate

Dear MotoMom,

My parents and I came to the U.S. when I was really young. As far as I know, they did everything the “right” way, but it still took years. A lot of waiting, paperwork, stress, and uncertainty. That’s just our normal. My parents are older now, but they still come to races with us sometimes. They sit in folding chairs, bring snacks, watch motos, cheer for their grandkid, often times in Spanish. Motocross is one of the few things we all still do together.

That’s why this is so hard to write.

Motocross has always felt like our safe space. Our little bubble. No constant screens, no nonstop arguing (unless it's about not remembering moto socks), no news cycle screaming at us. Just dirt bikes, travel days, gas station food, routines. Even my teenage daughter, who doesn’t race, comes with us. The track used to feel neutral, like everyone left the rest of the world at the gate.

Lately… not so much.

The moto forums are brutal now. Angry. Mean. And last weekend at Supercross, something just felt different. Maybe there were fewer red hats than last year, but the energy felt more aggressive somehow. Louder. Sharper. Like people were daring someone to say something.

I know people say motocross isn’t political. I don’t want it to be either. But it feels like politics have leaked into everything, whether we want them there or not.

We recently pitted next to a trailer with a huge TRUMP 2028 flag hanging off the door. That hit me in a weird way I can’t quite explain. It made me feel like the guy next to us probably wouldn’t want to share a table or a conversation if he actually knew who we were. Mostly though, it made me really aware of myself. And my family. And I don’t want to feel that way at the track.

My son just moved up to big bikes and he’s doing well. Really well. We’re proud of him. We want to go to more races with higher competition. We’re looking at traveling more, staying longer, maybe doing some trainings. But digging into trainers has been a huge turnoff. Not because of coaching. But because of how some of them talk online. The stuff they post. The political rants. The jokes that aren’t really jokes. There's a lot of, well, just racist assholes.

It makes me feel like we wouldn’t be welcome. Like our kid wouldn’t be welcome. Like they don’t want our money or our support unless we look and think exactly like them.

And then there’s the rest of it.

I recently read a comment from a local moto parent (they were a Facebook friend until this) on a news story about detention centers. He said he wanted the job of feeding detainees to the alligators. This is someone my husband chats with in staging. Someone we’ve been around at races. Someone who might sit ten feet from my parents without ever knowing our story.

I was shocked. And honestly scared.

Why does motocross seem to have so many people who talk like this? People who sound like they’d be fine if families like mine just didn’t exist? It's not just that one guy.

What do we do when the one place that felt safe starts to feel tense and uncomfortable? How do you help your kid grow in the sport when you’re constantly wondering if your family actually belongs?

I don’t want motocross to be about politics. I just want it to stay the thing our family could gather around. The place where my parents could sit in their chairs and feel proud. Where my kids could focus on riding, not reading the room.

Right now, I don’t know how to do that.

— A MotoMom Fearing the Moto la Migra

---

Before we dive into this week’s letter, I want to speak directly to something that’s weighing on all of us. I had to pause and decide if I wanted to still address it, as I've been very vocal in other spaces.

I exchanged messages privately with the mom who wrote this letter - sent before the murder of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse who was shot and killed by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis earlier this month, discussing that it's possible her identity could be figured out (we've modified that letter so she can feel more cloaked), and that there will be some possible reactions not in favor of what is right and for like of a better term, not-so-Christ-like comments in response.

That shooting of nurse Alex Pretti, and the shockwaves it’s caused, are rippling across the country, especially when seen alongside the deaths of Renee Good and Keith Porter Jr. in separate encounters with ICE or federal immigration agents. What might once have felt like isolated incidents are now showing up as a tragic pattern in America, one that is terrifying many people and shaking families to their core.

I recognize more than ever how these atrocities deepen the fear and uncertainty this mom is describing. I’ve seen versions of her frustration, confusion, and emotional exhaustion posted in some of the MotoMom groups lately. This is bigger than the fencing of the track, but because it’s showing up in our community conversations, I want to address it openly, honestly, and with heart.

---

Dear MotoMom Fearing the Moto la Migra,

Thank you for writing what so many people are feeling but don’t know how to say out loud. Your letter isn’t dramatic. It doesn’t come off as over-sensitive or off track. It comes off as honest.

What’s happening in this political climate- the rhetoric, the cruelty, the vitriol, is wrong. The way some people talk about others like they’re less than human- that’s not something we sugarcoat or ignore. I feel disgusted when I see it too. And I say that as someone who grew up in the dirt of the Midwest, a white woman from the Bible Belt, whose eyes have been open long before most people figured out this wasn’t just “background noise.”

Your family’s story fits motocross more than people want to admit. Showing up quietly. Doing the work. Paying your fees. Learning the rules. Waiting for your turn at the gate. Building something slowly, season by season, bike by bike. No shortcuts, no handouts. That’s racing. That’s how this sport actually works.

That's likely why it hurts when the track and moto community starts to feel unpredictable.

Motocross is supposed to be the place where effort matters more than anything else- where it doesn’t matter where you came from as long as you line up, respect the rules, and ride. Lately, though, anger and division are leaking into the pits. It changes the vibe. It makes people scan trailers, flags, sticker kits, and conversations the way we scan ruts and jump faces- not because we want to, but because we feel like we have to.

You’re not wrong to feel that shift when you see certain slogans or hear a particular rhetoric. This isn’t about bike brands or line choices. This is on messaging that feels like it’s drawing a line around who belongs and who doesn’t. When that shows up at the track, it messes with the trust racing depends on.

You have to trust yourself, and the rider beside you. How do you trust being elbow to elbow with a racer that despises you for just existing?

The exhaustion you described is real. Having to research trainers not just for skill, safety, or results, but to figure out if your family would even be welcome - that’s a kind of emotional tax no parent signed up for. Wondering if your kid would be coached, or just even tolerated... If your money would be accepted, but your presence quietly (hell, possibly loudly) resented. That’s not “just politics.” That’s fatigue, plain and simple.

When people say “leave politics out of racing,” what they’re really asking is for others to absorb discomfort quietly so they don’t have to examine their own behavior. But motocross has always had rules, boundaries, and standards- respect in the pits matters. Safety matters. Community matters. When those things start to crack, families feel it first.

You’re not imagining it. And you are not wrong for being tired.

I don't have the right advice on how to to approach this. I've wondered it myself, and I just want you to know I see you and I support you. You and your family are safe with mine, and I think largely most of the KC moto scene if you have interest in riding here.

Now I want to speak to the parents, riders, trainers, and folks in our sport who might be reading this and feeling defensive.

If you’ve ever flown a flag, made a joke, shared a post, or said something in the pits that made another family or racer feel watched, unwelcome, or unsafe, pause for a second. Not to justify it. Not to defend it, just to think about it.

Ask yourself: is this really who you want to be? Is this where you want to be standing when Jesus comes back? Because kindness, humility, and loving your neighbor weren’t optional back then, and they aren’t optional now.

Motocross is bigger than politics. It’s bigger than the color of our skin, who we love, who we partner with, or how we present ourselves to the world. This sport is built on grit, effort, respect, and showing up for one another.

That includes everyone:

• From the brand-new squiddies with low visors and goggle straps riding up in their helmets,

• To the families with immigrant grandparents in folding chairs cheering on their grandkids,

• To the kids just moving up to big bikes and trying to find their feet.

• 
  

We don’t grow this sport by making people feel small. We don’t protect it by deciding who belongs and who doesn’t. And we sure as shit don’t honor motocross by turning the track into a place where our community is told they should be fed to fucking alligators.

The track should be a place for all of us - for community, belonging, and passion. That responsibility doesn’t end when the gate drops, or when we pull our rigs out of the facility. It stays with us every time we leave, every time we post, every time we speak.

If we want motocross to survive and be worth passing down, we have to be better stewards of our entire community. Kinder. More welcoming. More human.

That’s the legacy worth racing for.

See you Sunday,

— MotoMom