7 Comments

Great work on this! When I saw how long it was, I decided to print it out and make time to read it as a standalone work, and I'm glad that I did. I came in with next-to-no knowledge of the subject, but I was absolutely taken in by the narrative

Expand full comment
author

Thank you very much for taking the time to read Joe. I know the length of my stuff can pose a significant barrier to entry, and I feel guilty about that sometimes, so it really makes me feel good that you chose to spend your time on me.

As for the story, the initial idea was just to write about Steel City, but when I got digging into the context around the event, I just couldn't leave it alone. The issue got so personal between these two that it became one of the most unique sports stories I've ever seen. Sportspeople normally dislike each other because each is in the way of accomplishing the other's goal. It's more of a professional dislike than a personal dislike.

These two men did it backwards. They respected each other as professionals, but legitimately disliked each other as humans. In addition to the American vs foreigner, young vs old, David vs Goliath, and every other cliché story element one can think of all rolled into one, that dislike made this into a story that will live forever.

Thank you for the personal compliment, but I really am just a narrator. Stories of this quality write themselves. All I must do is present them.

Expand full comment

This was really, really good. Not knowing anyone involved except Travis Pastrana, the buildup there the final race was really well done and had me wanting to skip ahead (I’m glad I didn’t). Had to make time to read the whole thing, but definitely worth it. Best thing I’ve read in a while!

Expand full comment
author

Thank you very much for the kind words Aaron!

An interesting side-story about 2001 Pastrana is that even after the concussion and never again being the same MX rider, he still competed in the X-Games that year, something that SERIOUSLY pissed off team Suzuki. That relationship would never be the same.

Originally, this article was meant to only be about Steel City 2001, but as I got into digging into the details of the story, I just couldn't leave it alone. From a business perspective, would more people have read this if it were only the last third of the text, in Steel City? Probably, but I've never been able to operate that way, so I had to give all the context leading into that day. Who is Grant Langston? Who is Mike Brown, and why don't they like each other? I know who Ricky Carmichael is, but why is he here? Sports writing tends to leave a lot of unanswered questions, and I couldn't bring myself to do it.

I'm also glad you didn't skip ahead! I think if you did it still would've worked okay, but there would've been something missing. Would the ending have had the same effect if you didn't know that these two had been chasing each other all over the world for 2+ years? I don't think so. I'm sincerely glad you liked it so much, and I can promise I enjoyed writing just as much. This is one of the most fun times I've had writing a piece in a long time. There is only one story the likes of this one, and I've just told it, but boy do I need to find a way to do more things like this!

Expand full comment

Ha, I'm sure you'll find something else that grabs you the same way. Looking forward to reading it when you do!

Expand full comment

I have little interest or knowledge about motor sports, but between the events themselves and your writing, it was a fun and engaging piece. It definitely felt like the story from a movie or novel.

Expand full comment
author

Yeah man!

In a way, that's the purpose of all this. I never meant to discriminate football as the top sport above all others. I just fell into that pattern, but what I truly want to do is tell awesome sports stories.

I obviously normally don't write about dirt bikes, and this story is so obscure (taking place in the minor leagues, although the 125 championship is just as prestigious as the 250 championship for outdoor racing, dirt racing is a weird thing) that even a dirt racing 'Stack wouldn't have written about it, but the story was so good I just couldn't leave it alone. It makes me happy to hear that you liked it, even without much knowledge or care for MX racing. I was somewhat scared that it wasn't going to live up to my usual standards, but with comments like this it makes my branching out feel rewarded.

I still don't plan to write about other sports very often, but I had to fight the feeling throughout this process that writing about other topics was a betrayal of my audience. This experience has made that easier going into the future. Going forward, I think stuff like this still falls under the umbrella of what people subscribe to me for.

Expand full comment