Between the Races: John Cardinale

Infineon Raceway recently announced their West Coast Moto Jam, which will combine supermoto, motcross, flat-track, and the first U.S. round of the zero-carbon TTXGP Championships with the May 14-16 AMA Pro Road Racing weekend. We spoke with John Cardinale, VP of communications and marketing at Infineon Raceway, who says it’s their intention to turn Moto Jam into one of the biggest two-wheeled festivals on the West Coast.

RRX: How did the idea for the Moto Jam come about?
John Cardinale: Well, for the last several years, our AMA weekend has included additional elements beyond just what you see on the road course. So this is just building upon what we’ve done the last few years, with some additional elements. We’re trying to create a weekend festival that extends beyond AMA Pro Road Racing, and to be able to bring supermoto, motocross, flat-track, as well the zero-carbon motorcycle race that we’ll have that weekend makes it a real nice package. If you’re a supermoto fan, if you’re a motocross fan, we’ve got something for you. There’s a little bit of everything, so we’re just trying to make it a two-wheeled bonanza for everyone. We realize this concept will take time to build, but we think it can turn into one of the biggest two-wheel festivals on the West Coast.

What does it mean for Infineon Raceway to essentially be introducing TTXGP to the U.S. audience?
First off, it’s an honor to host the first ever zero-carbon motorcycle race in the United States. The TTXGP folks had a successful event last year at the Isle of Man in Europe, and we chatted with them for several months and were able to come to an agreement for us to be the first raceway in the country to host it. It’s very cool, and we’re located in Northern California, which an incredibly green and sustainable area, so I think it will be a very popular element to the race weekend—one that will hopefully even attract a lot of people who might not normally come out to a motorcycle race. Hopefully it exposes them to not only the TTXGP, but also to some other things. Maybe we can create some new motorcycle fans.

Is the TTXGP event a one-year deal for Infineon?
At this point, TTXGP is a one-year agreement, and we will see how the event is received. We’ve created a sustainable platform at Infineon Raceway, and TTXGP is part of that platform. If all goes as planned, we look forward to hosting TTXGP for many years to come.

Will the various disciplines be scheduled in a way that will allow fans to experience them all?
Yes, they will be, but we don’t have the complete schedule done as of yet. They will be scheduled in such a way that fans will be able to see a little bit of everything. We’ve got a very good shuttle system here to get people around, so I think they’ll be in good shape. For the road course, they’ll be able to see the AMA Pro Road Racing as well as the TTXGP. Supermoto will be up at our kart center, which we can get folks up to. And then the motocross will be in the hillsides behind Turn 7. We’ll be able to get folks to whatever they’d like to go to, so they can catch a little bit of everything. You’re going to have to be quick on your feet though.

This will be the first year you’ve added flat track racing to the schedule.
Yeah, we’re going to create a quarter-mile oval behind the Turn 9 terrace. Eddie Mulder’s West Coast Dirt Track Series are the ones that will be putting it on for us. It’s the first flat track event we’ve had here in, I think, more than twenty years. Flat track will be something a little bit new for us, but we’ll see how it turns out. We think it will be pretty well received.

Are there cost savings to hosting one big event versus several smaller ones?
I think the only way that we would and could do something like this is to combine them all in one weekend. Everything combined makes the weekend that much stronger than doing them all on their own. All of these elements together make for a pretty powerful program that we think will be stronger together than it would be in separate parts.

I think that, regardless of the economy, this would probably be something we’d be looking at, because it makes sense. We have a fairly large property; we can offer more than just AMA Pro Road Racing. We’re not doing this because the economy is dictating that we do it, we’re doing this because we have the facility to do it, and we think it will make the weekend that much stronger. It certainly wasn’t done because of the down economy. What we’ve found is that our motorcycle fans will come out and watch the racing, [so] we’re trying to enhance what they watch. If all you’ve done is come out and watch AMA Pro Road Racing, you could still do that, but if you’re a little curious about supermoto, or motocross, or flat track, we’ve got that for you, too. We’re trying to make the best of all worlds.