Man Cup 2023 – A New Era Begins…
Story and Photos, Tom McCarthy
Some people, both fans and racers are asking questions “Has Man Cup really been sold? If so; who bought it and where is this going?” To answer these questions, Dragbike.com when right to the source.
“Yes, Man Cup has officially changed hands” states Jay Regan the previous head of the Man Cup motorcycle drag racing sanction. “As far as I’m concerned, as of the end of the 2022 motorcycle drag racing season on December 1, 2022, Broderick “Hollywood” Jackson became the new owner and Chief Operating Officer of Man Cup. And I am confident that the sanction is in good hands.”
In speaking candidly about the sale of the sanction to Broderick Jackson, Jay Regan, who has been at the helm of the good ship Man Cup since 2010, when the organization began as “The Manufacturer’s Cup” had this to say:
“During the 2022 season I just increasingly felt it was time for me to look at where the sanction was and where it was going. I knew there were issues that needed to be addressed and this was either hiring people to address prevailing issues full-time or look for a different course of action. And after hours of conversations with Broderick, I was just very impressed by his enthusiasm, his skill-set, and his overall outlook for the future. That’s what convinced me to sell to him.”
“When we were all at the PRI show in December of 2022, I observed Mr. Jackson’s abilities to interact with new potential sponsors and present Man Cup’s full potential to new sponsors. I left the show that weekend, knowing the future of Man Cup was, in my opinion, in very good hands. Hollywood’s abilities to communicate across the spectrum of various social media sites, his presentations, and interactions with the racers, I think Man Cup will going in the right direction under his ownership, and I wish them the best of success.” Jay will be present and give valued input during a transition period as new management comes up to speed during the 2023 season.
To backtrack for a bit of historical perspective; in June of 2010, when the “AMA/Dragbike” sanction, which was formerly “AMA/PROSTAR” was dissolved, Jay Regan, Dave Schnitz and the others who made up the Nifty-Nine, all banded together with Jay & Dave to develop and create the initial “Manufacturer’s Cup” event, held for one race in November of 2010. It was a one-race season, but it proved the sanction was viable.
That event was a working experiment, to see if enough manufacturers put up the purse money and funded the track rental at SGMP: could they, would they organize and hold a sanctioned drag race that would attract enough racers to make a new sanction feasible?
The one race held in 2010 became a two-race season in 2011. Then a four-event season unfolded in 2012. From there it just grew and the nine founding fathers, dwindled down from nine, to five, to four to just Dave & Jay running the show for a few years, then when Dave Schnitz retired, Jay took the reins and ran the sanction till its conclusion at the end of the 2022 season.
The full history of the beginning of the Man Cup motorcycle drag racing sanction can be seen here in this 2015 story: https://www.dragbike.com/manufacturers-cup-racing-a-five-year-retrospective/
2023 The Broderick “Hollywood” Jackson era begins
Really his start with Man Cup dates back through the AMA/PROSTAR years when Broderick was already racing at a high level. He was involved briefly with NHRA Pro Stock motorcycle in 1994, and he recalls attending a few PROSTAR events prior to that.
Broderick recalls, “Back then I was an ET and Sportsman racer; I started out as most racers do. Then I did some Pro Stock briefly in the early 1990s, and fast forward to this era, and I’m still an avid 4.60 class racer. I just love the 4.60 class bikes! Myself, I have been a motorcycle drag racer since 1984 when I first began motorcycle drag racing. I’ve always had this need for speed thing and yes I’m an adrenalin junkie like 99% of all drag racers.”
Why did he decide to buy Man Cup?
“Well really that was not even on my radar until this past year when I got to talking with Jay Regan. And the more I thought about it, the more I wanted in. I think there are a lot of opportunities to further Man Cup and hopefully further the sport as a whole.
I’m not a back gate kind of guy. I don’t believe we, as a sanction, should be looking at just trying to run this business as a business off the backs of the racers. I want to find a way to put fans in the stands and accentuate the family element of our sport. I want to see families and friends of racers attending our events camping, grilling and chilling with the racers having FUN! We need that family atmosphere and we need fans in the stands, especially the younger generation. You see, that’s our future, that’s the future of our sport – we need to grow that.”
To start things off, in December of 2022, Broderick, knowing his new sanction would need to address a serious need for a solid social media campaign; he had his charges create a “Man Cup Racers Group” page on the world’s most popular social media platform. In a matter of days he had over 590 followers and the numbers continue to grow.
He opened up the season by enacting a serious rule that impacted all racers across the spectrum by mandating all motorcycles, all classes, must have an oil retention device type rule – mandatory, no exceptions. This delighted all track operators, made many racers happy and angered just as many racers simultaneously.
It’s no secret that oil downs, delay racing events. Big nationals suffer, on average, four to eight hours of delays every race event due to oil downs. Making oil retention blankets, or similar, mandatory will help address that and is in everyone’s best interests. But racers now having to adapt to the rule are not collectively overjoyed by having to spend hard-earned dollars on anything other than go-fast parts.
As a result of this several important things have already happened. The racers know there are standards to meet for safety and competition classes if they want to race in with the Man Cup series. And the sanction is committed to building bigger, better racing events that have the best opportunity to run smoother in a timely manner. Man Cup is serious about racer safety; comply with the rules or go race elsewhere.
An interesting sideline to this new rule is a sponsor called and offered up $4,000.00 of sponsorship money, because he loved the new rule and what it can do for the sport! Jay Regan’s eye in seeing the potential of Broderick Jackson is already proving to be an intuitive good vision.
And what is Broderick Jackson’s vision?
“I want to see this motorcycle drag racing sanction become like the NHRA level, for motorcycle drag racing. A sport where we have fans in the stands and people can watch in real-time at home. Thus creating viewership both in person and online that warrants advertising numbers that represent a good return on investment (ROI) for advertising dollars grow the sanction.
In short, I want to build a sanction that racers, spectators, and related businesses can invest their money and time in, to build all this together for everyone’s benefit. This way, we all rise to the top.” Broderick “Hollywood” Jackson.
Time will tell where this man and his vision will bring all this. There is no question that if he succeeds, all of motorcycle drag racing will rise accordingly.
The Man Cup 2023 Schedule
April 14-16 / South Georgia Motorsports Park
May 19-21 / Rockingham Dragway
June 16-18 / Alabama International Dragway
August 18-20 / Carolina Dragway
October 20-22 / World Wide Technology Raceway
November 17-19 / South Georgia Motorsports Park
The New Man Cup Series official website is www.RaceManCup.com, however, it is still under construction. But Stay tuned to their Facebook page for updates at www.facebook.com/ManCupDragRacing
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Until Next time…
– Tom McCarthy |
