So, I got this bright idea a while back. I really wanted to get to the bottom of the Motocross of Nations teams. Not just who won, you know, but the actual riders, the countries, especially for some of those older events. Seemed like a straightforward thing to want to know, right?
Well, let me tell you, it’s been a proper mission. I figured, this is the MXoN, the biggest team race out there! There’s gotta be some official, super-organized database somewhere. Boy, was I wrong. Completely off the mark.
I started poking around the internet, expecting to find some pristine archive or a die-hard fan site with all the answers. What I got was, well, a jumble. A bit of info here, a forum thread there, maybe a fuzzy scan of an old magazine if I was lucky. It’s like everyone’s holding one tiny piece of the puzzle, but nobody’s actually bothered to put the whole damn thing together.
And you know what this whole mess reminds me of?
It actually took me back to this one time, totally different thing, when I was trying to find a replacement part for my ancient push mower. Yeah, a lawnmower, seriously. The company that made it had been bought out like, three times. Model numbers were a joke, and trying to find the correct schematic was like hunting for treasure without a map. I swear, I spent actual days on the phone with old guys who probably retired before the internet was even a twinkle in someone’s eye. All for one tiny, insignificant spring! It was enough to make you want to chuck the whole mower into a skip. Drove me nuts.
Anyway, getting back to the Motocross of Nations teams. That search felt a lot like that lawnmower spring hunt. You’d find a list for one year, but it’s missing a rider. Or you’d find a brilliant article, but it only blabs on about the top three nations. And don’t even get me started on trying to confirm the spellings of some riders’ names from, like, the 1970s for a team that barely anyone remembers.
So, what did I end up doing? I started my own compilation. Like some kind of obsessed historian. I’ve been digging through old race reports I could find, trying to match up names and results from all sorts of places. It’s painstaking work, believe me. I’ve got spreadsheets now that are probably more complicated than my tax returns. And honestly, there are still massive gaps for certain years.
- Trying to confirm who actually rode versus who was just entered? A real headache.
- Finding out who the reserve riders were for each team? You’ve got more chance of finding a unicorn.
- Tracking down info on teams that didn’t make the main event or had to swap riders last minute? For the older races, it’s next to impossible.
It’s a bit daft, really. You’d think for such a massive, prestigious event, this kind of historical information would be easier to come by, all neat and tidy. But I guess that’s just how it goes sometimes. History gets a bit blurry if no one’s actively trying to keep the records straight. I’m not saying I’m going to be the one to fix it all, but I’m definitely giving it a shot, mostly for my own curiosity and to stop myself going completely bonkers wondering about it.
So, yeah, my “simple” little project to look into Motocross of Nations teams has turned into a proper saga. I’m still chipping away at it. Maybe one day I’ll have something that looks vaguely complete. Or maybe I’ll just have a very, very deep understanding of how frustrating it is when information just disappears into thin air. Either way, it’s definitely been an education.
