very fall, MX Sports Pro Racing, organizer of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, gets together with representatives of the six major OEMs to discuss the state of Pro Motocross in America. My other job is president of MX Sports Pro Racing, a position I’ve held since 2008, when the Daytona Motorsports Group (DMG), led by Jim France, bought AMA Pro racing from the American Motorcyclist Association, then leased us the right to manage and promote the series. The AMA Pro Motocross rulebook is still written by AMA Pro Racing, but we have a lot of input, as do the six OEMs we meet with on a regular basis.

It was at one of those meetings that Roger De Coster, the head of U.S. racing for KTM and Husqvarna (and likely soon GasGas), offered his concerns about the lack of education he was seeing in the sport. De Coster believes the industry has a responsibility to young athletes and their families to be more proactive in pushing younger riders toward at least a high-school education, and I certainly agree. I have said time and again that lack of education is our sport’s dirty little secret, and that too often “homeschool” really means “practice school” for young riders. Too often we see and hear about riders who finish their professional careers and don’t have the proper education or skills for what comes next. Roger discussed how most other sports—especially stick and ball ones—have some kind of scholastic component to them, then suggested we make proof of some kind of high-school-equivalent diploma mandatory for anyone who wanted a professional license.

That’s a noble idea, but it’s problematic—the sport’s minimum age for a license and the ability to participate in AMA Pro Racing is 16, not 18, which is the average age for high-school graduation. Several years ago, the minimum age was almost moved from 16 up to 18 across the board, as a court case in Florida, home of AMA Pro Racing, threatened the viability of minor release forms. Had the case been resolved a different way, both parents would have to be on hand at every event to sign off on a minor’s participation in a race. Fortunately, the case was settled before the law was changed. But before that happened, the parents of a couple of prominent young riders told me that they would consider taking their kids to Europe to race, where the FIM’s minimum age is actually 15.

At some point, De Coster’s idea merged with another, which was the suggestion to make 18 the minimum age for anyone who wanted to race a 450. Rare is the time a young rider emerges at such a young age in the premier class. Since the introduction of the 125 class in AMA Supercross back in 1985, only one comes to mind: Damon Bradshaw spent a single season in the 125 class (1989) before jumping into the deep end of the 250 class. It hasn’t happened at all in the four-stroke era—450cc can be a lot of bike for anyone. Nowadays, with the evolution of motocross-related scholastic programs like Andrea Leib’s On Track School, there’s really no excuse for an aspiring young racer not to continue with their education anyway.

So why not leave 16 as the minimum age for the 250 Class, make 18 the minimum age for the 450 Class, and then make a high-school diploma or GED mandatory to anyone who wants to participate in the premier 450 Class? After some more discussion (including grandfathering in current professionals), the hybrid minimum age/mandatory graduation concept was unanimously approved by the group, and a new rule proposal for 2021 was written and sent along to AMA Pro Racing for their consideration.

So if you’re an aspiring rider of a certain young age, hoping to someday race in the premier 450 Class of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross, the message from Roger De Coster and the rest of the teams is simple: stay in (home) school.