While reading a forum thread about whether or not a certain track day provider had gone out of business I had a realization that track day providers were also cult icons in the motorsports world. We already recognize some of the other cults readily; the cult of the classic bike, the cult of the Ural with sidecar, the Cult of the Harley Davidson, and even the Cult of the Professional Racer (we also call them fans).
I noticed that the people commenting on the aforementioned thread were all talking about what a great operation the TDP puts on and how great of a guy the owner is. I like to believe I'm a pretty objective guy when it comes to Track Days, I've gone to a ton of them and have been with about half the providers in the NorCal-Oregon-Washington zone, so I should have a valid opinion about the matter. In those myriad track days I can only point to two, maybe three, track days which I felt were badly run. Of those badly run days I can blame the problems on the track day being oversold or rules not enforced, not the good or bad personality of the people running the day.
So why is it that an anonymous internet user would back up his review of a TDP based on "Bob the owner is a great guy"? Cult of Personality. An organization must be great because the owner is great. A member of the cult will shout down (usually not literally shouting) anyone who has an opposing viewpoint. Also we as humans have a tendency to want to justify our actions. For example, I've spent X dollars on this product or service that might be technically equivalent of another product or service, but in order to make myself feel better I have to tout it was the best product or service to everyone around me.
We're the heroes of our own story and our behaviors often provide cyclical affirmation that our choices are right.
"I've been going to 2-Awesome Track Days for years and they're the best. Mike the owner is a great guy. The other Track Days are all dangerous and the owners are just doing it for the money."
OK really? 2-Awesome Track Days statistically has the same safety record as MotoGroup. They cost the same. They use the same track. The only tangible difference is the day of the week they operate, and which crowd historically shows up that day.
What's even stranger is the cult of personality that I see arising around coaches and training programs. Most of the coaches claim that they'll work with you to make you faster and safer, most of the mature coaching programs can claim a champion or two as students, and most of them are former or current champions in at least one race series.
Often a discussion of a certain technique devolves into an argument of "my coach is better than your coach". I've worked with multiple coaches and training programs in the eight years I've been riding. I can tell you that personally what holds me back is my own mental baggage, not the correct or incorrect teachings of Keith Code, Ken Hill, Dave Moss, or Rob Burch.
Despite my inability to progress past B group I can say all their teachings when I manage to apply them properly does make me faster and safer. But I must come back to my original line of thought, the "my coach is better than your coach" cult of personality. I've noticed that members of any of the cults have a tendency to isolate themselves from possibly getting contaminated with the ideas of others and shout down opposing viewpoints.
I guess too many people skipped the day in school where they taught us the scientific method for testing something.
What's better, 2-Awesome of MotoGroup trackdays? Run an experiment and find out. Both cost the same and have access to the same tracks and follow the same AMA based rule set.
What's better, Royal Crown development camp or Big Willow Superbike School? Both teach the same basic techniques, but in a different way. Both have taught and continue to coach national champions and international contenders. Maybe we should Pepsi challenge it?
I'm not even going to start on brand loyalty cults because:
Kawasaki has won the last four years in WSBK
Yamaha is consistently dominant in MotoAmerica SBK/SS
Honda always seems to win lately in MotoGP
BMW wins in Euro-SuperStock (although this class is deprecated)
Suzuki has an odd following despite not consistently winning in any race series I follow
Triumph owners are weird
Ducati and Aprilia owners... well I'm not going there.
In closing I'd just like to say, can't we all just get along?
