- Jan 1, 2001
- 3,043
- 9
I, the silent defender of Hi-Torque Publications, hereby renounce my admiration of all members of the Hi-Torque staff (except for Tom Webb). I too will not renew my MXA subscription. And, though it brings a tear to my eye, will also cease my 30-year friendship with Dirt Bike Magazine. Although you, Mr. Tim Olson, may not see the grievous wrong you and your cohorts have perpetrated, I will try to spell it out for you.
You (MXA/Tim Olson/or whoever) have accused Bobby Bonds of not doing his job. As if Bonds is some kind of a hopeless slacker. Well I’m here to state without a doubt that MXA is worse than the laziest gravy train slacker that ever stood in the welfare line. How can MXA point their collective bony fingers at anybody and call them lazy? You guys at MXA blatantly re-use last years information in a bike test and then have the audacity to tell Bonds he is not doing his job. You guys make me sick.
Tim, you say you don’t care what people think. Well it’s a damn good thing you don’t, because I think you are a parasite. I could overlook the half assed approach that Hi-Torque takes to publishing, if only you guys weren’t such a bunch of bold face liars. Hi-Torque has not stood for anything, other than profit since…well here’s a quote from Rick Sieman’s book:
“Bill [Bill Golden was founder of Daisy Hi-Torque Publications, this took place about 1980] flew back east to a big super secret meeting, and a few weeks later, Roland Hinz showed up and was appointed the position of Executive Vice President. Hinz had a background of being a tough cost-cutter, and had turned a number of publishing companies around from money losers to money makers. Most of his work was with TV fanzines, teeny-bopper magazines, and soap opera rags. One of his methods was to produce the magazine with an absolute skeleton staff. This meant, the bare-bones number of editors, usually one or two starry-eyed bubble-heads who lived to hang around TV and movie stars, and were willing to work for peanuts to have the title, editor. Then, he would have them fabricate all of their stories from freebie press photos and agent promo releases. Very little money—if any—was spent buying photos and stories from the usual free-lancers.” (Monkey Butt!, p. 438)
Tim, if you haven’t read Rick’s book, I suggest you do. That is if you care about being something when you grow up.
It is obvious that Hi-Torque stands for nothing. Hi-Torque disrespects riders for not producing results, while churning out an embarrassing product that is only intended to rake in profits. Hi-Torque chastises the AMA for being greedy in the AMA/CCE fiasco, while regurgitating old information that was most likely inaccurate the first time around. Hi-Torque claims journalistic integrity while blatantly prostituting itself to advertisers.
Tim, when was the last time MXA featured a rider on the cover instead of standard press release photos?
I admit that there is a place in this world for magazines like MXA. I was willing to accept that fact. Believe it or not Tim, I wanted to like you. Even though, as you say, you don’t care what I think, it breaks my heart to walk away from DB and MXA. I truly believe that these books saved my life. But the books used to stand for something and made me feel like part of that something. I have no doubt that Hi-Torque will continue to be successful. But Hi-Torque will never give a 15-year-old kid direction the way it gave me direction in the early 70s. No I didn’t grow up to become a famous rider. I’m not even earning a living in the motorcycle industry. All I got from Hi-Torque (actually it was Rick Sieman but he was “The Man” at Hi-Torque) was a little camaraderie, some technical information, something to look forward to, and some reason to reach for the brass ring. If that means nothing to you then so be it.
If you ever wonder why people are so bitter about your shoddy efforts, realize this: The substandard drivel printed by Hi-Torque today detracts from its once proud history. And that is a crying shame.
It’s late; I’ve written and re written this too many times. I’ll feel better in the morning. Will you Tim?
Sincerely,
Wes Baca
You (MXA/Tim Olson/or whoever) have accused Bobby Bonds of not doing his job. As if Bonds is some kind of a hopeless slacker. Well I’m here to state without a doubt that MXA is worse than the laziest gravy train slacker that ever stood in the welfare line. How can MXA point their collective bony fingers at anybody and call them lazy? You guys at MXA blatantly re-use last years information in a bike test and then have the audacity to tell Bonds he is not doing his job. You guys make me sick.
Tim, you say you don’t care what people think. Well it’s a damn good thing you don’t, because I think you are a parasite. I could overlook the half assed approach that Hi-Torque takes to publishing, if only you guys weren’t such a bunch of bold face liars. Hi-Torque has not stood for anything, other than profit since…well here’s a quote from Rick Sieman’s book:
“Bill [Bill Golden was founder of Daisy Hi-Torque Publications, this took place about 1980] flew back east to a big super secret meeting, and a few weeks later, Roland Hinz showed up and was appointed the position of Executive Vice President. Hinz had a background of being a tough cost-cutter, and had turned a number of publishing companies around from money losers to money makers. Most of his work was with TV fanzines, teeny-bopper magazines, and soap opera rags. One of his methods was to produce the magazine with an absolute skeleton staff. This meant, the bare-bones number of editors, usually one or two starry-eyed bubble-heads who lived to hang around TV and movie stars, and were willing to work for peanuts to have the title, editor. Then, he would have them fabricate all of their stories from freebie press photos and agent promo releases. Very little money—if any—was spent buying photos and stories from the usual free-lancers.” (Monkey Butt!, p. 438)
Tim, if you haven’t read Rick’s book, I suggest you do. That is if you care about being something when you grow up.
It is obvious that Hi-Torque stands for nothing. Hi-Torque disrespects riders for not producing results, while churning out an embarrassing product that is only intended to rake in profits. Hi-Torque chastises the AMA for being greedy in the AMA/CCE fiasco, while regurgitating old information that was most likely inaccurate the first time around. Hi-Torque claims journalistic integrity while blatantly prostituting itself to advertisers.
Tim, when was the last time MXA featured a rider on the cover instead of standard press release photos?
I admit that there is a place in this world for magazines like MXA. I was willing to accept that fact. Believe it or not Tim, I wanted to like you. Even though, as you say, you don’t care what I think, it breaks my heart to walk away from DB and MXA. I truly believe that these books saved my life. But the books used to stand for something and made me feel like part of that something. I have no doubt that Hi-Torque will continue to be successful. But Hi-Torque will never give a 15-year-old kid direction the way it gave me direction in the early 70s. No I didn’t grow up to become a famous rider. I’m not even earning a living in the motorcycle industry. All I got from Hi-Torque (actually it was Rick Sieman but he was “The Man” at Hi-Torque) was a little camaraderie, some technical information, something to look forward to, and some reason to reach for the brass ring. If that means nothing to you then so be it.
If you ever wonder why people are so bitter about your shoddy efforts, realize this: The substandard drivel printed by Hi-Torque today detracts from its once proud history. And that is a crying shame.
It’s late; I’ve written and re written this too many times. I’ll feel better in the morning. Will you Tim?
Sincerely,
Wes Baca
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