Snocross has been axed from the 2012 ESPN Winter X Games after putting snowmobile racing in the national television spotlight for 14 consecutive years. Snowmobile Speed & Style was also cut from the made-for-TV event.
A report on SledRacer.com says airtime for X Games was reduced due to budget cuts, and snocross was canceled as a result.
Steve Scheuring, whose race team has competed at every Winter X since 1998, said the trend over the past few years where snocross received “less-provocative” on-air time slots indicates that ESPN officials were looking to squeeze out some snowmobile racing. “Did Tucker Hibbert make it boring by winning by two minutes every time?” Scheuring said. “A lot of stuff just runs its course.”
X Games is big business for race teams, and for some teams, sponsorship deals are dependent on making an appearance at the high-profile event. Will another event take its place? Scheuring said there’s an opportunity.
“In the next couple weeks there’s going to be a lot of people coming up with ideas or suggestions,” he said. “Every year you hear that the sky is falling on snowmobile racing, but every year we’re racing. Good things always happen. We just need to keep that positive attitude that something good is going to happen.”
The 2012 Winter X Games will be held January 26-29 in Aspen, Colorado. Click here to see the most-famous crash from the Winter X Games.
• Tony Haikonen was the first Snocross Gold Medal winner. He did it on a Ski-Doo in 1998 in Crested Butte, Colorado.
• Tucker Hibbert won Snocross gold in 2007 through 2011, leaving him one win shy of an X Games record for the most consecutive medals in one sport.
• Blair Morgan won five Snocross Winter X Golds Medals.
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