10 Questions with John Kreps - Founder of Pit Racer

Among all the sites and places to visit on the internet these days you can find the gambit of forum sites that offer nothing more than playful banter and the occasional rant by a long term member (aka 'me'). But hailing from Ohio is a site called Pit Racer. It's a premium fee based site and it has a great following of readers.

As a long time member myself I can tell the members dedicated and affluent in their topics. No, it's not a huge ATV site. And no it's not dedicated to one discipline. But they do coexist without the normal bike vs quad arguments you so often see.

We took a few moments and spoke with John Kreps, the founder. We collected 10 questions to keep it simple and here is our results! After you get done reading take a moment and check out his site. It's worth the view especially for you Ohio readers!

So with further reading, lets get started!

1. So who runs Pit Racer?
The site is run by myself, with help from my wife. A professional web design company in Canton, Ohio built the current version of the site and performs any needed code or design changes that might come up.

2. How long have you been around?
I started the site in 1998.  Many people don't know this but PitRacer.com started as a motocross fantasy league, one of the first on the web.  I changed the focus into Ohio Motocross when I realized there was nowhere to find good info about Ohio tracks, races, etc.

3. What type of news or discussion groups do you offer?
We offer a full plate of forums, but by far the most popular is the General MX talk.  That's how it is at almost any forum site.

4. You are a premium site - meaning people pay for memberships. That's
pretty uncommon these days. Do you feel like it keeps the topics valid and cuts down on the problem posters?
Well, actually it is pretty common now.  Most of the major forum sites charge a small fee to participate.  We were one of the first though and changed to that format in 2004 (though we still have some FREE forums).  The main reason was because it was just getting out of control.  People tend to care more about something when they pay for it.

5. Do you visit a lot of other sites? Maybe just to lurk?
I used to!  Being in the computer industry, I've been on the Net since the start.  I probably have a "PitRacer" forum account at dozens of sites. The last couple of years I've been pretty busy so my extra surfing has really gone down a lot.


6. Predominantly you have a lot of bike members. But as a member myself I know you have some great ATV members that run at the local and national level. Have you seen a growth in ATV members in the past couple years?
I'm not sure I've seen growth in ATV members, I think it's probably been a little stagnant. I think that ATV riders have several ATV dedicated sites out that that work great for them, but I'm sure most of them visit my site to check up on what's going on in Ohio.

7. Regarding the motosports industry as a whole, do you see the rate of growth and activity growing?
I'm not sure. It sure seems like motocross is everywhere now, on TV all the time, used in promotions and commmercials for products. But the turnouts at races is a lot lower. That's probably due to such a high volume of riding areas in Ohio right now.

When John isn't riding or racing you can find him on the sidelines pursuing his passion for photography.


8. What's been the best part about running PitRacer?
By far the best part has been all the great people I've met and all the friends I've made.  I have some really good friends that I've met because of my site.  Also knowing that I've really helped bring Ohio together feels good to me.

9. What's the worst?
It can be a pain in the neck at times!  Sometimes it's just really tough to
get away from it, it's like something that's chained to me 24 hours a day.

10. Any parting words?
I'd like to say a big "THANK YOU" to all the people that browse and enjoy my site.  I've met a lot of great people, and they are truly what makes Ohio a great state for motocross!
 


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