Moto3, Foggia’s father kicked out of the garage in Styria: the case explodes

In the last Austrian Grand Prix, with the removal from the Team Leopard box of Dennis Foggia’s father, the parent-driver relationship became topical again, in particular the parents’ relationship with the Team or the House with which his own son runs. It has always been a delicate and complex question, never resolved once and for all. Let’s say right away that, in this case, rather than defining these relationships contractually, the common sense of the parties is needed in full compliance with the roles. The issue is known because it was made public by the same rider who was particularly touched by this story and also circulated – too much – in the paddock. After the Moto3 race, Dennis Foggia – excellent third and fifth in the overall standings – dedicated his podium to his father but vented by attacking the Team that had removed the parent from the garage by taking away his pass.

The anger of Dennis Foggia

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“An unfair decision, a wickedness, an injustice – said Dennis bitterly – to treat my father in this way who has been following me for 12 years, estranged from the Team and forced to watch the race in the stands. I don’t want to stay another season in this team even if there is a contract until the end of 2022. On the contrary, I want to move to Moto2 ”. Legitimate outlet but, perhaps, out of line due to the tension of the race. Now, beyond the reasons (of which it is not known) that led a racing team of great professionalism and experience such as Team Leopard to this decision, it is not the first time that certain events have happened in racing. At the time of the days of courage motorcycling, from the early post-war years to the end of the 1970s, when in the pits there were the “masters” of the big houses (especially the Italian ones) no parent had the audacity to sneak into the box and closely follow your child-runner and the team’s work. In fact, most parents stayed away from the circuits, staying at home.

The pilots are getting younger and younger

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The same exceptions, for example the father of Mike Hailwood, the father of Barry Sheene, the father of Renzo Pasolini – who also played a very important role in the career of their respective children – were careful to cross the gate of the garage on the weekend of races and never dared to suggest anything to the technicians working on their children’s racing cars. It is true, in those days the runner’s career began later, because one officially became “mature” at 21 and before the parent hardly put his own signature to give his son the okay to run. And, in any case, even in particular situations such as those of the first meeting of one’s son-racer with the owner of the House who had to hire him, it took place without a father or mother near.

History doesn’t lie

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Giacomo Agostini was 21 years old when he went alone for the first time called to Bologna by commendator Alfonso Morini who proposed him to make his debut in the world championship with the 250 twin shaft on 15 September 1963 at the Grand Prix of Nations in Monza. Agostini himself, a year later, went alone to the MV at the first meeting with Count Domenico Agusta, making a long antechamber, only to be found (always alone) the next day in Monza for the first (positive) test with the 500 4-cylinder and become Mike Hailwood’s teammate since 1965. Never, in the MV box, where the shadow of the “Signor Count” took away from any stranger the desire to set foot, has we seen Giacomo’s father, who, very rarely, followed his son-champion with his wife, but from the stands . Other times? The substance does not change, especially today with the even more professional and business-related racing tour.

The desire for success

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In recent years, the nursery of motorcycling has had, especially in Italy and Spain but not only, an impulse like never before with so many children who even pushed by their parents begin to race under the age of 10, arriving, the best, at just 16 years old. in the World Championship. It is a two-sided medal: on the one hand positive because motorcycling is still a complex and demanding discipline that removes from the head of those who start practicing it the desire to fall into traps such as drugs etc .; on the other, negative because the boy-pilot does not yet have the exact perception of what it really means to run, starting with the risks, and is often a “victim” of the forcing and pressure of parents who always push their children at the beginning little more than children, to emulate the great champions, by emulation, by desire for fame and also for money.

The constant presence of the parent

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Mind you, starting a sporting activity like motorcycling early can also be positive because a kid’s learning skills are high and can be capitalized for the future. Another issue is the forcing of parents who, even starving in the racing world, often try to identify with their children by forcing their hand, even in time, even when the conditions are not there, for example lacking talent or even passion. Logical, even on a legal level, that the parent must stay with the child, accompanying him in all senses in the start of his career. But already at 16, then at 18, the parent must hand over the child-driver to the team and keep as far away as possible during the race week. As one who knows, Graziano Rossi, father of Valentino, says: “The driver’s parent, the less you see on the track, the better it is for everyone”.

The chief technical father

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Today a world championship team is very expensive, made up of a team of professionals who do not care how the rider got there but only how that their driver “goes fast” and achieves a result. The Team is absolutely not interested in the personal story of its rider (pro tempore), much less his family story. There is a profound distinction of the roles that everyone must respect in order to maintain the compactness and functionality of the team. Obviously you need common sense and balance on the part of everyone. It really annoys the father (perhaps an expert and a person of common sense) of a driver who limits himself to being in religious silence in the second-third row of the garage (perhaps on the exit door) without pretending to intervene on competitive technical issues and even less on the conduct of the child?

The pilot must be the pilot

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Having a paddock pass is right but this does not authorize the parent of a rider, especially at the MotoGP level with a Team that does not need “advisors”, to enter the garage, perhaps with an inquisitive gaze. There is time, before and after practice, qualifying and the race, to be with your child and say what is right to say. At 16-18, the child-driver no longer needs the parent who acts as a “nurse” in the garage. And the parent has no privilege in this case, not even that of approaching to listen to the dialogues between the child-pilot and his team made up of highly experienced and humane professionals, capable of doing their job with the aim of achieving the best possible result. Only in this way can the young driver mature and grow. Another matter is the parent who, legitimately, selects and directs the child-rider towards this or that team and follows him directly in the contractual process. Everything else, apart from some healthy advice on behavior in the box and outside, is useless, even harmful for the career of the son-racer and for the growth of the boy. Can there be exceptions? No! Because if the driver needs his father in the garage, it means that something is wrong. Usually, not in the team.