The 4th part in a multi-part series focused on Donald Trump Truths.
Donald Trump wants to make America great again but when you look at his track record he’s much more likely to bankrupt America. Because that’s what he’s done to nearly all his businesses. In fact, it was just announced that even the Trump Taj Mahal is closing their doors.
The Tour de Trump, which even the name sounds like a fancy french way to say “bag of garbage” started in 1987, when John Tesh of Entertainment Tonight fame had just returned from covering the Tour de France.
Tesh approached basketball announcer and entrepreneur Billy Packer and convinced him they should bring this style of bike competition to the states. The original plan was to have the ride start in Manhattan and end in Atlantic City and call it Tour de Jersey. Ending the race in Atlantic City gave rise to the thought they should involve Donald Trump.
This was at a time when Trump ruled over Atlantic City. So it made sense. At least in theory. Packer quickly got a meeting with the Donald during which the name was changed from Tour de Jersey to Tour de Trump; most likely to appease Trump’s ego and as Donald tells it they could have called it Tour de Jersey if they wanted a less successful race.
And here’s the surprising thing. He wasn’t wrong. It was actually a relative success. It attracted some of the best-known competitors in the world with over 100 riders. 8 of the teams were professional and riders came from 15 different countries. Plus, because of the unusually large jackpot of $250,000, which was one-fifth of the Tour de France prize; two of the top European teams chose to skip the Tour of Spain because the dates conflicted with the Tour de Trump.
The race also attracted 19 sponsors and 10 suppliers and built a unique partnership with NBC Sports getting them to telecast four hours of the race leading to worldwide press coverage. Trump’s initial investment consisted of a guarantee of $750,000, which in the end he didn’t even have to pay because the NBC deal was so lucrative.
The first Tour de Trump consisted of 10 stages and 837 miles. The race started in Albany, New York, went through the Catskills, the Poconos, Pennsylvania Dutch country into Virginia over to Baltimore and finally back up to Atlantic City where it passed in front of the Trump Castle and concluded with the finish line at Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino.
And then it all went to shit as most Trump business ventures do. The first leg of the race was marred by protesters who mocked Trump as a symbol of greed with signs that read: “Fight Trumpism,” “Die Yuppie $cum,” and “Trump = Lord of the Flies.” As Packer tells it Trump’s departure was simply a natural progression.
The truth was that Trump’s businesses were failing and he was about to declare bankruptcy for the first but of course not the last time and his personal life was falling apart as well. He was about to divorce Ivana after having an affair producing a child with Marla Maples.
Even as his relationship with the race was ending he was still committed to saving face telling reporters:
“We have a good chance of expanding the race. We are getting calls from every city on the East Coast, and they are willing to pay tremendous amounts of dollars to host us.” - Donald Trump
His vision was to expand the Tour to Boston, head down the coast to Washington and then back up to Chicago. After which the tour would head to San Francisco before concluding in L.A.
I mean you have to admire the audaciousness of his vision but even here it’s just nuts. How are you going to get a team to ride competitively from the East Coast of the country to the West. It just shows complete lack of education on what these athletes do let alone the public’s interest in what would amount to weeks worth of riding.
But Trump’s involvement only lasted two seasons as Packer and the other tour organizers felt it was the right time to move on. Unfortunately, for them they got into bed with an even worse ally with John du Pont of the DuPont Corporation. John of course would famously go on to murder Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz.
