New AMA Roadracing Sanctioning Body

It was announced at Daytona International Speedway this week that Roger Edmondson, working for the France organization, will take over as the executive heading up AMA Pro Racing in the U.S. I for one, could not be more pleased. As someone who has seen the inside of AMA Pro roadracing the last five years, at least at some level, it was clear that the AMA organization itself was doing a piss-poor job of operations as a sanctioning body for pro roadracing. Frankly, IMHO, they had their heads up their *sses when it came to knowing how to properly sanction professional roadracing, and they were only marginally better, if any at all, than the SCCA in this regard. I remeber talking once to Eric Bostrom, who was saying that it was virtually impossible to get to a decent set-up for a weekend's race with only 30 mins of practice at a time. His point was that there was completely insufficient time to try out any differences in tires or setup and get enough laps in to know if the changes made any difference. I asked him, "Can't the teams talk to the AMA about it this change to only 30 minutes of practice?". Eric's reply to me was, "They [the AMA] would only make it worse..."

Lastly, I am pleased because this should be the start of the end of Yoshimura Suzuki's domination in Superbike racing, and the beginning of a more level playing field, and some real racing, like we see in World Superbike. NASCAR would never let one team win 38 of the last 39 Cup races; it is not good for the sport, and it is not good for the fans. It was absolutely clear to me that Mladin's team was (illegally) using traction control in 2005 when Mladin was so completely dominant in the championship that year. Yet, the AMA sanctioning body did virtually nothing about it. They tacitly admitted knowledge that the illegal use of traction control was going on when they said that because they could not police it, they were going to allow it in 2006. Michael Jordan was interviewed by Superbike Planet last year after the Miller round, and said that there was something wrong with a sport where a well-funded and managed private team had virtually zero chance of winning a Superbike race. As he said, all he was asking for was a level playing field, and hopefully now, his request will come true.

The class structure the AMA has had for pro roadracing the last couple of years has been, in a word, a joke. What other series has TWO 1000cc and TWO 600 classes? Fans were confused and it was clear to me that this stupid class structure was created so that the Manufacturers could each have their own little class championship to win in; they each wanted to be a big fish in a small pond. We had situations where some of the best riders in pro roadracing were not racing in the premier Superbike class as a result? How is that meeting the needs of fans?

Things can only get better, because last year, they were at rock bottom as far as I was concerned.

With Roger Edmondson at the helm, I am sure they will.

 

:bored: :bored: :bored: :bored: :bored:

 

Borin' ya, huh? :tongue: :wink:

Why aren't you out riding? Are you still waiting on parts?

 

I have a legitimate reason, what's your excuse? Ha Ha! I don't know why everybody seems to be so concerned about the condition of my machine.....

 

i never knew that the pro circuit was so jacked up. i can only hope that new ownership and/or management will do as you speculate it will, and level the field out a bit. i figure a 600 class, a 750 class, and a 1000 class would be ideal for everybody, and maybe they can get some officials in the pits to inspect all the bikes a little closer, and tighten the chain on some of these factory teams who are doing whatever they want to win.

well that, and id REALLY like to see somebody other than suzuki dominate the sport and win some championships.

 

While I wholeheartedly agree that a little more competition would be good for AMA Roadracing, I'm not convinced that lowering the common denominator is the answer to the lack of competition issue. I would welcome the opportunity to debate this issue. Roger Edmondson will not change AMA Roadracing. I don't think it is correct to be basing opinions on what should happen in the future on things that supposedly took place 2 YEARS AGO.

For someone who is around it as much as you are, I find your opinions disturbing.......

 

Puma:

I heard things about some of the AMA regulations and what not these past few years. Thanks for the clarification.

BZ

 

I was out riding.... had the laptop with me in the side case. A brief stop at Starbucks for lunch; where I can connect via T-mobile Wifi. Went out for a ride and take some photos of the vineyards in mustard. Beautiful day out and a lot of riders were out, also.

As for the condition of your machine...well, we all want you to be able to get out and enjoy it soon! :biggrin:

 

I'm hoping we'll get some debate going....that was the intent of my post.

What's disturbing was the way that the previous management at the AMA ran AMA Pro Roadracing before Rob Dingman arriived as CEO at the AMA, and quite rightly cleaned house.

I think you'll find that Roger Edmondson is going to change AMA Pro Roadracing in more ways than one might presently realize. I think we'll see substantial changes in class structure, and if need be, the rules structure. And I wasn't remotely suggesting that things be changed to the lowest common denominator to create exciting and compelling racing. Clearly, Flammini has had an extremely successful series with WSBK the last 20 years, and no one is complaining that the racing in that Championship has been lowered to the lowest common denominator.

FWIW, my view or opinions on what happened two years ago were not intended in any way to suggest what should happen in the future (which are the opinions I presume you found disturbing) but as only one example of many of the poor performance and ineptitude that the AMA has demonstrated at sanctioning pro roadracing since they got rid of Roger Edmondson some years ago. My apologies if I wrote this in a way so as to cause readers to miscontrue this. Not only was the management at AMA Pro roadaracing inept as a sanctioning body, but they lost money and sponsorship. They lost Chevy Trucks as a title sponsor some years ago and have subsequently been unable to secure a title sponsor.

The point of my original post was that there were real and substantive problems with the way that previous the AMA management ran and sanctioned AMA pro racing, and they way they treated people. These core problems were substantiated by the changes in the sanctioning structure and ownership of AMA Pro Racing announced this week at Daytona by AMA CEO Rob Dingman. Witness this quote verbatim made yesterday by Rob Dingman to Roger Edmonson about how he was treated by the previous management at the AMA (color emphasis mine):

"Then in what can only be described as an ill-conceived and unethical blunder, the AMA attempted to take Roger's business without compensating him. After a protracted legal battle, the AMA settled, and much of that has been made public, so I'm not going to get into that. Roger went on with his life, and today runs a very successful Grand American roadrace series, and he's widely regarded as one of the most successful motorsports promoters in America. What I would add to that is that by many accounts, our roadracing series has not been run as well since Roger was affiliated with it - since Roger ran the program, it has not been nearly as successful as it was since then. We actually made a decent amount of money at that point, too, that we haven't been able to do since then.

I'd like to stop here, because this has never been done publicly. I've done this privately, but I want to apologize to Roger Edmondson on behalf of the AMA for what the AMA did to you and to your wife and your family. Those dark days represent the old AMA, and that's not what the AMA is about any more. It's not about dirty dealings. We're going to be led by integrity, honesty and hard work, and collaboration. All of those things are going to be the cornerstone of the foundation of the AMA."

 

Dingman has some big ones to step up to the plate like that! neat post Puma, thanks. Maybe it's time I signed up for AMA again

After watching the SpeedTV Daytona superbike competition, I was amazed at the manufacturers listing on the results. It looked like over 70 % of the entrants were Suzuki bikes!

 

Boy. I don't really keep up with much that goes on in the world, but every time I have read about motorcycle racing in Motorcyclist or Cycle World, it has seemed to me that the governing bodies are juvenile and arrogant.

Kinda sad how this always seems to work; a person comes up with an idea, which attracts other like-minded people. The idea grows to the point where it needs some organization and administration. Then the administration becomes about the administration...

Damn! I was trying so hard to be in a positive frame of mind today. There goes my blood pressure...