Sounds good since it's been a while but that isn't how it happened. DMG made decisions that drove away the OEM's and without their support the other sponsors left - which means no series. They tried some truly bad things with class structure that did not work. The economy didn't help but it was far from why the series died.
They also disappeared from my TV screen. I don't know anything about how that went down, but from a fan perspective (I'm not a racer) we went from AMA Superbike on SPEED to some crap called American SuperBike on a website. For all intents and purposes the series we had been watching simply vanished.
I have heard Wayne would like to do some match racing with BSB. Excuse me for being naive but has that been done before? I like
Transatlantic Trophy. A very young Freddie Spencer went over there and wasted on 'em one year. Rainey would remember this. https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2016/june/mcn-plus---whatever-happened-to-transatlantic-racing/
Considering this happened in 2008/2009 I would think that 70-80% of the reason for the OEs leaving was the economy. I this first hand at Pirelli in the car, truck, and bike divisions. Hell I saw the same thing at Parts Unlimited and Tucker Rocky, etc. during the same timeline.
Like I said, that sounds great but that isn't what those working for or running the OEM's racing stuff told me. DMG bought and killed roadracing in early 2008. Bike sales and budgets didn't drop drastically until 2009, budgets for 2009 were set in 2008 based on 2008 sales so it really hit teams in 2010 and beyond. Sorry but this is one piece of history that has no need to be rewritten. All of the DMG era issues were caused by DMG. They were not helped by the economy sure but that wasn't even half the overall problems.
Here's an oldie but goodie interview by Henny Ray with Ray Blank - nowhere in there is concerns over budget talking about the 2009 season... https://www.cyclenews.com/2008/06/article/american-hondas-road-race-plans/
DMG told the manufacturers to sod off, later admitting they underestimated how important manufacturer support was to pro road racing. I'm sorry, DMG's failure was DMG's doing.
So here's one that is purely rumor but from good sources on the TV thing - evidently a done deal sat on someones desk unsigned until it was too late because they thought their Grand Am and NASCAR connections could get a series with low viewership on a major network. Once they finally went to sign it the deal was pulled on the other end because bike sales had dropped and ad revenue dried up.
So you truly liked the pace cars and the choice of track and dyno rules that are easy to break? I think people remember things much more fondly with many years since they happened....
Didn’t care for pace car either way. Choice of track meaning what? Like where the. Car rolled on track? Dyno was totally cool with me. I made more $$$ with DMG than AMA pro also. Obviously we are talking mid pack on back, but still.
Oh yeah he had some purses from Jim Frances pocket. For a little while til the budget got cut. Same thing happened when Doug went with him for FUSA stuff, lasted a couple years til the money ran out. Choice of tracks was Mid-Ohio, trying to get back to Loudon and some others.
This.. During my corporate years I saw more heavy hitting deals penciled out on golf score cards and after meeting lounge napkins than during think tank gatherings. At the end of the day it's about people and relationahips