Just wanted to know why you haven't had anything on the AMA and AHRMA parting ways. It seems to be a real hot topic. Is our boy smith at it again or is it all Rob I. We can't seem to get any info from the AHRMA trustees. I know RRW can get to the Bottom of it.:up:
It's funny that a story this big is getting no play except from the 'unofficial' AHRMA forum. Maybe outsiders have tired of the whole AHRMA/Jeff Smith issue specially with the AHRMA trustees reinstalling him. What I'd like to see is have an outfit like WERA inherit the venues/promoters/membership after AHRMA has to fold its tent. I'm afraid AHRMA will never be fixed; it must die and be reborn as the cancer now present is malignant. Doesn't matter how many good folks are members; there are too many of the old/corrupt guard to ever fix the thing. WERA could run it right. Why? Because WERA is a private enterprise where success is driven by not only a love of the sport but the motivation of being a successful business. AHRMA is akin to any out of control guvment beauracracy, where the power brokers ensure their continued power through stacking the deck with cronies by sleazy back-door maneuvering. WERA could do it; they have the track/promoter/industry connections. It would involve hiring some folks to run the thing day-to-day. I'm talking roadrace side of the house. Maybe the dirt boys would have to find their own way.
I just hope it's still on life support come the Road America round. I got an AHRMA license this year and specifcally built (or have been building I should say) my gs450 just so I could compete on the course where I first saw a roadrace in person. I followed the Jeff Smith/Rob I stuff a little through the years as I had always intended to get a vintage racebike built. Figures the year I finally do it the same old problems are alive and well. I hate to say it but that org seems terminally f*cked. I doubt very much that they will be involved with roadracing at all next year.
I have enough friggin drama in my life without keeping up with AHRMA. It does amaze me that racing killer old bikes could cause this much subterfuge, espionage, litigation, and infighting.
Actually running AHRMA roadracing would be pretty damn easy. It runs on it's own. It makes money. The staff is great. It is just a few goofballs on the board that ruin everything.
Talk about a series that has the potential to do so much better. First they have racing. Second they have a rolling museum that comes to every stop and lines up on the grid. Third, they have an endless supply of "vintage" bikes as every year bikes gett older. Why not bolster the ranks with a post vintage class using 80's and 90's equipment and rules? Fourth- they can (and somemtimes do) hold a swap meet at their events which is another draw. Some of those four examples are things that 'normal' roadracing would have trouble supporting on a regular basis. Not to mention, with the economy, it sounds fun again to buy an old street bike, get homegrown on it and build a racer just like the old days. Searching ebay and forums for trick "era" superbike parts etc. Putting Kosman back in business widening wheels- it is like a stimulus plan for motorcycle racing! I better quit before I become the Obama of Ahrma (Ahrbama!) I am only 37 but I love going to AHRMA events. I announced one road race and many of their vintage MX nationals in the past and they were some of the coolest and fun events I have ever done. Personally, I would really like to see them suceed and to do so they are gonna have to clean house like another poster commented and just let the crotchity old men race and leave the admin to those who can take this series and let it continue for another few decades.
thought about trying to start a competing series but figured I would end up dead in a truck in the Keys.
To tell the whole story, the trustees reinstated him as treasurer, but before that the members elected him back to the board after he had left (3 years ago). How? Because every member of the club can vote, including people who have not raced a bike or had an independent thought in years. And because with ~5000 members, over 1000 of whom roadrace, typical voter turnout is a couple hundred votes to the winner.
Exactly! Except for the fact that the membership as a whole is not capable of voting correctly for the health of the org. So true; the Vintage Festival at Barber is one of the coolest bike events I have ever witnessed. I know that, which demonstrates AHRMA will fail as long as its members (I am one) have voting power. It needs to fail and then be reorganized as a private undertaking with race org professionals that have a track record of success running the show. The WERA ownership/directorship always comes to mind in such instances. Of course the debate over private vs public enterprise is best taken up in the dungeon. But I believe in this instance, AHRMA has more than proven incapable of being properly managed as is by its membership.
Yeah, CMRA has been a miserable failure for over 30 years what with members voting in the BOD and stough...
And you think the membership of CMRA has much in common with that of AHRMA? 2 very different animals.
I think AHRMA had over 1000 entries just in RR last year at the Barber event. Not to mention all of the dirt stuff. I also suspect CMRA doesn't have to contend with the ego of has-been racers wanting to run a 5000 member organization.
As a 10 year participant of AHRMA, I don't share your opinion. I think there's still a chance, if voter apathy among racers can be overcome.
My understanding is that Iannucci extracted a commitment from the AMA (in settlement of claims) that the AMA would require AHRMA, as a condition of the AMA's continuing to sanction AHRMA events (i.e., provide insurance), to re-instate Iannucci as a member. (Pretty clever of Rob to obtain that from the AMA) The AMA made the demand to AHRMA at the Daytona meeting, and rather than consider their options, i.e., negotiate from a position of strength given the AMA's prior commitment to Iannucci, AHRMA took a Jeff Smith-knee jerk reaction and told the AMA to piss off - they'd run their own events in the future. Where, at what cost and what type of event insurance AHRMA will be able to obtain is uncertain. Whether, in what format and on what terms Mid-Ohio will occur is unknown. AHRMA apparently had a great opportunity and it appears they blew it by continuing the Jeff Smith -signature arrogance. What a shame.
You only need to look at the recent AHRMA elections to realize that the cronies not only get out the vote, but they circumvent the rules to do so.
When my file on TO vs. AHRMA et. al. got to be about 12 inches thick several years ago, I tossed it in the shred bin. That POS has consumed millions of dollars in legal fees spent by TO, AHRMA AND AMA and about three lifetimes worth of the combined time of way too many people. The only people doing good in that deal, were the involved lawyers and the whole thing has been like a plague that never ends. On a personal level, the concept that an AMA member in good standing could be banned from AMA-sanctioned AHRMA events and that other AMA members in good standing (AHRMA licensed riders) could be banned from displaying their sponsor's logos on bikes raced in AHRMA events and from listing their sponsor's name on AHRMA entry forms, has always troubled me. It seemed a very slippery slope. The idea that some day riders (who are AMA members) could be banned from running Roadracingworld.com logos (for example) because somebody in an AMA-sanctioned racing association's management was mad for whatever reason, seems un-American. I just wish the whole mess would go away. When whatever is happening comes to a conclusion, I'll assign somebody else to do the story, I want nothing to do with it.
