What the heck is going on with AHRMA?

You'd have more luck bringin that statement up on Capital Hill tomorrow am.

 

I'd be curious with that too.
I raced AHRMA at CMP also this year and had a blast.
Everything was pretty well run for the most part. There was typical AHRMA stuff like limited practice during the Friday practice but it also was cheap ($125) the other typical stuff is massive crowds and speed difference's in practice groups but with all the different types of bikes I'm not sure they could fix that without just cutting classes.
The only issue I had all weekend was during one of my races with multiple waves for the different classes. My class was wave 1 but with a grid break. No that's fine except someone was confused because they threw the flag while a marshal was still in front of me like the starter thought it was a second wave. That got interesting fast ...
Other than that it seems to be all behind the scenes money trouble from them going to Daytona and other places with " festivals" expecting to have the same success as barber and that's just not going to happen.
Also I assume you're talking about Seth starnes in the first post and he just likes cars now

 

Grattan 2k something and I'm helping a TZ buddy and he heads for pit out and I follow. Then the race director allows a bike to exit at pit out and then ride backwards up the hot pit? But weird shit happens everywhere. I was amazed at a race at Sonoma where they allowed racers to ride backwards on hot pit and practice launches?

 

I remember people fighting with a d complaining about them (rightly or whatever) since forever. No real dealings with them or what.
Was it team obsolete that went to war with them? Lawsuits and duels at sunrise, afternoon shovel fights and pie eating contests and all that shit?

 

To go out to grid? isn't that fairly common on the 3 board?

 

Team Obsolete was a NYC lawyer that didn't go with the flow of AHRMA. IIRC, his fight was mainly against bikes entered by Barber. A TV show on this would have more drama than all the Housewife shows put together. And this was near 25+ years ago. I see some things never change.

 

Not when gridding before a race but to go in the opposite direction of traffic entering or exiting the course. At Grattan you enter at start/finish and exit at turn 3 but during a practice some bozo slows in the middle of the straight cranks a hard right at start/finish and went up the hot pit lane with oncoming traffic trying to enter the track.

 

Not enough corner workers at RRR is one example.

 

Oh I see yeah that's different obviously

 

That sounds like a track issue

 

I ran this year's RRR and CMP events. Both were well-run and other than getting yelled out for allegedly missing the checker on Friday, I haven't had any issues. There were as many corner marshals as there needed to be, no BS in tech, and grids and final results were posted reasonably promptly. The awards ceremony after Saturday's races was fun. I really miss the awards after a WERA weekend but I guess people just want to get on the road and head home these days.

Evidently, AHRMA ended last year about $300k in the hole last year, so I gather there are leadership issues. Since I last raced with AHRMA in 1999, I don't know who or what to blame. The turnouts for RRR and CMP were good, over 700 race entries, I think, so hopefully the economics will work out. The AHRMA FB group is a sh*t show right now, no doubt, but I'm ok just showing up and racing.

 

It has been a shit show since 1989, with people trying to influence the organization to the point that they can "win" a championship.

Lawyers, Retired champions, Wealthy enthusiasts (with large egos and small minds) brought some very nice hardware, which attracted some talented competitors, and tuners.
What did the rank and file get? ((Racers got cheated out of contributed Benevolence fund money, and the lawyers got wealthier.))

The good news was that "racers race" and are passionate about it, while many (of those listed on Line 2) got their feelings hurt after spending ten times the money. LOL.
I made many GOOD friends and WE had many GOOD times; Jim C., Pat C., Ken C,/Kevin J., Paul L./Geoff H., and Mick O., to name a few that remain among us...

"Thank You" to Evelyn, the Pie Guy, and the many folks who make WERA better.

 

I got my license with ahrma in 2019 and have been a card holder since . I only run the september round and had a fantastic back and forth in BOT2 with the legendary Tripp Nobles and his Rockett ship XR 750 TT road racer this past 2022 sept round and withthat said i enjoy the rather funky eclectic gathering of old/odd fellas . I have been privy to the emails sent out regarding some of the issues but i dont get involved and just go and have fun just like our fantastic south region wera events , one of our well known members whom i voted for is a board member and is a great guy and maybe he will chime in .

 

COME RACE WERA!

I only race a few times a year and wish I could race more but even though I'm older than most WERA racers and race vintage bikes, I always have a good time. Now I know quite a few racers and I walk through the pits looking for older bikes and riders. It is easy to strike up conversations. I'm always surprised how many people stop to look and talk about my vintage bikes, especially if I have one of my two strokes.

If AHRMA has many riders, encourage the ones you know to ride WERA. WERA does not run as many classes for the oldest stuff but look at the rules. There is a place for you. Also if you have a larger displacement older bike (slower) WERA will let you practice with the modern light weights so there is not a closing speed issue.

WERA has V5 and up super cool bikes. Just a comparing of these same bikes with AHRMA rules make me by far prefer WERA. WERA is less restrictive which makes it easier to get parts and more fun to build what you want.

 

Heck yea and I race wera 2/3 times each year since 2019 in clubman , always top notch and a well oiled machine with nothing but a 5 star rating for Evelyn and Mongo and Gabe and my favorite corner worker Dyle Brinkley and they rest of the crew

 

IIRC ARHMA is more affordable as far as bang for buck. And we know how all racers are....

Then again, they're going broke so there's that.

 

They were going broke twenty years ago when I raced with them. Deja vu all over again! The administrative staff needs to consist of people who do not and have never raced. AHRMA literally has board members who are actively pursuing championships. What could possibly go wrong?

 

I have been racing with them the last few years… Grids are full especially in SOT 3… I think there were like 33 in the class at RRR this year… Next Gen 2 is getting bigger every year too.. I stay out of the Drama and just show up to race.. Never read my emails from them unless race related..