AMA Sells out to DMG

[LA Busa]

Now I know the AMA has had some bad times on the track in the last few years but I have really come to be a fan of the racing that they sanction and yesterday I am reading Speed Channel's site before the Daytona race was aired and see that the AMA has sold just about the whole hog to DMG (an outfit partly owned by the EVP of NASCAR)...

Here is the article:


Written by: AMA Communications
American Motorcyclist Association    03/07/2008 - 09:31 AM


The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) announced today that the Association has entered into an agreement in principle to sell the sanctioning, promotional and management rights for its AMA Pro Racing properties to the Daytona Motorsports Group (DMG), based in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Led by Roger Edmondson, the founder of the CCS motorcycle racing series and currently the President of the Grand American Road Race Series LLC, and Jim France, Vice Chairman/Executive Vice President of NASCAR, DMG will assume responsibility for the AMA Superbike Series, the AMA Motocross Series, the AMA Flat Track Series, the AMA Supermoto Series, the AMA Hillclimb Series and ATV Pro Racing. The agreement in principle does not include the AMA Supercross and AMA Arenacross Series, the rights to which are held by Live Nation. Daytona Motorsports Group will license the use of the AMA name and trademarks to promote their motorcycle racing activities.

"For as long as I can remember, the AMA name has been synonymous with professional motorcycle racing in America,"￾ said France. Added Edmondson, "Our goal is to guide the sport into the mainstream of American culture and showcase the extraordinary abilities of the competitors and their teams."￾

"We are honored to be working with the Daytona Motorsports Group,"￾ said AMA President and CEO Rob Dingman. "This group of individuals has supported the AMA and motorcycle racing for decades. There isn't a better-resourced or more qualified entity in which to entrust the future of AMA Pro Racing."￾

The agreement between the AMA and DMG came as a result of an RFP (request for proposal) process undertaken by the AMA in September, 2007 to seek promotional partners for its professional racing series. The AMA will continue sanctioning amateur motorcycle racing and club activities.

"Today is a great day for professional motorcycle racing and for the AMA,"￾ Dingman said. "By placing AMA Pro Racing in the hands of people with a proven record of excellence in motor sports organization and promotion in a fashion similar to our successful partnership with Live Nation, the AMA will be able to focus its resources on its core mission to be a member advocacy organization."￾

The American Motorcyclist Association: rights. riding. racing.
Founded in 1924, the AMA is a non-profit organization with 290,000 members. The Association's purpose is to protect and promote the interests of motorcyclists, while serving the needs of its members. For more information, visit the AMA website at http://www.AMADirectlink.com.



A great day?
I dunno...
From my limited experience as an AMA pro racing fan what I see with it is what NASCAR was when I was younger. Racing that features racing tweaked, hopped up, stock vehicles.
I read the rules for Super Bike and Formula Xtreme yesterday and they seem pretty true to taking production based machines and letting the teams make limited changes and run them. Hope it stays that way.
I hope the rule happy / even field mentallity of NASCAR dont prevail here and they wind up decal'ing up 'the motorcycle of tomorrow'....

I'll shut up now...

 

[GSXRFANN]

^
'
'
'-------What he said!!

 

[fsusux]

Somehow I doubt that any involvement from nascar wil NOT be a good thing.

 

[Rayabusa0818]

I love NASCAR

 

[bigoltool]

Any time you take Rob Dingman out of the equation has to be a good thing. He has been nothing but destructive to the AMA since he took the reins. That being said you really need to think about what those Nascar guys have done for the sport of stock car racing. These same people are the ones running the relatively successful Moto ST series already and they bring a wealth of promotional tools to the party that the previous regime just didn't have. I am personally pretty excited to see if they can drag AMA Road racing into the mainstream the way have Nascar. AMA Superbike will most assuredly need it when its two biggest stars depart for greener pastures next year.

 

[GSXcite]

There is NOTHING stock about a Sprint cup stock car.

 

[LA Busa]

Any time you take Rob Dingman out of the equation has to be a good thing. He has been nothing but destructive to the AMA since he took the reins. That being said you really need to think about what those Nascar guys have done for the sport of stock car racing. These same people are the ones running the relatively successful Moto ST series already and they bring a wealth of promotional tools to the party that the previous regime just didn't have. I am personally pretty excited to see if they can drag AMA Road racing into the mainstream the way have Nascar. AMA Superbike will most assuredly need it when its two biggest stars depart for greener pastures next year.  

Amen bro!

Thanks! I was hoping someone here would make me feel better!

I just remember every time a brand or body profile became dominant in 'stock car racing', here came the spoiler changes, the new front air dams. NASCAR would go to any length to keep em even and my goodness, Suzuki is a little more than dominant in Super Bike!

I hope it will be good for the sport, there did not seem to be many people in the stands at Daytona this weekend... but at Barber in a month people will be climbing trees to see the action!

 

[LA Busa]

I love NASCAR

I know you do Don and I dont mean to case all over them!

I cant help but still watch it, I kinda squint but I'm sorta still there for them!

This motorcycle racing though?
Man, I am hooked

and waiting on 9pm to watch the Moto GP season kick off on Speed Channel!

 

[DaCol.]

What it means is

:::::::: Josh Hays would have kept his win

, and his Crew Chief would have been fined

. Not Disqualified, although, he got the correct punishment for the infraction. Ya can polish a crankshaft, take a little off here and there, and NOT know it

 

[gtrpimp76]

wonder what DMG means to AMA racing?

The Daytona 200 for next year is already set for the Superbike Class. 1st time since the 2004 D200.

This will be very interesting b/c many of the riders were opposed to doing the 200 w/Superbike class b/c of safety and tire issues. It'll be interesting to see how many of them will race.

 

[GSXTacy]

I hope they eliminate half of the classes, so there is more than a few factory/sponsored riders on the track at a time.

 

[gtrpimp76]

I hope they eliminate half of the classes, so there is more than a few factory/sponsored riders on the track at a time.

Superstock will be eliminated in 09. That's why it's all privateer teams.

They will have: superbike, supersport and Formula xTreme.

 

[BusaCruise]

I hope they eliminate half of the classes, so there is more than a few factory/sponsored riders on the track at a time.

Superstock will be eliminated in 09. That's why it's all privateer teams.

They will have: superbike, supersport and Formula xTreme.

basically removing the privateer from equation.
so much for grass roots efforts...

1/2 of getting out there is to see what you can do against those with the backing...and being stuck in your own back yard doing laps in the dirt around the old oak tree.

all those "factory rides" had to get their start somewhere...mostly as privateers doing well.
in a few seasons, most guys will be snuffed from the circuit, unable to "afford" to compete.

the american way...let a few people's greed spoil the dreams that thousands of others share.
and our apathy won't stand in their way.

I read the rules for Super Bike and Formula Xtreme yesterday and they seem pretty true to taking production based machines and letting the teams make limited changes and run them. Hope it stays that way.

the last time I looked...superbike and f-xtreme were ANYTHING but close to stock.
perhaps I need to re-read?

 

[JusPlaynBob]

the last time I looked...superbike and f-xtreme were ANYTHING but close to stock.
perhaps I need to re-read?

I think he means that compared to...

MOTO GP, AMA Superbike F-Xtreme, are stock based production bikes, with a mess of mod.s

 

[bigoltool]

Any racing series except the most grass roots club type races needs a feeder series to funnel the faster guys to the top of the heap. If you just allow everyone to race every class you will have such speed disparities on track that it just creates a dangerous situation. Most respectable racing series have a cutoff that is a certain percentage above the pole speed for that race. Look at the Daytona 200. They had 69 guys start that race. Ask the fast guys if they like dodging back markers that are going twenty or thirty miles an hour slower than them on the high banks of Daytona for 69 laps. I think it is a good thing to get rid of Superstock at least in its current form. The times in most cases were so close to Superbike it was creating an overlap and a lot of guys just wound up running the same bike in both classes. I would love to see a return to a smaller displacement version of this class like it used to be before the GSXR750 stunk the place up. The current 800cc Moto GP bikes may lead to a new bout of 750/800cc Racer Replicas that could make this a reality. The switch back to Superbikes for the 200 is a good thing even if it means getting rid of the last run on the high banks. The Daytona 200 was the premier motorcycle race in north America for decades and then to neuter it by running a feeder class as the headliner was just pathetic. If they want to get the cream of the crop to come and race at Daytona as in years past they have to spruce it up somehow. I think the DMG will bring the series some exposure that will enevitably create new sponsorship opportunites for more factory level teams to exist at this level. This may even attract teams that would otherwise be running in WSBK, British Superbike or MotoGP? A team Roberts AMA Superbike team could be interesting? It all hinges on the promotion of the series and I think these guys can do just that. I'll watch it regardless.