Sunday, March 9, 2008

Will the AMA Become AAA?

AMA President Rob Dingman continues to emphasize that the AMA needs to be a better member services organization, providing better benefits to members. This has been a consistent theme in every interview Dingman has held over the past year. That worries me. While Dingman is always careful to mention that the AMA needs to protect the future of motorcycling and be stronger on the legislative and government front, it is always secondary to member benefits.

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Saturday, March 8, 2008

Dingman and Edmondson Interviewed by SPEED

From Mike Kincaid of Rampant Racing comes this link to two video interviews over at SPEED. There is a 4 1/2-minute interview with Rob Dingman, AMA president, and a much more informative 10-minute interview with Roger Edmondson of the Daytona Motorsports Group. If you are concerned about the future of American motorcycle racing I think the Edmondson interview will give you hope.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Guest Response: AMA Selects Daytona Group for Pro Racing

It's a wonder that after 25 years of running roadracing, and flat track into the ground the AMA finally woke up and decided it was time to get rid those those cycle sports. Gone are the days when the average dirtbike riding kid (or adult for that matter) knows the name of even one RR or FT star. Do you? I don't. Ever since the AMA blundered into the golden goose that is Supercross, the AMA abandoned RR, FT, and to some degree motocross. For the AMA to sell to the people that control the tracks was a no brainer.

It's Official - AMA Selects Daytona Group for Pro Racing

It's official, the AMA is selling virtually all the Pro Racing properties (everything but SuperCross and ArenaCross) to the the Daytona investment group led by Jim France of NASCAR and ISC, and Roger Edmondson, President of the Grand American Road Race Series. Here is a video of the Daytona press conference and here is a complete transcript.

I think this is good, for a lot of reasons, but I wonder how it will affect the National Promoters Group that has worked so hard to build outdoor MX into the first-rate show that it is today. I suspect they will be fine, but it's probably a difficult time for them right now. This is a big day. More later...

Update: The National Promoters Group has issued a press release in support of the AMA sale. The language of it indicates to me that they were pretty much left out in the cold on this deal. But I have to think the Daytona Motorsports Group will rely heavily on NPG to keep doing what they've been doing, which is work to better outdoor MX. One thing I don't think will happen – I don't think DMG will try to kill off outdoor MX which what it often looked like the AMA was trying to do.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

What Happened to the AMA Road Racing Sale?

No news today on the supposed sale of AMA Pro Racing Road Race properties to the Daytona-based investment group. I checked both Cycle News and the AMA website for info and got nada.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

AMA About to Sell Pro Racing?

Cycle News is reporting today the sale of the road racing properties of AMA Pro Racing will be announced tomorrow. The reported buyer is a Daytona, FL investment group led by Jim France, president of International Speedway Corporation.

While the France family has its detractors, there is very little downside to this purchase if it happens. Given the state of the AMA, aligning motorcycle racing with arguably motorsport's most successful business model can only be a step up. Plus, the France family has shown a decided interest in and understanding of the need to maintain a healthy grass roots involvement through their "Come Home to NASCAR Dirt Track" promotion effort.

It was earlier reported that all the racing properties -- including motocross, supercross, ATV, and offroad -- would be sold as a unit. this no longer appears to be the case. Not sure if that's good or bad. Professional Motocross could benefit from a business model like NASCAR. For more on this topic see AMA Motocross Is Not NASCAR, The Cost of Inner Conflict, and The Nonprofit Professional.