Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125880
- -~-~ .. "------------ • Present day AMA Headquarters in Westerville, Ohio were completed in 1972 and house the entire association staff as well as the American Motorcycling Museum. Board o f T r u stees and the AMA Congress: · The question of what wen t wron g in 1973 d raws this re spon se from Youngblood: "In the first pl ace the whole structure was du e for review anyway: Last ye ar proved that. So th at 's one basic problem . The AMA, with all th e right ideas and good in ten tions in the world, just didn't develop the machinery over something like 47 years to be a 150,000 member, high-powered service organization wi th a clien tele as broad as the scope of motorcycling is today. The conditions, and thus th e impetus for ch an ge , really didn't exi st until the Russ March era. "Th en there is the matter o f the 'tunnel vision' th at befell everybody in the early ' 7Os including the AMA, the major manufacturers and all the leading bike publications. We all became p e r f o r m a n c e -o r i e n te d w ith t h e de v e l 0 p men t 0 f the 0 ff - road motorcycle. We all tho ugh t every b od y wanted to be a racer or at leas t be like a racer. The average street rider, the whole realm of ro ad ride r ac tivi ty and for that matter the m otorcycle club as a social gro up were all vir tually ignored . Th e big em phasis o n race insurance, w hich go t us into a lo t of these problems to b egin with, stemmed from this attitude. UNow we 're encouraged to see the pendulum begin to sw ing b ack. AMA, wi th its new structure, is prepared to respond to a much broader concep t o f mo torcycling than b efore. Ex amp les o f the pendulum swing are inc reased sales of r oad bikes, new em pha sis on motorcycle safety and a real exp losio n in observed 'trials." , How well can the AMA respond to t he ch allen ge of the next fift y ye ars ? Ed Youngblood says, "E.C. Smith tell s our PR departmen t that the answer is the clubs, club activity and good public relations. Now, he made that formul a work for 30 years, so we're going to do more with those areas . And as long as E.C. is around, yo u can bet we w on't be sho rt on advice as to what we should be doing. "Meanwhile, I think too much emph asis has been placed o n what th e AMA did wrong in the early ' 70s. At the risk o f sounding like Bill Berry b ack in '67, I think we need to point ou t that a lot o f sound, solid decisions were made during that pe riod of time. .. The l eg isl at iv e pro gram an d Op erati on Alert are th e best e xamples o f the fac t th at th e AMA ha s re ally be c om e o ne hell of an effective o rganization . You can cite a dozen ot he r ex amples in the p ub liC' rela tio ns, club and co mpetition areas , to o , but the point is th at for all t he p robl em s of la te, the AMA is cranking out mo re positive b en efi t for motorcyclists than at any previo us time in its history. "I f I had to summarize th ose difficulties in a word, I'd say it w as 'o ver-ex tensio n .' We just spread the AMA too t hi n. But I'll tell you this: An y organi za t io n that can main tain the level o f acti vity we ha ve in the past six mo nth s and at the same time co mplete ly wipe out a rather substantial debt,"put $15 0 ,0 0 0 working capital in th e b ank and increase the membership b y almost 6,000 , is sure not on the ropes. And those aren't Russ March Era exagg er at ions either . Those are facts th at I t h i n k prove the American Motorcycle Association is o n the right track a s far as future service to motorcyclists are concerned." The professional racing picture also has seen notable developments in 1974, as fo r th e first time a business totally uninv olved with the motorcycle industry has stepp ed in and expressed a d esire to be a part of AMA racing. C o n s equ en tly , t he CAMEL PRO S ERI ES, s p o n so re d b y the R.J . Reyn old s T obacco Co ., wa s born w it h a $ 15 ,00 0 point fund fo r the three-r ace series. It is the first such p ack age nego tiat ed in the h istory of American motorcycle racing. While the im mediate benefit of the CAMEL PRO SERIES to professional racing is obvious, the underlying implicatio ns are co nsidered even mor e en couragin g by th e AMA. In sponsoring the CAMEL PRO SERIES, th e R.J . Reynolds Tobacco Co. is in effect st ating that mo torcycling is an elemen t of Am eri can sports wi th which it wants its name associated. The development of the AMA and the sport o f motorcycl ing has not been without setbacks and internal problems. The Big Bear Run fiasco of 1961 was particularly damaging to the image of motor cycling, as was the media's preoccupation with the Hells Angels. Motorcycling has lived through the dramatic effects of two world wars and through upheaval from internal questions such as the separation of spo rt from industry control. In the July 19,1974, edition of CYCLE NEWS WEST, Charles Clayton wrote : "Few o f man's institutions have served him so well as the American Motorcycle Association . . . In the half century since (its creat io n ) AMA has evo lved into a st rugglin g democracy of motorcycle en th usias ts and industry members, lo osely allied for th e good of th e spo rt. An AMA membership card carries a fascin ating histo ry with it." As t he AMA en ters its second 50 years it stands o n a reco rd of accomp lishmen t and l o o k s eagerly t o its next h alf-eent ury of service to American motorcyclists. Grand National Champion Kenny Roberts. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Th is supplement co uld not have bee n possible with out the assist ance of the Staff of t he AMA; t he Harley Davidson library and numerous other ind ivid uals who spe nt ma ny ho urs in th e finalization of thi s project, PHOTO CREDITS : Rick Kocks, research. Action Sports, Cliff Boswell, Jack Cansler, Daytona Beach Resort Area Photo, Harley-Davidson Motor Co., Edn a Hodgson , Maxfield Pictures, Cha rles R. Moor, On the Spot Photo, Ed Reich's Studio, Paul Robertson, Gerald E. West, Clair J. Wilson, E.D. Young Photography and many others whose photos bear no identification. COVER : Buddy Miller and Bobby Hitt, Illust rati on Design Group, lnc., Nashville, Tennessee.