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/126036
wh en th e rac e co m es up the y 're no t or I are wand ering o ut in the pi ts o r in the stands . Then co me the co mplain ts again . fro m t he p ublic . We ud vcrt ised so -and-so will rid e. th ev ca m e to see h im a nd ' t here he was ' watching t he races like they were ." So it so u nds like a little m o re re spo ns ibi lity n eeds to be taken by .rid er s and the AMA if A1\IA halfm ile is to survive at Ascot. Some A~ I A o fficials will tighte n u p with th e press, es pecia lly th ose o f us who have had unkind words fo r th em over the yea rs b ut no t Chub Kell a m . We ta lked frankly. Chub speaks for AMA ~I~y be Al\I A officials do cos t m o re ~ th an o the r o rganiza t ions. ye t A~lA races • .rn at , A~ co t are done m or e reasonabl y . than e lsew he re in the co untry . So its o bvious th al Ke llu m ge ts his lea rn o rgan ized. " We have more . people too, I think , t han the cars. Not only up in the timers box but at sign -in , lin e up and it takes m ore nagge rs an d pi ckup me n . I' d lik e to state th at o ur fees co me o ff a st an dard shee t from the A:\I A and thai is wh at I have to go from. It 's th e sa me for th e whole co u n try," Abo ut ' t he insu ran ce. " Well , we go through this with Ascot every so o fte n . Bu t th e A~IA ins ists th at in sura nce for e ven ts be handled th e sa me wa y , no t p ut in differe n tly each ti me. l r's for the pro tection of the r id ers. " On t he pits. " The ga te man is u nde r or d ers fro m m e to c heck. Whi tes are t he co rrect dress as pe r th e ru le bo o k. Or team .uniforms." We both had to lau gh. "On ly trouble is no o ne ' has eve r clarified · what a learn u nifo rm sho uld lo ok like. I th in k I can safely say that anyone yo u see wandering around the pits no t in wh ites o r~ a uniform was invi ted the re by the manageme nt. ? O K Ch u b, if you sa y so! On Asco t's th ought s abo u t race i- pro m o t io n . "W ell, I th in k we (t he I A1\IA) have done o u r share . It is the promoter's job to p ro mo te . We certainly don't care what they do to dress up the , show a nd bri ng in more people. That helps t he gate and a bigger gate , he lps everybody. But m ay be you're right th e nationals h avgrr't been so dr essed lat el y . I'll see wh at we ca n do ," lie the n spoke o f h is ri ders and how I proud he is 0 f t he a p peara nce the y make . "For racers I don 't thin k there arc better lo oking people th an o u r rid er s. Especially in th e leat her s th e y wear today. H And some o f th o se other even ts at Ascot arc, for me. thrill sho ws . Our racing is jus t that, real racin g !,. On purses. If an y riders a rc worried t hat th e y are n ot ge tting a fair sha ke , Chub sa ys this, "Ascot ha s alwa ys given m e lots o f co-o pe ra tio n and n o tr ouble over th e gate. I see the ticket co u n t w it h the n umbers of the first ticke t and t he las t o ne sold whe n the ga te is a percentage of the purse. " Like a lo t of peo ple, 1 have wondered what cons ti tutes the average purse at Asco t. 1 don 't m ean the biggies but th e pl ai n o ld Friday nights. T he standard A1\ IA rule is 59 0 0 m in imum plus 30% of a specified gate . If a pro moter guaran tees $1200 the n he doesn't have to pay a percentage unless he wants to. T hai's O K wi th good promo te rs but I . wonder how many races have been run with a guaran te ed purse o f $12 0 0 , a race tr ack filled with say 12 ,0 00 peo pl e and no gate percen tage? U • • • Then I've tal k ed with two other people who have co ns id e re d promot in g Al\IA races professionally. Afte r a cha t wi tli th e A~IA nei the r o ne is willi ng to do i t. "Too m an y hassles," An d, "The AMA wan ts so m uch mone y I'd be b ro ke be fo re I st a rted. " May be that last reason is why the AMA is so strict. T he riders ye ars ago were treated mercilessly by fl y-b y-night promoter s. Th e Al\IA wan ts a promo ter o n a firm fo undatio n before t he y 'll gran t sanctio ns. No w m ay be it 's ti me for some analysis, as Eric Severeid wo u ld say . AI-IA hal fm ile at Asco t Pa rk is in tro uble. Tho se glory days of racin g we all loved. ar e a diffe re n t era and th e sport has c ha nged . Mo to cr oss has tak en a hu ge slice of pic away fro m halfmil e , It's obviously time for the AMA, ride rs and Ascot to get to get her a nd talk. All seem wi lling but no one has really m ad e an attempt to do it, not properl y. The o ld Mo to rcycle Race rs, . Inc, d id so me good t h in gs wh ile the y were bande d to geth er. No o ne wants to see Ascol di e. But wh o can br eathe life in to it sing le han dedly ? • . 31 ,