Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Eight years on the starting line "What the AMA needs to remember is that the good promoters are business people and that maybe they should think twice about giving asanction to those that aren't. There are too many guys promoting.who have no idea of what they are doing and I think that is one factor that is holding the sport back. " . By Gary Van Voorhis Eight years in the motocross promoting game is a long time. Bill West is weII aware of the fact. He was promoting long before the stars of today were ready to think about turning professional; before there was a National Championship; before the present management of the AMA was making decisions affecting the sport. In short, West has seen the sport grow and has been, in turn, a part of that growth. Eight years ago he kicked off AMA sanctioned motocross at his facil ity . Sunshine Speed way in St . Petersburg, Florida. At about the same time, the Winter·AMA MX Series was born to give snowbound riders a chance to spend the month of February in Florida getting in shal?e for the coming season. Despite his increasing involvement over the years, West has not been able to influence the one area that affects him most: AMA decision making. The only time the AMA will listen is if "you threaten the heII out of them," says West. "Sometimes even that doesn't work. A p romoter realIy has no say in the decisions that affect him. . "T he AMA 's scheduling of a Supercross event in Seattle, Washington right in the middle of an established motocross series (the Winter·AMA) and limiting riders to contesting only one class in the National Championships are two good examples of the AMA not listening to promoter input." Bill West has seen a lot of action and change in the past eight years . But none has prompted him to honestly sit back and contemplate the possibility of seeking another way of earning a living. This year will tell the tale. " My argument with Mr . Mockett and Mr. DiPrete of the AMA is that they (the AMA) have a commodity (the rider) which they seII to the promoter. The promoter. in tum, sells the product to the public. Fans are the ultimate consumer, so the better the AMA packages the commodity and markets it . the more valuable it is. "Right now we only have four realIy saleable stars: Weinert. DiStefano, Hannah and Sm it h. If a promoter has all four at his event, it will sell , if he has only one then it's nip and tuck. "It's strange. Here the AMA is raising the purses for Nationals (from $8 .000) to $10.000 and adding to our overhead while dividing the stars we use to sell tickets. In effect they're giving us less and charging us more. "T he AMA isn't the only one to blame though. If a lot of the promoters would be realistic with the AMA . then maybe they would start paying a little attention to us. The problem is that some promoters brag about how much money they made so most people will think they made a killing. I've never seen the type crowds they talk about . A promoter is only hurting himself when he pads at tendance figures to make an event look good. " Promoting motocross is a damn complicated business. To make money you need to approach it as a business. One big problem is promoters who are not in it as a business. They're either out to make a quick buck . which they won 't . or are building monuments to their egos and calling them motocross facilities. There is more to the story so sit back, grab a can of your favorite thirst quencher and join in on the conversation. "What the AMA needs to remember is that the good promoters are business people and that maybe they should think twice about giving a sanction to those that aren't. There are too many guys promoting who have no idea of what they are doing and I think that is one factor that is ho lding the sport back. "We (the promoters) are being killed with this new rule alIowing a rider to compete for the title in only one class . AlI the stars have chosen to race the 25Ucc class. There are five promoters who have 500/125cc Nationals who are plain out of luck. I know what I'm talking about .. I've got twol It's said that there is so much motocross going on in the South and the AMA can't get a handle on it . Programs like the new Regional Championship MX Series are really good ideas. But they are going to faII flat on their face if the AMA doesn't get ••• 16 • •• representatives out in the field to spread the word . It's like operating a church. You need missionari~ ' out beating the bushes and telIing the promoter. 'H ey, this thing will work. We'II help you do thi; and do that to make it go. ' ••• " Hey. we've got some high level problems in the racing end of the AMA. The riders have thei r ac together, the promoters. for the most part. do also , but we don't have any leadership. We don't have anybody who will listen to what we're saying. The only way a promoter can have any voice whatsoever is to threaten the heII out of them and then it takes someone with weight like BiII France at Daytona before the AMA takes notice. " I can dam near guarantee you that if some guy with his act together were down here representing the AMA they could win the war. That's alI it would take. Most of the promoters run unsanctioned events because they 're not knowledgeable . " If you think about it . Russ March (a former general manager of the AMA ) had the right idea with the field rep program. It's a shame things went sour because he had some very good ideas about exposure., He was promoting his product . the AMA . " I " I wish I was in charge of an organization with over 100,000 members, a built in racing program and sponsors like Camel Filter Cigarettes. I don't think the AMA is doing nearly what they could with the potential they've got. I believe they 've been dragging their feet. Russ March may have had a few problems and caused a few. but he was on the right track as far as promoting the organization. Every leader since then (1975) has done nothing. They alI seem to operate with a don't rock the boat type of philosophy. "AMA motocross manager Mike DiPrete and I don't agree on promotion and a lot of other things, but when the racing is over we're friends. " I don't believe that he is as knowledgeable as he should be to make some of the decisions he does. That is one of the reasons I'm disappointed that the AMA doesn't listen to the imput they get. "DiPrete makes decisions he thinks are good for the sport. Now just who is ' the sport?' Does it mean the promoter, the rider, the industry, the san-

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