Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

the Toyota deal , Doug dug into it. There is a strange connection here between Mockett and a Mr. Mike Kasino, who is apparently very close with Doug. Doug had apparently let Mr. Kasino know that I was close to closing the Toyota deal and he went in and picked up the deal after Mockett had to ld me to ho ld , off on it and put it together . "Doug called me in t he middle of November to tell me that the Toyota deal was finalized for the Super. cross Series. I told him the re wou ld be some problems on m y com mi ssion because I had a con tract and I put a lot of work into th at deal. I th en asked him wh at did he sell th em? He to ld me. I stat ed that he had ' sold them something whi ch he didn't own . Like signs in th e stad iums, Toyota's name on th e series and in all the advertisin g etc. I told him ; When are you goi ng to learn. Th is is just like wh y I ha d to let you go whe n you worked for me. You don't make d eals until you own th e product you 're trying to sell. ' " We'll get it work ed ou t ," he told m e. That is Dou g's typical explanation for every thing . Fr ankly , enough stuff falls through the cracks and sti cks to th e walls that some of it d oes ge t handled. "Doug sold Toyota th e farm a nd I th ink th ey a re starting to realize it. It is a sh am e became it is a good dea l for th e riders . Hey, the AMA is getting a big service fee out of this whi ch I would guess' to be $30 ,000 to $50 ,000 . It doesn 't ring true to me th at th e AMA ca n go in and pirate a sponsor we develo ped and put the money in their po cket. " In motorsports it has been typ ical th at the rider owns his sponsors, th e promoter owns the event spon· sors and th e sa nc tio n ing body ca n sell a seri es sponsor to ca ll it someth ing . But th ey can't grab on e that we've got and ram it b ack down our throats. T " I contacted Mockett abou t our prob lems and of fere d him some altern a tives: Let th e problem ride, submit it to a rbitration and let th em decide if th e AMA owes m e any th ing, work out a trade wh ereby I wou ld get assurance th at a no ther ep isode like th e ca nceling of m y Kansas Cit y event wou ld n' t happen or seek som e othe r solu tion acceptable to bo th pa r · ties. " I got a letter b ack sta ting 'Ther e's " nothing to talk a bo u t because we don 't owe you a nyt hi ng : T h a t is not th e way to assuage a promot er who feels he has gotte n the shaft by his sa nc tioning bo dy. "T h en T oyo ta ca lled wanting me to sign off my clause as their exclusive motocross agent. I told th em if I did that I wou ld have no protection from the AMA and that was why I wanted it in the first place, When I told them that , th ey sa id th ey wer e ready to ca ncel the whol e deal. I didn't want to be th e cause of that. So we worked ou t a compromise. " Now let m e te ll you what Doug is d oing with Mr. PiBB. He sign ed an agreem ent wit h me whi ch stipulated m y com m ission to be 20% of th e rea l value . th e cas h , medi a co nversion and th e rest . up to $100 ,000, 25 % up to $250 ,00 0 a nd 33 1/3 % above that to give me an incent ive to sell a big package . T he PiBB pa ckage am ou nts to about $20 0 ,000 : Doug ha s n ow told me th at t hey ca n't live with th e " The AMA sits as a b uffer between the rider and the promoter in m a n y cases. Listen, I'm n ot against everything they do. We need the AMA. I'm criticizing t h e m so that they won't p ull themselves d o w n like a n anchor," agreem ent th ey structu red . I agreed to negotiat e for wh at th ey co u ld affo rd . He basicall y said th ey couldn't a ffo rd a nything. We fina lly m ade a dea l in November for $12 ,500 with two sti pu lations . I was to be paid byJanuary 3 1 and I would not ha ve to be in volved in a ny of th e ro ut in e busi ness of th e sponsor· ship. . " T ha t weekend Coke ca lled me asking what was wrong ; tha t Mockett had ca lled and tri ed to ca ncel th eir co ntract. We got together im me d iately and put the deal back together. I th en ca lled AMA President Bob Ru d olph an d explained that Mockett ha d told Coke th ey d id not ha ve th e option to renew th ei r co n tract; that th e AM A would deci de on re newals. Boy, when you sell a big spo nso r ,.they wa nt the option . th ey wa nt a long term d eal. " Later, I ~ot a contract fr om Dou g for pay ment of th e $12 ,500 commission , b u t cance lling any furth er cont racts (with Coca -Col a / Mr. PiBB ) upon payments. " As we stand now, I haven't been paid and we a re at an impasse. He wants me to drop the Coke d ea l. He has unequivocally said I won 't be paid on a ny ot he r contracts. He. will not discuss Toyota or anything else . " For h im to tell methat kind of crap burns my butt , " It's the same situa tion in other places, They wrote m e for a fin a ncial statement. He y, I've been doing these promotions since 197 I and now all of a sud den they need a financial sta tement? Why? All it does is po int to the fact tha t Mockett has singled m e out for harassment because I'm one of t he most vocal pro mote rs. H e wan ts to quiet me do wn by trying to intimidate me. I gu ess he figures that if he keeps me busy enough then I can't go out a nd sell sponsors and television pa ckages which woul d de tract from his crown , so to speak . Hell, I'm egoti stic a l a nd I want credit wh ere cr edit is due, But I ca n't see why Doug (or the AMA ) and I can't work together based on our agre emen ts. All I want is that wha tever agreements we ha ve , we hav e , I don't need any new agreements , but wh en I m ake a deal I want to know it is a deal. It ge ts frustrating and dis couraging when you continue to hammer you r head against a b rick wall . " I have a reputation for being a real grinder. I push and push to make a deal and when I make one IT IS A DEAL. If it goes bad and I didn't do it right I've still go t a deal. People a re n' t doing business that way anymore , " Now Doug is a very egotistical guy. So am I. He sees me selling more sponsors and T V than he d oes and tha t takes some of his thu nder away. He's too lit tle a person to say 'Hey, why don't we work together a nd really do some business. ' He would rather belittle what I'm doing for th e sport. I hon estl y feel that he is trying to detract fr om what I'm d oing SO that he will look good. Frankly Dou g has some great ideas. It is ju st t he wa y he goes about th ings. I was very ap' prehensive when I heard Doug was being consid ered for the job of co m m issioner of professional racing. T ru th fu lly, I th ought it was a joke. " Le t's talk about th e riders. I know th at some are upset with w ha t they th ink I'm making from my events. I've asked th e riders if they wanted to invest in one of the stadium events . I'd be glad to give th em one, a lt ho ugh obviously not th e Superbowl or the othe rs I ha ve on wh ich I am starting to m ake money , MAR.lf-11 I:OOPf1 ASTAO OMI SAND PITS...WHOOP-DE-DOOS AND SPECTACULAR .. JUMPS•.. THE BEST MOTOCROSS RIDE~S IN THE '\ WORLD BATTLING EACH OTHER AND THE COURSE FOR $32,000 IN PRIZE MONEY. TICKETS: $5, $6, $7, & $8: CHILDREN 12 & UNDER HALF-PR ICE AT ALL 7 FOLEY'S TOP TICKET CENTERS, , •• GREENWAY PLAZA UNDERGROUND, THE ASTRODOME AND AREA HONDA DEALERS. IlII A PACE PRODUCTION PRESENTED BY THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE .?!Ifij GOOO;fYEAR SCOTT := . =.". --,. . . . . 37

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