Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

.. The AmA P,o Racing Commillione, getl down .to bu/ine" ... By Bobi Scott 12 On th e very day our updated interoieta with Doug Mockett , the former AMA commissioner of profess ional racing, appeared on the newsstands Cycle News received word that his contract had not been renewed: Mike DiPrete, who had served as professional motocross mana~er for the AMA since 197J, had been named to fil! his position. Since the change came about near the end ofJuly we thought it best to let Mike settle into his new role as pro commissioner and then get his views on how things were going at the close ofthe '78 racing season. Mike, what is the board requesting ' of you u Commiuioner of Professional Racing? What's your approach to the poeition? We're still trying to make professi onal motorcycle racing as big a thing as possible but I th ink that now we're not assuming a lot of th ings that were assumed before. For example: Everybody was assum ing TV was a big th ing , that they were just going to beg us to be on there. We 've seen now that's just not true. We 're backing off a lot of "pie in the sky" deals and getting down to being realistic. We 're going to take a slower , more realistic approach to it. As of now, at the dOle of the '78 racing season, what shape is the Pro Racing Department in? What's right about it, what's wrong? Well , we've taken all the losses everybody has , by now, heard about and we're bud~eting and forecasting for a , break-even year 10 '79 - possibly making a little bit of money. We 've cut back on a lot of our costs . We 're not hiring anybody to fill the posts vacated by Firestone, Parkhurst and Mockett a few months ago . We were also into the race program "business" and that's not there anymore we've backed off all of those things. Why wu the race program deal dispelled of? . I don't know all the problems, I didn't get involved with it. Mockett was initially handling it, then Gene Wirwahn handled it - I know it was a costly opera tion and my understanding is that the cost far exceeded what we had agreed to , so it's been done away with for '79 . The tentative national schedule for '79 looks aIm..t identical to that of '78, ls that good or bad? . . ,,. l . •. J • We 'I e getting to the point where we don't have that many weekends left . In motocross , for example, we're filled up once we start in January. We don't really have any open dates so we can't expand that much. About the only way we can is if we separate the road races from the dirt track circuits, then we can sta rt combining. The riders don't even want to expand that many more. ls it a good ~ibility that road races will be separated from the din track circuit in the near future? I don't really know yet. We 're getting requests both ways. Some want to , some don't . We're looking at it but we've got to make some major changes to road race first . If we can develop it we can expand the circuit , but rig ht now I don't think we could even if we wanted to . What do you mean by "major changes?" . Possibly changing the major class of the Nationals. Maybe getting off 750s and onto 500cc GP or a 1000cc Superbike class. Right now I'm kind of leaning toward the 1000cc th ing but I haven't talked to enough people yet to get enough input. The biggest problem is that there's only one bike in there -the Yamaha. That eliminates a lot of dealer participation. which is something you really need to make it better than it is now . In motocross anybody can get involved because the bikes are available. If a dealer wants to sponsor a kid, he can do it. In road racing you can't do that because the equipment just isn't available. So, what we have to do is to get the right number of bikes panicipating which would open it up to a lot of dealers. The 500cc GP or Superbike type of racing would probablye do that, but I'mnot sure yet which would be better. Why do you suggest that 500cc would be a better size than 75Occ? Just to 'go along with the FIM is the best reason. They're ~ing to tum the 750cc class into endurance type racing and 500cc will be the major GP event throughout the world. So, if we swing 10 and follow that line , the bikes would be available and we'd get fore ign participation as well. One problem though , is ,when the FIM switclt~ over (in 1980) they'll have four championship classes; 50·125·250 and 500cc and in order to get a world championship event yoU I may have to take all four classes. That could be a problem for us since we don't have all those bikes in this country and we might not be able to get the world riders to come over here. ~ Does it 'h ave anything to do with stanl money- AMA doesn't hne a start money rule but FIM &-. Will it keep Europeans off our road race grids? It's sure affected the TranJ-AMA) series. Only two Europeans contested it this year, l they're getting fewer and fewer each year. What's l going to happen there? I 0:> We'D get the road races in the 500cc c1lU1, it's th smaller classes we're worried about. We just don'd have that kind of racing over here so we might have J problems filling those classes with Americans. You might have TWO or three of the top riders come over. "( just for the points. As fa r as the Trans-AMA series goes it's a moneY problem with foreign riders, We pay big punes bud they 're looking for guarantees. We reduced the circuit because we felt having them co,me over for . 12 weeks was too much for them . Five or six yean: ago they were coming over on a vacation and they l were winning everything. They didn't have to work-, out, practice, or train, or anything like that. Over the past few yean our riders have gotten better sci that now when the Europeans come over they haver to compete , stay in top shape, and on top of that the government requires us to take !l0 percent tax right off the top from their earnin~. Even if theyl do make some money they're lesing' !l0 percent before they ever see it . So, we reduced the TransAMA series to seven this year and we may reduce it1 to five next year. £ What can you do about it, anything? n We can possibly pay their expenses over here and' then put them on an equal footing with the Americans. Another problem is that there's not that many top riders in the world who can compete over here anymore so they 're going to come over and not winl This year there was only DeCoster and Graham Noyce but you could have had 10 other people as well and their chances of beating Bob j Hannah would have been very slim . ., Are you saying it's not euy pickin's for theui'! anymore? u3 Right . It's not a vacation anymore and they've raced a full year on their own circuits. When it's not a game it becomes work and it's just an extension of their work year. Maybe we can get together with the promoters and pay them more money but, on the other hand, it's the only time during the whole yeat that all the Americans ride together. It could J become the premier circuit if we decide to promote " that aspect of it. We either find a way to bring the' Europeans over or do something with what we'vel already got here now. ,'"" "1 How about track design on the TranJ-AMA circuit? You take a track like Unadilla, which i& very much a European type track, and DeCoIte~ comes out a winner. Does it make a difference? I th ink Hannah could beat DeCoster on Unadilla or any other track in the country this year. I also think the Europeans are not used to riding on our types of tracks, but when we go over there to race the Moto cross and Trophee des Nations we're at a disadvantage. When they come over here at least they 're racing a series of six or seven races so they can get used to it. When we go over there we only' ride two races, one on a 250cc and the other ona 500cc, so we can't get accustomed to their type of racing. Unadilla is probably the best U ,5. track because the promoter only uses it twice a year. It's very wet up there (they get a lot of rain and mow) so the ground stays moist and the track stays in good, shape. But most of ou r tracks are used more than once or twice a year and they might be different from European tracks in that respect, but I don't" think they're as different as everyone says. • "" Roger D said in one interview that Hannah couldn't go over there and win the World Championship in a year. I think if anybody could, Bob Hannah could. If Hannah went over there next year and decided he wanted to win the World Championship, I think he would probably win it' because he is Bob Hannah and he wants to win it. Hannah is winning in this country because he wanil to win. Over there he was the only guy who could race with Mikkola and it was his first time on a 500cc. He wasn't even accustomed to the bike and, yet he was staying close to him. If Hannah had gotten two or three weeks on the bike , who mows, I· would bet he could have beaten him. ~ Do you have problems scheduling Stadium Mot&, CI'C* events? lOl We are at the mercy of the itadium facility when it comes right down , ~o" it, The f~t1;lr~l, ~~~a;1l ~~

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