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/126394
IIWlfhout sponsorship, It is difficult for any type of racing to expand. " AMA Execu.tive Director Lin Kuchler: A personal challe.nge By Gary Van Voorhis To many long time American Motorcyclist Association members, the name Lin Kuchler is a familiar one. His eighr -year tenure u'ith the organ ization (J 958·1966) as executive secretary - a forerunner oftoday's executive director - was a popular one. 12 In 1966 Kuchler left the AMA to assume a post with th e stock car racing organization, NASCAR . However, he net'er really severed his ties unt]: either the world of motorcycling of his friends with in the industry or sport . His return as executive director has bun hailed by many asjust the thing that the organization needs. A majority of thos e. asked about his return opined that he would bring a stabilizing influence to the AMA and that his management back ground and past experience with the AMA, although 12 years ago, would give him a solid foundation from which to function . It was almost two monthsto the day from the date when Kuchler assumed leadership of the AMA that this interview took place. Although professing that he had only had a short time in which to become acquainted with the inner workings of t oday's A MA, Kuchler was the portrait of a man at ease with his work and one who knows what he expects from himselfand the organization. C N : W hy, after 12 years wi t h CN : W elcome back. ~ASCAll, d id you decide to retu rn to the AMA? LK: It's good to be back . I've kep t close touch with my fr iends a nd have LK: I had watched the progress and kept up with what was happening in problems that the AMA has had over a the AMA over the 12 years that I was number of years . It became a kind of with NASCA R . I was fortunate in that menta l challenge that if the oppormy job with NASCAR took me all over tunitv arose and the situation was the country, and it was easy to keep in right : Iwould consider returning . The touch with many of the people that I other thing is that after the number of made acquaintance with when I was years I had been with NASCAR, I was with the AMA origin~lIy. , re~lIy . i!'1 ~ po~it.ion ,tf? .m ,!ke ~ change without creating a hardship on my family or anyone else . I saw returning to the AMA as more of a personal challenge than anything else . CN : What do you fee l you ca n do fo r the AMA tha t someone else with a management ba ckgroun d could n't do? . L K: Possibly the thing that made the AMA a challenge was the fact that I've been in the motorcycle business for almost 40 years, in almost every aspect. I don't feel that things haven't been done properly here, but I do feel that I have a background - perhaps a greater ba ckgrou n d - in motorcycling, not only in the industry, but in the spo rt· th an a lo t of other people who have come to the AMA. I feel I know wha t ha s happened in the past. a nd while the success of the association is not necessa rily bu ilt on history. I think the kno wledge of how and why certain th ings h appened is important in in aking decisions pertaining to to day's b usi ness. CN: W h a t progr a ms a re you looking a t? LK: I think the most important program · and this is both short -term and long· term . is to incr jl ljIe . . . . _... ---. _ ---- --_ _-_ .. -.. I • membership. We have some membershi p programs in discussion. We have contacted several manufacturers to interest them in becoming sponsors of a membership drive program. The pur· pose of such a program with some type of sponsorship is to creat immediate attention and put out the facts of why it is important to increase the memo bership. I think that if you talk in terms of the total numbers of registered mot orcycles. our membership is inadequate to do the job and give all of motorcycling the representation it need on various problems that are more critical now than they were years ago. This is something th at will require sheer nu m bers to m ak e ourselves heard . We've got to p ass the m essage a long that everyone wh o rides a m ot orcycle has a definite interest in this. In ' m y opin ion , they h ave an obligation to belong and support the efforts that we are p u tt ing fort h so th at a ll of us can continue to enjoy motorcycling. not only from the standpoint of a sport , but as transportation and leisure-rime recreation . . I believe that we are very· much in need ora motorcycle rider training i prora,r'\l- I r ~e) ieye I.h~,t, s~c;h.} d?~O, , .