Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.RACING ATTHE.CROSSROADS Chapter 1: AMA Vice President Tom Mueller the existing Nationals and the schedule needs trimming: Do you quit the old promoter or do you sacrifice the Paradama event? (Pause.) [ don't know what the answer would be in that situation. Paradamapromoted events are just. a theory in growth mode. We haven't done any events through this company yet, but [ can tell you that we are very sensitive to our current promoters. If Paradama promotes events, won't that jeopardize the AMA's status as a non-profit organization? Paradama would be a forprofit company, yes, but in a way that we do not jeopardize the non-profit status of the AMA. Paradama is a separate corporation, a subsidiary of theAMA. Did Paradama come about through a popular vote by the AMA membership or was it created by the Board of Trustees? The Board has had it under d evelopment for about two years and since that time we 've kept moving ahead and planning for future startup. Now, as of the August 26 Board meeting, we were approved for a fiscal startup on January 1, 1995. Where will the profits go? Paradama will pour those profits back into racing with things like a points fund, ventures in to newer and better events and inves tmen t in other things, like a better televi si o n package, better officials' equipment, better trucks for our people to take on the road. You have to understand, the way things are now, AMA Professional Racing is break. even at best - we don't have enough capital to buy anything right now. But as a new business we will have to be accountable for all of our own overhead, and with the AMA offices already getting a little crowded, maybe we can build Paradama its own building. So who's in charge? [ will be named president if everything goes as it's su pposed to. You have taken a lot of criticism in this AMA-AIR split... Throughout this whole ordeal [ have personally tried to apply my highest level of Christian principles and ethics - that's what I live by. My reputation in the industry - a 16' year career in sports marketing - speaks for itself. My Christian belief is what guides me everyday; that's what's guided me through this thing. Are negotiations still going on between the AMA and AIR? ~ I say yes, they say no. As of 0\ August 30 [ was still writing ,..-i letters individually to the N three Supercross promoters ,..-i about reconciliation. Bill's I-< OJ (West) answer to those letters was no, but he added that if . there was any mutual-type situ uation that would benefit us both, he would be interested. It was more or less the same with MIEG, who said no, not 'B o 20 at this time. Only SRO has never called back . The AMA is still open to bargaining and reconciliation. We really don't want to have to do our own Supercross series but, at the same time, we must be openminded and realistic. The factories have to race, they have to display their products in front of an audience. With this new Paradama organization we can put on a series for them. A number of factories want a Supercross series that is an AMA property. As a matter of fact, Ame rican Suzuki recently sent a letter to the AMA stating that they have posted their contingency program for an AMA Supercross se ries in 1995 and that's all they will be supporting. Isn't it getting a little too late to have a new AMA Supercross series in '95? I'm not pretending that there's going to be one-to-one competition with the AIR series but there's some possibilities out th ere that we are looking in to. We might start small and simple and go for a break-even or better year. That would prove that we can do races. Maybe after some success and positive feedback we can build our programs. Has there already been expansion of the AMA National Motocross series? There has not been a schedule posted yet. While it's true we talked to some new promoters, we are not presently show ing expansion in 1995 unless we have to do Supercross properties. You know, it amazes me that Bill (West) and Roy Ganson) think we 're e xpanding because that's all hearsay. Just because we ask someone if they're up for it doesn't mean they're on the schedule. And if some promoters ou t there are going around saying that they're getting a National the ·AMA really can't do much about that. People can talk and people can have wishful thinking but, n o, there' s no posted schedule to back any of that up. What happens if Daytona International Speedway goes over to AIR? I ta lked to Jim France about that today and he's not happy about the Supercross series coming apart and fragmenting the wa y it has. He feels that a deal should have come together. His thinking in a situation like this is "If all parties really want to get together, they can." He assured me that Daytona will run AMA sanctions in '95, but he will also allow AIR to use the points from his e vent fo r their series . The ' same goes for road racing . What will it take to reconcile? The AMA must deal directly with the three p romoters a bo u t operations and sanctioning issues, not with AIR If it takes concessions on our ·part to get them back in the fold , we are prepared to talk about some issues. We don't have to be invol ved with marketing, th e sales of s ponsors hip or si g h t promotions. Also, they can have the television rights for the term of the agreement. We need to have the authority to be the base operation that runs the events. Whatever properties we do beyond tha t is still up in the air. Do you see any problems with allowing Bill West and Supersports to hold on to his AMA National MX at Gainesville? Absolutely not. Jerry West is the man who really runs that event and he called to remind me of that event's strong history with the AMA. That race - as well as their Winter-AMA Series and other events - are rank-and-file, long-term AMA racing programs. The AMA is not going to drag their other programs into this. But how can you conduct the business of an AMA-sanctioned series with a competitor sitting in the room? I have no id ea. It has been a difficult situation from the start. As a rnatter of fact, there was a meeting set for Thursday (September 22) for AMA road racing in Miami and

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