Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

O; R C C TT E R S R A S Chapter 3: Roger Edmondson and Pat Murphy A iNfA H :C O S O o victory are very close. It's what people want to see it's good ra cing. A whole lot of riders had money put in their pockets with our programs. We w or k well to ge th er. I get the ideas and Pat puts the rubber to the road. He makes it happen, and there is no reason for us not to go forward now and catch the vision of what can be without worrying abou t whether or not the vice-presiden t we have is the right one or the wrong one. Without worry of if this vice-president is going to get fired for something tha t has nothing to do with us. I would say this, if there are any questions about management at the AMA you have to ta ke a look a t that place: how can these people continually either put somebody into an un-doable job, or how can they continue to hire the wrong people? Because you ha ve to draw one of two conclusions: that they hired all these wrong people and had to fire them - none of these people have quit b y the way, they have all been fired ; or the job is not doable and the structure is wrong. I think it is a little bit of both. I think you have inept management and I think you have a structure that is very undoable. Everyone behind the scenes has been saying the same th ing for yea rs, you ju s t never see it in print. Why . doesn't the AMA get smart and be like an AAA and do what they do best? And leave all these problems to professionals. What we see today in the supercross and the pro racing is a sign of the times. These two sports have matured now, to the point where they have to be compared with an early In d y Ca r or NASCAR series. And to reach that level and to be professional, they have to be in the hands of a professional It can no longer be in the hands of somebody worrying about 200,000 people sending in 29 bucks a year and whether they are going to like it or not. Perhaps the AMA have accomplished that with their new subsidiary Paradama? (Murphy) Triple-A spun off to USAC and faced the same problem in 1956. What you ended up with was a separate racing organization that was run exactly like it was when it was part of AAA . Paradama is going to be wholly owned by the AMA, and it s initial management, unless there is an announcement we haven't heard yet, is going to be AMA staff. Its operating procedures are going to be based on the AMA history of operational proced u re. Where is the new thought go ing to come from ? What's going to make it different than what it was? You can call a horse a cow, but it is indeed a horse. What is NASH's mission, as you see it? (Edmondson) I still think we are not done creating new and better ideas. I th ink we have a history of satisfying promoters, of satisfying riders, of satisfying a lot of constituents. And now we are free to take this to the ne xt level. I think we are living in a marketplace that is more global , so we're not calling ourselves the American Superbike Championship - we're the North American Superbike Ch ampionship because we feel there are opportunities in Mexico; that's a whole new opportunity for television down there. It's a whole new opportunity for so u th-o f-the-b or der companies. We feel there are many opportunities in Canada. If you think just America , you're th inking ve r y small. I believe that we ha ve not yet reached our potential, and that there is no reason to be lie ve that th e current o s 0\ ~ N' ~ 1-4 Q) .0 .8 u o 28 management at the AMA is in position to get us there. You have to ask yourself, wh at is the current management at the AMA and what were they doin g this time last year? What are their credentials to take this sport to the next level, and furthermore, what is their sta rti ng base? The assumption is that their startin g base is what we will leave behind. No. The AMA/CCS Supersport, which has been HP4 Supersport this year, is going with us. Any Supersport the AMA has is something they will have to do on their own. The same thing is true without Harley-Davidson TwinSports - we created that class and we will be taking it right along with us . We are building on a base we already have in place . We just ha ve a new name - these guys have the old name but I submit to you that they have no experience and they are going to have to make a program for themselves before they can go to the next level. At the same time, they are going to tackle all of the problems that have existed - they are now going to tackle a new problem by being promoters? That's a slap in the face to our promoters - it implies that what they do is so easy that (the AMA) can just do this as a sideline. All they need is a few bucks and the AMA can do what you, the promoter, have been doing at Mid-Ohio and Road America and all those fine facilities. I don't think so. You have a very strong relationship with many of the AMA promoters, most notably the France family of Daytona International Speedway. What feedback have you received from them? (Edmondson) I think that all the promoters have to be very cautious. If you could ask to the promoters what they would like to see, they say they would like to see that nothing had changed. They were comfortable, and we were making progress, and I think I can look every one of them in the eye and not make any apologies to any of them. We have done nothing but bring them more and more successful events. And the promoters who started w ith us only recently now see ligh t at the end of the tunnel. We have been on the edge of having a program that was successful for all venues which would have then allowed us to go forw ard. Now this thing has been exploded and for what reason? There is no rea son for what is going on right now, the dissolution of a joint venture that has worked so well . You were negotiating with the AMA for them to buy your Supersport classes from you. That didn't happen and there are those who believe that this new venture between Pat and yourself is a leverage move to force the AMA into paying you off. Those people do not ha ve a clue as to what has been go ing on. I'm gi ven much greater credit for being a manipulator and being a salesman than I am I'm always telling people that I'm just a country bo y from North Carolina who wan ts to go racing and found myself in a position that I never anticipated man y years ago. This is not part of a master plan, but I do know that I have a talent for this beca use I take care of the details and recognize there are a lo t of constituents. The reason the deal didn't go through with the AMA is because these people do not know ho w to do business; they do not know th eir fri end s from their enemies and on ce they do identify so meone as a friend they do their damnest to make them enem ies. No, this is no leverage, or some ploy: You don't go to the people of Daytona' Speedway and ask them to g ive you two race events so you can use that as lev er a ge. These people (DIS) have allowed me to announce that I am going to have two major-league events at their facility. This is the sort of thing these people would do to leverage me into making a better d eal with the AMA? That's naive thinking. What immediate improvements will the racing community see in the NASH events? (Murphy) Let's start w ith some of the fundamental things that Roger and I have earned their re spect for already. That is, the management techniques, the professionalism, the cons istency. We're go ing to still have those factors that have been the core of what has allowed th is sport to gro w . It's allowed these ' team own ers and manufacturers to look at this thing and say, yes this is now a .stable, viable deal, we can throw these big budgets in there. You look back in 1985, when pro road racing was run by a league of amateur dirt track officials wh o had attitudes - that was no place to invest money. We know that our series is going to deliver the same things that we as a team have been delivering for the last half dozen years or so. You tell me who's doing what on the other side? Well, some of the large complaints in AMA racing are that the superbikes do not get enough track tlme.; (Ed m ondso n) Let me g ive you jus t a basic principle of motorsports management. It is as right as rain, but not popular: th ere has never been an en try fee low en o u g h, prize structure h igh enough or enough track time for any r ider in the hi story of the world . Absolute proof of that is the GP guys who make millions, pay no entry fees and still gripe about the series they ar e in. Okay? So, the fact is, that our superbike rid ers get, right now, within minutes, the same amount of track time as teams racing for the World Championship. Now, I submit to you that if a team can go out and put together the effort needed to run for a World Champ ionsh ip in that time, then our AMA teams can do just as well. To get back to what we will have in our new program - first of all , we are s t r u ct u rin g our new series around fewer classes and less time. Now, having less classes means the riders will have more track time, but it will be over two days . Their expenses will be red uced, but more importantly the Sunday spectator will see a better s how because we will adopt the two-race form at o f th e World Superbike Series. Sp ectators love sta rts and stops, and frankly I ha ve resisted, through severa l vice-p res iden ts, Superbike races being 100- or 12G-milers because it was going to needlessly cost our competitors refueling equipment and more importan tly it was going to take away the potential for close finishes . Starts and finishe s are more exciting than long races; this is not meant to put the Daytona 200 down nor the Suzuka 8-Hour, but by and large we do not ha ve the depth of talent nor the budget or the infrastructure to handle long-di st ance races at a hi gh-intensity le ve l. My solution to th is is th at we should give th ese teams two income opportunities and two points opportunities on one Sunday afternoon, and let 's give the spectators tw o superbike races. These are not two superbike races co m bi ned, these are two d ifferent points-paying even ts . We're going to hav e 600 Supersport as wealways have had because it is very pleasing to the specta tors , very very pl easing to the participants and it is certa inly ve ry importan t to the industry - it sells a lot of motorcycles. We've determined that our 750 Supersport class is actually a duplication in the marketplace of the 750 Superbike class. And so to help the manufacturers to have another platform to sell product and to show their wares, we decided to go with an Open Supersport. That wa y the 900s and all the other nice big-bore bikes have an opportunity to go ou t there and do their deal, and if Tom Kipp or whomever wants to run against them on a 750 - bring it on. But I think this will be a more exciting formal Naturally, as we have mentioned before, the Harley-Davidson class brings in Harley-Davidson spectators and gets the Harley dealers involved. Those guys are a loyal bunch of motorcyclists, a less trendy bunch that will stay involved for a long time . You get a Harley guy in volved and you have a guy that is going to be involved in that sport for a long time and that provides some consistency, and it happens to be right now that Harle y is a trend y name - but Harley-Davidson will be a bedrock portion of our program. The motorcycle marketplace is fairly saturated with professional road racing sanctioning bodies. Will it take an allout war for NASH to defeat the AMA? Do you consider this war? (Edmondson) Hey, there is no shortage of fast-food places and they keep selling McDonalds franchises every day. The marketplace will determine who will reach the surface, and it should be that way. If we hav e the best series we should be perceived as the best, we shouldn't automatically be number two just because we don't have 70 years of tradition of having lobbyists in Washington - and running Poker runs. This is not about who has been there before this is about where we are going now. It's not what you did last year, it's about where you are going to go. People do not have to look at this as an all-or-nothing deal. There is going to be a certain number of road races next year, and for our competitors this means more income opportunities. For our manufacturers this means more advertising opportunities. I think one place we are already doing a better job is with the press. You've never had to back me up and ask me three times for an answer - you've gotten a straight answer from day one. I defy you to do that with Tom Mueller and some of those people. You'll get one of these: "We'll think about it, we're considering that" and you'll get some kind of aput-offbecause they do not have a straight answer. I have never ducked a question or an interview - can Mueller say that? This is just a better situation and we should let the marketplace determine who should be number one. I'm not willing to accept the number-two position automatically. ls this war? Self-proclaimed war on their part, but I have not proclaimed war on them. In closing, I should say that whatever virtue people see in the AMA program they should realize that we've done a lot to put it there. (Murphy) The one thing that astonishes me is tha t there are some people who feel deep in their conscience that this is some kind of violation of AMA for us to even consider putting on professional road races. "How could we do this to AMA?" I hav e to ask every one of th em that I d idn't hear th em say that w he n the WERA Pro Series was announced . If the world was large enough for that, it is large enough for us. If that means that they didn't think WERA could pull it off and they think we can do it - thank you for the compliment. (N

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