Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

and explained to them the ci r cu m stances that led us to this situa tion. We hope that they will recognize the value of this series as the most premier opportunity to showcase their vehicl es in the wor ld . There is no mot or cycle raci ng program that enjoys the recognition that exists for the U'S, SX Series - none. The interna ti onal and na ti onal televisio n tha t comes from ESPN, plus the reputation that it has, means there is no better place on ea rth for them to showcase their prod ucts. What if they don't come? (Janson) If th ey choose n ot to come, well; that would be their decision. One wou ld qu estion the business logic of not co mi n g but... You know, w e fully recognize that three of the fi ve m anufacturers (Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki) exist from the old InSport Seri es that existed briefly in the 1980s? (Ja n son) This is th e sa m e premiere su perc ross series that it has always been. Legitimacy does not come from a sancti onin g organization and legitimacy does not come from the promoter. Legitimacy comes from spectators. They are the ones who will decide if this is the real series and they'll decide it on Saturday nights when they come and buy a ticket. If the y don' t buy a ticket, obviously they've sa id th at this is not the progra m . The y' ve a lways come and bought tickets in th e p ast - we fully assume they will be back. This is pro fes- use d to be. We will be doing busine ss mu ch different tha n the way the AMA and the F.LM. used to do business. If we do not treat racing as an entertainme nt business and we do no t marke t it as entertainment, it will no t survive in what is a ver y competitive en te rtainment market. There's an example of tha t. Look at what's happened to World Sup ercross. I'm not trying to criticize the FIM at all, but the World SX Series does not exist anymore because of one simple reason: it is has not been marketed as a business, and events tha t used to be successful are no longer successful, That's what people nee d to focus on - how can we stabilize th i s ac ti v ity and how ca n w e ta ke it to ne wer a n d ' higher le vels? That sh ould be Camel is definitely out of the picture? (West) Not definitel y, no . We're still talking with Cam el. Back to the situation at hand: Is there an y chance of reco nciliation with the AMA? (West) We are receptive to doing whatever makes realsense. We will talk to somebody who can speak with authority an d be honest an d stra ightforward with us, a n d doesn 't have a h idden agenda. We wo uld talk with the AMA about some type of joint sanction wit h AIR to get over this hurdle of the manufacturers that sit on the AMA's Board of Trustees. We're recep tive to tha t but at this point, we haven' t been dealt with in good faith by the AMA representative. The ball is in their court . We will sit and negotiate so me th ing that will make sense but it has to be wi th someone who is hon est. Maybe 1 should set the stage on this thing. I'm a life time m ember of the AMA . 1 ha ve been promot ing AMA everyone's concern . With the AMA Supercross Serie s there was always the question of start money. European promoters would pa y it, but the U.S . supercross promoters would not. Is that a topic for discussion or is the new U.S. SX Series going to remain a pursedriven series? (West) [ think the American system that exists has pr oven itself to be successful, and that is one wi thout start money. [ don't wan t to say "We don't like to pay people before they go to work, " but our sy stem is th at you ha ve to come and compete for the prize mon ey. You must also remember th e contingency prog ra ms t h at exi s t; n ot jus t the purse money being put up . We have signed an agreement with Pat Murphy to develop contingency programs and make a lot of income available to the rid ers who participat e even though they d on't wi n . This way they can make money on contin gency programs and endorsements, or whatever. We estimated last year - a fairly welled uca ted guess - that the su percross series generated close to $4,000,000 in income for the American Supercross riders. That's a good bit of income based on p u rse, point-fund, contingency p ro gra ms, th e sa la ries b ein g p aid , the endorsement moneys, all of which stems from th is nucleus of events tha t these three groups or pro mo ters are willing to put on. Our system works good, so why mess with it? If the situation wi th the factories and AIR is not settled be fore the opener in Orlando, would AIR consid er cont racting the teams to enter? Wou ld you ever hire Team Hon da to show up? (West) N-O. No. Have you secured any ou tside sponsorships? (West) No, but we have several good prospects working right now . Nothing's been finalized . races for 25 years. I' ve bought more sanctions than most anybody, handed out more trophies and paid more purses and sold more membersh ips than jus t about an ybod y. I believe that the AMA is a necessary organization to represent motorcycling, on -road and off-road, in govern me ntal relations and areas like tha t. [ sup port that cau se. If there is a way that we can wo rk the m into this progr am that makes busin ess sense to us, then we will do that. We realize that there is avalue there in having an organizati on that repr esents all motorcyclists in the United States. We want to suppo rt that but not to the point that we are willing to let them destroy our bus iness. Are you going to keep your AMA 125/250 National at Gainesville, Florida and all of your amateur motocross programs? (West) I full y in tend to run m y Gainesville National as part of the AMA Outdoor National Series, my AMA Winter-AMA Series tha t's been there for 25 years, the Mini-Olympics over Thanksgiving will be AMA sanctioned - I don 't plan on mak ing any chan ges on thos e events. ·We only have a problem with the AMA on the United States SX Series that we could not resolve, alth ough we tried in earnest for eight months. This is the first time in 25 years that we have been unable to sit do wn and resolv e the issues wi th the AMA. That's why I say that I d on' t believe that the AMA ever intended to coo perate and negotiate this thing out wi th us. There's so me people a t NASCAR that I have kep t full y informe d, on a daily basis, -::t< copying them on all of the communi ca0\ 0\ tions between the AMA's Tom Mueller ~ and ourselves . Th eir observa tions at N NASCAR - actually VIS - is that we got ~ run off. We were run off on purpose. l-< That's coming from outside sources who Q) have wa tched this thing pr ogress. We're still willing to sit down and talk, but I'm u not sure we can. They're saying pu blicly that they want reconcilia tio n while at . the same time they are out there loading the outdoor series when they know that o " on the AMA's b oard . That involvement ma y prevent them o r di scourage them .. " fr o m co mi n g to s u per cr oss . N ow, h ow you w ou ld ex p lai n to the American public w hy Jeremy McGrath isn't at Orlando, I don't know. But we fully expect that they will be there, but we don 't have any commitment that they will be there. But you will be there no matter what, right? (Janso n) That's right, we will be there. And that really is the key to this issue, that this is a promoter-driven organization - how can you trust them? The issue of tru st comes from the view of commitment. Who has been behind this sport from the start? The promoters have. The promoters have taken this sport from nowhere to where it is toda y. That didn 't come from a sanctioning organization - a sanctioning organiza tion provides services in exchange for money. The commitment comes from the promoters and that commitment is still there. They are the people who sup port the sport. Earlier you seemed to be saying that it' s not right for the AMA to become an event promoter. On the flip side of the coin, how is that any di fferent from the supercross promoters becoming their own sanctioning body? (Wes t) Well, AIR is an organization that will stand totally on its own. The only r ole th a t th e p rom oters of the series have in AIR is providing an income for it. Otherwise, it is a "stand alone" business that Roy Janson heads up. Will riders h ave to buy membership cards? (Janson) Riders will receive licenses, but we will not be licensing mechanics. Basically, it will be a system similar to that which exists in all other racing programs, whether it 's CMC, or GFI, or AMA, or what have you. It will be a simple, streamlined activity. How is this a legitima te series without the AMA? How is th is any d ifferen t si onal racing; selling ticket s is w hat we' re here to do. We w an t to put on quality ente rtainment motorsports. The peopl e will be vo ting wi th their ticket purchases on that first Saturday nigh t in Or lando and on 14 Saturday nigh ts after tha t. How many people work at AIR now? (Janson) Ju st m e right now . We're putting together a staff now. I've been approa ched by a number of AMA officials who have asked if they can participate in this ne w p r o g ram . We a re accepting resumes to put together our operational staff, including thin gs like a tech departmen t with qu alified peop le to oversee the technical rules. We are in the de velopment stages rig ht now but we ha ve some lee way to work things out. Where will AIR be based? (Janson ) St. Petersb urg, Florida. (Note: Also th e hom e of Bill West' s Superspo rts promotio nal compa ny.) Is there a possibility that we might see AIR expand outside being a su percross-only sanctioning body? Are we going to see an AIR Nationa l M X Series or an AIR Amateu r N atio na l Series? (Janson) Our goal for 1995 is simple. That is to do the very best job that we can do of running the U.S. SX Series. We have no visions beyond 1995 that we are . prepared to d iscuss. We want to demonstra te to the racing world that this is the series, it is the premier program, always has been, always will be . What comes beyon d 1995 depends on the dynamics of this market. This is an evolving marketplace in the promotions business. It is absolutely volatile right now, with the va rie ty of different programs being .started. This is a business. This is the s po rts entertainment business and th irrgs are much different than they .g .... o 23

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