Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

car. By th is time my hand was turnin g blu e fr o m la ck of ci rc u la tio n . Th e deputy carn e ba ck t o th e ca r and finall y accommoda ted my request to loosen the cuff. I was then moved to the sa me car that Kev in w as in . We were going to be transported to jail for riding an unregistered ve hicle on your private property. Kev in had be en asking to spea k to so meo ne in ch a rge of t he tra ck . A ll requests were denied , even fr om th e man in a Mid-Ohio shirt sta ndi ng not 20 feet away from th e car we were in . He . ev en emphatically said he w ou ld not attempt to hear Kevin's side of the story . He said he was not int erested in speaking to him. Not int erest ed . The final decision w as then to give us a citation eac h for $60 and esco rt us off the property. After ga the ring our things and driving our veh icle to the fro nt ga te, a no th er d ecisi on w as m a d e to allo w Kev in to stay for the race - but I had to leav e. Kevin told them he w ouldn't stay if I couldn 't a n d th en I w a s fin a lly allowed to also stay. I am not goi ng to try and paint a picture of no wrong doing on our part. We w ere d e finitel y o p erat in g outsi d e of yo ur rul es syste m, and d id even tually b egin to a rg ue wi th th e d eputy. My arg u me nt with yo u is that the whole situa tion co u ld have been a void ed a nd handl ed in a p ea ceful mann er if th e d eputy w ou ld ha ve let us tak e the scoo ter ba ck , like w e offered . Wh at is th e p oint of usin g di srespect ful tactics and th e brute force of yo ur hired regime? I would use th e w ord "hired" beca use th e roads ar e private and not public, as they are at Lag una Seca Racew ay. Wh at happened to treating the rid ers, teams, s p o nso rs a nd race supporters with respect? The people you were try ing to keep insid e the fenced area are the ones w ho bring the peopl e on th e ou tside of the fenced area to yo ur facility. I understand that so metimes people can be difficult and expect preferential treat ment because of what th ey d o. I am not implying th at we deser ved respect o n that basis alone. I am trying to con vey to you that ther e ha s to be an eas ier, more respectful wa y of cond ucting the weekend 's activities and enforcing yo ur rul es. Let me suggest a d eputy or security person at the exit of the fenced area, no t 50 to 75 ya rds d own the ro ad . If you don't want people rid in g unregist er ed scooters, lik e m ost of th em ar e, o n the roads, th en s to p them before th ey ge t ou t of th e gate. No t everyone gets a look at the p iece of pa per yo u pa ss arou nd to the teams on Friday. Second ly, train yo ur peo pl e to assess th e severity of the si tua tion and let the punishrnen t fit th e crime. If th e people are being cooperati ve and offering to fix th e problem, let th em d o as. th ey say th ey wi ll. Give the offende rs the ben efit o f th e d oubt and if th ey a re ca ugh t again, then take actio n. Maybealso have th em find ou t w ho m th ey are d ealing with. Th ey might be treating a past MidOhio winner a n d so meo ne w ho h a s d one more for th e spo rt of motorcycl e racing tha n any oth er as if they are less than human . Th er e is still a question I have conce rn ing unregistered vehicles on th e roads su rro u nd ing the track: Wh at category d oes a golf .ca rt fall into ? I w ill assume it falls into " the way th e track m ak es m o n e y b e cau s e yo u a ren 't allow ed to rid e those scooters on o u r roads" category . A re you provid in g a service or creating one wh en you ou tlaw unregistered scoo ters and offer an alt ernative a t a p rice? I wou ld be cu rio us how mu ch m on e y yo u ma de on th e rentals, and I am sure it wo uld cover the $120 w e now have to pay the Morrow County Co u rt for our offense. O ur in cid ent was no t the only o ne that occu rre d throughout the weekend. After we carne back in and we re telling ou r story , w e heard about. other competitors ha ving similar pro blems. Even a girlfriend of one th e riders was shoved be cau se she w al ked th rough an exit and not an entra nce. Is th is how people that come to entertain th e fans can expect to be trea ted at Mid-Ohio? I si ncerely hope th at th ey or anyone w a lking th roug h yo ur gates, contribu ting to your profits, sh ould ex pec t this. As for us attendin g another ra ce at Mid-Ohio , I guess yo u ca n say the jury is still out on that one. If it w er en 't for Ke vin ' s inv ol vement with Larry Pegram, and Eraldo Ferracci going to bat for u s, w e probably w ould h a v e glad ly left the facility on Sunday. Please take thi s le tte r as a n o p po r tu n ity t o improv e your security's behavi or before th e CART race in a few weeks. Shelley Harris Davidson, NC with yo ur read ers. I was involved in a high-s peed crash in th e Open A class that res u lted in my bik e bein g se ve rely da maged. Less than 10 minutes after the crash, th e tr ack a nnou ncer asked for 'd onations over the public ad d ress system to help m e w it h rep airs so I ca n soon return to racing. It is true that racin g is a family spo rt. I wa nt to thank all th e fans and friends a t the tr ack for ra ising a su bsta n tia l amount of money. It helps a lot. . Chris Geilfuss Vallejo, CA The above letter was sent to Michelle Trueman-Gaioch, the Owner of the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course... Editor A lthoug h I' m s ure Be n Bo strom is extre mely d isap poin ted in what hap- · p e n ed to him a t M id-Oh io (his bik e spra ng a leak that caused him to b e black-fla gged w hile leading the race) , I ho pe he tak es a minute to rem ember the times his bike and crew have not let him d o wn, bu t vice ver sa. Doug Chand ler made a good point ab out Las Vegas las t A helping hand A fte r th e d irt tr ack ra ce held in Lodi, California, on July 10, I felt com pe lled to write to Cycle News to share a moment The Coombs respond In response to M ickael Pichon' s recen t letter s co ncerning th e inciden ts at th e H igh Point Nationals that led to his fine, proba tio n and su bsequen t termin at io n by Ho nda, I wou ld lik e to point so methi ng o ut: At no tim e does Mickael mention th e fact th at he punched a race officia l thr ee times in the back of th e head . This alone, withou t th e bizarre actions of his fat he r th at afternoon, mer its the $3000 fine placed on him . . Secondly, G erry Wago ner's le tt e r h e re asser ting that P ic hon 's ac tions were th e result of "A MA- induced agitation " is no t only w rong but ignorant. Th e AMA did not even talk to Pich on until afte r he struck N PG site m anager Joh n Ayers , w ho h ad go ne to t h e Hond a pi ts to tr y to so rt th is out. Blaming the A MA a n d tra ck o ff icia ls fo r a nything in this w hole m atter is like blaming th e ba s ketball coa ch for the pl ayer cho ki ng him. Th is was not a "p arking in cident," as Mickael Pichon ref erred to it , but rather a n unw arranted physical assau lt on a man with hi s ba ck turn ed . The fin e m ay s ee m excess ive when co mpared to th e dollar va lu es pl ac ed o n pa st tr ansgressi ons in AMA m ot ocro ss and su percross, but th en again, no one in the past e ve r punch ed o u t an official. Rita Coombs Morgantown, WV Sticking with Bostrom year, w here Chandler was lea di ng th e race when he also developed a leak that s poile d hi s cha nces for another AMA Su pe rbike Cha mpionsh ip . I've be en cheering fo r Ben for tw o yea rs now to ge t a superbike win - and I was ecsta tic w hen his firs t w in came at Lag u na Seca . I a m proud to say I was the re and was abl e to experie nce it firs thand . We 're all aware of Ben's potential and s kill a nd I' msure we'Ilsee many wins from him in the future. I just wanted to put a littl e perspective on this for Ben so he d oesn 't ge t so fru strated that it affects his race per formance. Ben Willis wwillis@thejournaI.com Chandler wasn't leading the race in Vegas lasf year, but we get tile point... Editor Gatorbac k memories It's sad th at th e South lost o ur beloved AMA Na tional Mo tocross. Yes, it was in the mi d dle of the Supercross season, bu t I feel the d ate cou ld have been cha nged . But cancel it? And repl ace it with an other Su percross? Yeah, I' m s u re 60,000 fa ns in a sta diu m genera tes m o re revenue th an an ou tdoor Nationa l, but the last Gatorback Nationa l d rew 1100 rid ers for Am at eur d ay - and 14,000 fans for th e National. How ma ny people at a Su pe rcross actually race? I can think of a t least 1000 plus the 80 Pros at Ga torback w ho raced . I can still remember watching my so n race Gatorba ck on Sa tu rday, ca m ping o u t w ith all ou r frie nds, wa tchi ng th e Pros on Sunday, roa mi ng th e pits, meet ing the rid er s. Hey, at leas t w e have our m emories. And , h ey , an other Supercross. • Bobby M ullis Juliette, GA Letters to the editor should be sent to Voices, Cycle News, P.O . Box 5084, Costa Mesa, CA 92628-5084, faxed to 714/751-6685 or e-mailed to editor@ cyclenews.com. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the po sition of Cycle News, Inc. Letters should not exceed 200 words and all letters are subject to editing. Anonymous letters will not be considered for publication. All letters should contain the writer's name, addres s and da ytime phone number... Editor. rn :::J C> :::J < 5

• Cover