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Scott Hollingsworth By Henny Ray Abrams en en en on ~ ~ '" E .c u '" '" C 18 ight about now Scott Hollingsworth sho u ld be watchi ng his ba ck . Right a bou t no w Scott H o llingsworth sho u ld be hearing the rumo rs. Rig ht abo u t now Sco tt Hollingsworth sho u ld be upda ting his resume. If history is a ny ju dge, Sco tt Hollingsworth, the boss of A MA Pro Racin g, officially, chie f execu tive officer for PA RADAMA Prod uctions, Inc., is no t long for his job . The head of AMA Pro Racin g has been a killing field for yea rs, with no one able to safe ly negotiate the mi nefield s a nd con flic ts of the AMA. Tw o yea rs is abou t the limit and th e clock sho ul d be ticking. But it' s not. "You need so me o ne in her e th at is comfo rta ble taking a leaders hi p p ositio n, and lead ers d on 't back down from challenges, so anyone that's go ing to be successfu l in th is job has to over com e th at h istory a nd th os e cha llenges ," Hollingsworth sai d recently during an interview at the AMA he adqua rters in the Co lumbus suburb of Picker ing ton, Ohio. "So be aware of it, bu t not necessa rily put off by it." Hollingswort h is d ifferent than his predecessors, and that's a good thing . Ins tead of coming from racing or promoting, he's a businessman with an MBA w ho is used to ma naging big sums of m o ney for high-p rofile co mpanies like Smith Barnev. Wha t he saw in the AMA was an opportunity to take racing w here it's n ever been, and at a time when he could affect some change. When he arrived at the end of Ju ne, the AMA was in a state of flux . They'd lost the first round in what appears to be a protracted fight with former contracted employee Rog er Edmondson .(the AMA appealed the ve rdict). The Pro Raci ng boa rd was seen as an impedimen t, and then there was the resignation earlier in the year of longtime AMA head Ed You ng blood . As it turned ou t, it was more of a blessing tha n a curse, at least for th e race d ep artment , for even You ng blood 's sta unches t su p porters say he so meti mes m ad e it d ifficu lt for Pro Racin g to move forwa rd . " I came a t a ti m e w hen there was change in the organization occ u rring wi tho ut my jnput," Hollingsworth said . "That created an environment tha t was ripe for change. I've taken that opportunity and expanded it into red efining the relatio nshi p that AMA Pro Racing has On the hot seal? Time will tell , but AMA Pro Racing pres iden t Scott Hollingsworth hopes to use his extensive bus iness background to lead the organizat ion 's effort in restoring its image and moving professional motorcycle rac ing into the sports mainstream. with the AMA. We've restru ctured our board of directors, w e' ve rest ru ct ured organization and operating ag reements between the two to add ress some of those very issues. So I agree with yo u that those were very rea l impediment s to progress in the past tha t we've had the luxury or the benefit of changing in th e first six mo nths, rig ht out of the gate." • Hollingsworth has also allowed his man agers to man age and no t ge t in th e m id dl e of o pera tio na l issues a t ra ce tracks . He says he was "ma de aware of that iss ue coming in an d has tri ed to create a n environmen t wh er e the people in charge of managing a race se ries, ca n manage a race series, a nd let th em d o their job, and let m e focus on doing w hat I need to do - w hic h is get th em the resources the y need to do their job. And focu s on pu tting together a stra tegic plan which wi ll improve 'our operations and improve our market positi on and develop the sport and improve the ec o nomic environmen t fo r o u r s takeho lder s and all the things tha t our missio n sta tement d ictates tha t we w ant to d o." What is th e m is si on s ta te me n t? Ho llingsworth read it alo ud : "Pa radama seeks t o b e the prem ie r pro v id er o f m otorcycle racing content in the United Sta tes, sanction ing legiti ma te motorcycle spo rt, providing a fair and stable environment for com petito rs and managing the commercial d ev elopment of th e sport in a manner that continuo us ly im proves the economic enviro nment for all stakeholders." "We've got to co nsta n tly impro ve our image in the med ia for the sport as a w hole," he said . " I th in k o ne of the thi ngs th at we suffer from is the d etrimental effect of infighting, if you will. The pe rsp ective of a po tential corporate spo nsor fro m ou tside the indust ry looks at our sport as an avenue for inv estmen t a nd begins to read a nd look in to the spo rt, and the re's not a sense of kind of a co hesive attitude w here everyone's working for th e collective best in terest of the sp o rt. I th in k that's o ne of th e pri ncipal kin d of co m mercia l impedi ments we've go t to ove rc0!I'e. We've go t to ge t people w orki ng togethe r to move th is s port forward, so that it' s a good p la tfo r m fo r corpora te s po nso rs to inves t in, and that wiII take this sport further into the mainstream. Our rece nt deal with Chevy Trucks is a good example of the kind of partnerships we wa nt to try to pursu e. Very large com pa ny, g reat ability to suppo rt the spo r t, enhances visibility, move it into th e mainstream . We need to create a m ore efficie nt and effective platform to reach those types of corpora te partner s. And that takes everybody, across the board, rid ers, teams , m edi a, sa nct ioni ng bodies, prom oters, everybody needs to kind of coalesce around a somewha t unified vision of where the sport needs to go." The most visi ble reward of his efforts is tha t C hevy Trucks' sponsors hi p o f roa d racing, motocross, an d d irt track, a deal which was in itia ted by Hollingswor th's predecessor, To m Mueller. The C hevy Trucks deal will p ro vide Pro Racin g wi th th e resources the AMA needs to improve Pro Racing, in its ma ny forms. "I th ink we are charged w ith a leaders hip rol e in leading the spo rt forward, in creating the opportu nity for all of our sta kehol ders to the fans in that environment," he said. "I think that 's the lea dershi p po sition th at w e're pu t in by the nature of our sta ke holders which are fans, at the top of th e list perha ps, riders, teams , promotional partners . Other ou tsi de su ppliers. O ur employees. If you loo k a t th e competing and so meti mes adverse goals of those grou ps, we' re put in the middle of that and it's o u r job to ba la nce th os e s ta ke holder

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