Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

BY HENNY RAY ABRAMs CHICANEEY What's Next? tions ofAMA Pro Racing, Hollingsworth's contract still had some time to run. When he was terminated, the AMA offered to pay him to the end of contract if he didn't seek litigation. He refused. Vvhich means the AIYA is proba- bly looking at yet another lawsuit, which isn't a good thing. The last two most pub- lic suits didn't end well, ln lune 2001 , the AMA agreed to pay former contractor Roger Edmondson $3 million in a case involvinS the road-race program. Edmondson filed suit in 1995 following his termination in 1994 as the manager of the AMA road-race pro- grams- Coincidentally, the AIYA had also offered Edmondson a settlement to end that relationship. Edmondson sued and won, and in 1998 won a judgment that was over $3 million. On appeal, the case was sent back to the lower court and a new trial was scheduled. At that point, the AMA and Edmondson settled out of court, making Edmondson a $3 million man. At the time of the liti- gation, Roger Edmondson showed me a document that he considered his smoking gun. While combing through thou- sands of pages of docu- ments in discovery, he found a letter from the AMA praising his work. How, then, could they have reversed course and decided he was unfit to run road racing? The courts decided they couldn't- Hollingsworth himself was involved in a more recent suit. ln 2001 , HollinSsworth approached JamSpons, a Chicago-based promotions group with no motorcycle-promotions experience, to take over promotion of the AMA Supercross series, Clear Channel, the promoter of record, and the AMA ended up i. court- The matter was settled out- side of coun, though not before the AMA incurred significant legal expenses. Jamsports and Clear Channel also ended up in court, with Jamsports winning a $90 million seftlement against Clear Channel for interfering with its attempts to pro- mote races. Litigation continued, and JamSpons and Clear Channel later settled for an undisclosed amount. AHA Pro Racing had to pay JamSports nearly $ 170,000 in the case. Some believe thatlamSpons never had any intention of promoting a Supercross, that they were simply using the AMA to get Clear Channel into court, lf that's the case, it worked. lf Hollingsworth does take the matter to court, he'll have to convince a iury that he was wrongfully terminated. Was he? The reason for his dismissal hasn't been made public by the AMA, likely out of fear of litigation. His indiscretion, accordin8 to someone who asked to remain anonymous, was campaiSninS for the AMA presidency, a job left wacant when Rob Pasor was shuffled aside and Patty DiPietro, the chief financial offer, Probably not. l"lore than once, l've been told that Hollingsworth raised rev- enues by 250 percent. I've also been told it was done through smoke and mirrors. New money wasn't pourin8 in - for the second year running, the Al4A Superbike Championship is unsponsored - and he had to raise sanctioninS and entry fees to pay for big salaries at the top, among other things. lt was a case of the dog eat- ing its tail. lt is inconceivable that anyone in Pro fucing will ever have the same kind of power HollinSsworth held. lf Hollingsworth does seek a legal rem- edy, he faces the likelihood of explaining his actions in open court. Maybe he has nothing to hide. But he may also want to avoid scrutiny of the business ofAMA Pro Racing. So might the AMA. The more people I talk to, the more informed sources that he's the number- one candadate. Like Whitelock, Mathers is too smart to walk into the snake pit without some protection. Like Whitelock, he'd want to know the boundaries of the job. The most crucial element, I believe, would be budget con- rol. Give him a budget, regardless ofthe size, and he can make it work. He did it well for far too many years to forget how it's done. Patty DiPietro was close to retirement, I was told by a longtime AIYA observer Her stewardship is temporary but. whib in charge, her passion to do right by the AMA is unwavedng. She has no intention of con- tinuing indefinitely in the presidency. That her interim presidency is in its third mondr speak volumes about the Al,lAs plans for succession. With two top iobs to fill, it is a pivoal moment for the association. Her effons should center on hiring Mathers and Whitelock as a team- I don't know Whitelock very well, but, when we've spo- ken, l'Ye found him to be both knowledgeable and reasonable, l''lathers I know bette6 from years of doing laps in the road- race paddock. There is no one better qualified to run Pro Racing. The quest on is whether the AIYA board of directoE would be obstructionist a.d make him iump through the same hoop6 they put in front of Hollingsworth. One story making the rounds is that one mem- ber of the board of directors suggested sell- ing any property with "super" in front of it. (By the way, what ever happened to Supermotof Vvhether they do that or not, they still need someone to oversee Pro Racing, to make sure the rules are written in cleac plain English, with no chance of alterna- tive interpretations, That hasn't been the case lately. The next battle may be over the legality of the Buell XBRR for Formula Xtreme, The Mathers-Whitelock team is as good as it gets. Give them what they want, give them what they need, and dignity and professionalism will be restored to racing for the first rime in years, The Al'1A can invest the money in leadership or they can spend it on lawyers; it's their choice. Gll FfrO frA GING was made the interim boss When DiPietro got wind of Hollingsworth's intentions, she set out on a nationwide fact-finding tour, I was told. When she'd done her due diligence and presented it to the AMA executive board, they agreed, and Hollingswonh was asked to leave. But consider this view: What if Hollingsworth simply wanted the presi- dency so he would have a seat in front of the board of directors to explain himself, instead of them sitting in one room and Pro Racing in the other, with neither knowing what the other was doing? Could he have had a greater impact? Could he have done his iob better? The iob that Hollingsworth was seekingwas, and is, still open, The AMA board of directors sees it as a palace coup. Maybe he iust wanted to be able to run Pro Racing from the presi- dency. Would that have worked? I'm convinced that the AllA should go back to being a san

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