AMA is ruining pro MX

thump chump

Member
Jun 20, 2001
76
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What amazes me about the whole AMA/CCE cat fight is that in the process, the AMA has also changed the rules regarding qualifying for the outdoor nationals. And in the process, has virtually eliminated any chance of an unknown name becoming a sucessful national pro racer. According to the rule changes I received with my pro lisence application, beginning with the 2002 season, only 100 riders will be allowed to attempt to qualify for a national. This, as I read it, means that the 40 will be chosen from 100, including seeded riders. Rider entries will be accepted in the following ranking:
1. Current two-digit riders
2. Riders with top ten finish/ranking from Loretta Lynn's
3. Riders who have earned national points, but not a two-digit number.
4. Riders who have qualified for a national program.
5. Riders who earn points at regional national qualifiers.

Think about it- how many three digit riders are there going to be riding nationals now? Most of these guys have already been through the amatuer national series. Now the AMA is essentially requiring them to go back there in order to earn points in hopes that they can get one of the few remaining qualifying spots left at a national? How many two-digit riders don't show up at virtually every national? Not many. Reality check, with these rules, how many 3-digit riders now truly have a chance to qualify for a national in order to earn national points? Buster, even though he was the 86' AMA rookie of the year, would be caught up in this as well.

And the reasoning behind the new rules is just as rediculous to me. According the AMA nazi Duke Finch (the nicest and most non-judgemental official in pro racing), there are too many "Pro" riders. In fact, according to him and other board members of the AMA, there are many riders holding a pro lisence that shouldn't have one at all. So, this is he remedy that the AMA has come up with. No mention has ever been made that it was the AMA that issued the lisences in the first place! And rather than review each current rider's qualifications and results, they are going to hit all the 3-digit riders with these rules. The other reason for the rule change is that some people are claiming that there are too many pro qualifiers that have to be run on Saturday. And this makes the track beat for the Sunday program and causes a time strain on those riders that have to qualify and make the cut for Sunday morning. But it honestly sounds like to me that promoters, namely the NPG, do not want to cut back on their amatuer races which make them much more money than the pro racing.

Me? I could care less. I tried qualifying for the nationals because I could. Do I think I could ever realistically make the national program? No. But I have made the Sunday program, which isn't an easy thing to do.

But what really gets me is that some of the 3-digit riders I ride with should be there, and deserve it. For one stupid reason or another, they just haven't had the breaks some of the other 3-digit riders have. And there never seems to anyone standing up for the working riders in this sport. They (AMA) expect the riders to act like this is NASCAR, while the purse amounts are still chump change.

There a zillion facets to this whole arguement, but the fact that I don't want to see lost in all of this is the plight of the grassroots pro racer. But I am afraid that I may be too late.

Needless to say, I will not be renewing my AMA membership this year.
 
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MXFastGuy

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Aug 11, 2001
611
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Too Many "Pros"

I think what the AMA is doing is HAS to be done. The way they are going about it, however, is being called into question.

There ARE too many "pro" riders that show up to try to run with the big boys. You say the way to limit the entries is to limit the number of pro licenses issued. This would work, but we would still end up in the same place. The same set of criteria would still need to be used. The only question is where to apply the criteria: upon issuing pro licenses or upon approving the entry list for each event.

I have seen some of the guys that show up on Saturday, and they have no business in the "A" class, let alone a pro national. There are just too many guys. I tried my hand at a few nationals back in the early '90's, and it was considered a big crowd if you had 90 entries in a class. Now we've got 150 at nearly every event in each class.

The growth is good, we just need to let the AMA filter out the guys who don't belong. I wouldn't let their actions discourage you from being an AMA member (or even trying to qualify for another national or two!).
 

wardy

2005 Lori Nyland Award Winner
Nov 12, 1999
2,681
9
lets try having

local or regional pro races, make up and coming riders earn points to qualify them to even get a chance at a Any full blown pro race.

Keep the points ( MAKE THEM COUNT FOR SOME THING), take care of the riders by giving them QUALITY regional pro events that give good purses and good tracks. Watch how that will work. But the NPG and other groups need to work with these "little guys" in order for this to work, instead of riding their high horse and acting like those type of events don't count. In fact they mean more to pro racing than anything else, since riders have to "grow" some place.

Fall classics and western four stroke champ races are fine, but a TRUE AMA regional PRO, or pro am or pro sport type events are needed.
But gee, guess that means promoters will have to work together.
Gee, guess they have to work with AMA.
Guess its going to be a hard road. But truely that is the answer for the pro events.
AND by the way, make the pro events last a day, Sat or Sun. day not three stinking days, so some of the smaller promoters in the area can hold these regional events at that time?

oh ya i am a small promoter. :)

just thinking out loud.

later

wardy
 

Whoops

Member
Jun 19, 2000
127
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I guess this is inline with Wardy point, but are there too may pros or not enough racing series? For instance, in auto racing, every major sanctioning body has a sub-series, or minor leage, that provides a pathway to the premier series. The minor leagues are show cases for up and coming talent and teams toget TV exposure and an opportunity to prove themselves. The AMA has not provided a pathway to the national motocross championship. It's time they consider a bigger picture and put all these pros to work.

Whoops
 

thump chump

Member
Jun 20, 2001
76
0
the pro question

I agree with every one of you. The main problem I have is how the AMA is going about this issue. Oh, and by the way, they haven't bothered to mention where ANY of these qualifiers might take place, other than Loretta Lynn's. Which is something I call into question due to the fact that it's a Coombs race, and they are a big part of the NPG, and Davey sits on the AMA board. Do not get me wrong, this is not personal whatsoever. And I'm not going to get drug down into the whole MXA vs. RX issue.

But in AMA's typical foresight, they just blindly applied the rule to the current year. I just believe that it would be much more efficient and fair to review rider files and catagorize each rider's capability based on prior results. Period. And then at the same time establish regional qualifiers for future pro applicants. However, I don't feel that only allowing 100 to try and qualify for a national is fair, unless the stop seeding ANY of the riders directly into the Sunday program. I think that ALL the riders should have to qualify. Fair is fair.

The AMA considers the amatuer nationals as it's "B" series. But I honestly think that running a seperate professional series, by region, would be much more effective. There should be two grades of pro lisences. Change the current pro-am lisence to the "B" series lisence. After earning a certain number of points, a rider would then be eligible for pro lisence, which would enable them to attempt to qualify for a national. While you may still end up with 150 riders at a national trying to qualify, the riders will have earned the right to qualify. Think about it- 150 riders divided by a 40 rider gate= roughly 4 qualifiers and one last chance race. 100 riders divided by a 40 rider gate= roughly 3 qaulifiers and one last chance race. So 150 riders at a national result in only one more qualifier per class. That point doesn't hold water with me. I still believe that it comes down to the issue that the promoters want to run more amatuer races on Saturday. I've seen posts regarding this issue from insiders in the series on Mototalk. Thy say the tracks get all beat from to many qualfiers. BS! Why don't they cut down on the amatuer races?

Oh what a vicious circle this arguement is.

Side note- anyone else notice that Duke Finch is finally getting attention for his attitude towards privateers? HA HA! What goes around comes around buddy!
 

MXFastGuy

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Aug 11, 2001
611
0
"B" Series is Needed

Thump Chump, I think you're onto something with a "B" Series for the outdoor nationals. All we've got are a few Amateur Nationals. We've already got sorta' a B class for Supercross, the National Arenacross Series. Also C class if you count the Regional Arenacross. Most all sports have a "B" tour or series to cultivate the talent at venues that mimic the "A" Series. I think as the sport grows, we may find an outdoor pro or pro-am series just below the full-blown national level.
 

thump chump

Member
Jun 20, 2001
76
0
B Series

This is also an idea that is being thrown around by some of the members of the NPG (namely DC). But I'm sorry, I've been back East to do my fill of week-long events. You have to be there all week, and ride for only two of the days. And there's a couple thousand riders. I have no desire to go through that dog and pony show again. I feel that the new Pro-Am series should be promoted the same as the nationals series, with about just as many rounds, and should cross the US. Just like Arenacross. And there would be very strict rules on the types of mods that may done to a bike to help keep the playing field level. No works suspension, and MANDATORY engine teardowns of the top 5 finishers. They want to emulate NASCAR? Then act like it! But it should DEFINATELY not be allowed to be turned into some amatuer national event, like the GNC or Loretta Lynn's. I feel there should be an amatuer day though, although the promoting group (hopefully CCE) will keep tight controls on that so the emphasis for the entire weekend is on the Pro-Am racing.

I hope someone with a little pull in this inbred industry reads this post and has the balls to do something new and innovative. And if they were really smart they would hire me to put this thing together. I've done promotions similar to this before in the industry.

I feel better now. Thank God it's Friday and I get to race tomorrow. It's supposed to be 75 degrees and sunny. WooHoo!
 
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