Written by:
SPEED Staff
SPEEDtv.com
03/08/2008
Daytona Beach, FL
Rob Dingman and Roger Edmondson (Photo: Brian J Nelson)
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The following is a complete transcript of the press conference held at Daytona International Speedway where AMA President and CEO Rob Dingman and Grand Am President Roger Edmondson spoke about the acquisition of AMA Pro Racing’s properties (outside of Supercross and Arenacross) by Edmondson and NASCAR’s Jim France’s new entity, Daytona Motorsports Group.
Rob Dingman: I want to thank all of you for being here this evening and coming out in the rain to be with us. As Pete said, my name’s Rob Dingman. I’m the President and CEO of the American Motorcyclist Association. With me today is Roger Edmondson, who’s the founder of the CCS motorcycle racing series, and currently President of Grand American roadrace series. Today is a very historic day for the American Motorcyclist Association. This morning, the AMA released a statement announcing that we’ve entered into an agreement in principle to sell the sanctioning, promotional and management rights for AMA Pro Racing properties to the Daytona Motorsports Group based here in Daytona Beach, Florida. The principal of that organization is Roger Edmondson and also Jim France. We’re here this evening to provide some context to this announcement, and also to answer all the questions that we can at this point. Most of you here are involved in professional racing, professional motorcycle racing, whether you’re in the press or whether you’re a team, riders or manufacturers, sponsors, promoters. So we wanted to bring everyone together and explain the big picture and the reasons behind why the AMA made this decision.
When I became CEO of the AMA, I began to quickly realize that the AMA’s core mission had become diluted, because we tried to be too many things at once. And that detracted from what we really needed to be, and detracted from our core mission, to protect and promote the future of motorcycling. We got criticism from all corners, and continue to get criticism from all corners. We needed to have a firmer grasp on the legislative and regulatory issues that face us. Our member benefits and services have become average, at best. And we just had a complete inability to market and promote our professional racing series.
So in the fall, in September, we launched a wide-ranging effort to re-dedicate the Association to the core mission, as I said, to protect and promote the future of motorcycling. We revealed new goals and strategies to the AMA Board, and our first priority in this reorganization was to improve the image of the AMA brand through a redefined role in racing. In other words, we wanted to step away from professional racing to the extent that we could, so that we could let our brand grow without being mired in the controversy of racing. Because as you know, even on your best day, a sanctioning body is controversial. And we wanted to rededicate ourselves to being a membership organization, provide member benefits, and provide member services, and to fulfill our mission of insuring a bright future for motorcycling in America. And to that end, we launched a request for proposals process, seeking commercial partners to handle the commercial aspects of our racing series, to be the commercial promoters. And it was a wide-open RFP process, because we wanted to encourage creative proposals, and we didn’t want to discourage anybody from thinking outside of the box. And our deadline for submissions of the RFP proposals was February 1st, and many groups submitted bids, but we were very surprised and, frankly, quite honored by the scope of the offer proposed by the Daytona Motorsports Group led by Jim France and Roger Edmondson.
In short, DMG offered to take over the sanctioning, marketing and management of all of AMA’s Pro Racing series. For us, we just looked at it in terms of the most successful motorsports entertainment company in the world wanted to apply their sanctioning and marketing expertise to the AMA’s Pro Racing series. Beyond that business expertise that DMG brings, they also brought a passion for motorcycle racing. Many of you equate the France family name with NASCAR and its incredible success there. But few people know that the France family has had a significant role in the early successes of flat-track, the Daytona 200 and Supercross. Jim France is an avid motorcyclist and a lifelong AMA supporter. In fact, back in the late ‘70s, the France family sent an executive to the AMA, when the AMA was in a difficult time period. We had lost an Executive Director to malfeasance, and the France family was there to send an executive from NASCAR to come help run the AMA. Organizationally, we’ve never forgotten that. I’m just real pleased that we are able to continue the partnership. I’m just real thrilled that the France family thinks enough of the AMA to enter into this arrangement with us.
And equally significant is the role that Roger Edmondson has played in the success of roadracing in America. Roger started and successfully ran the CCS series in the 1980s, which eventually became AMA National racing and the foundation for AMA’s Pro Racing series. Then in what can only be described as an ill-conceived and unethical blunder, the AMA attempted to take Roger’s business without compensating him. After a protracted legal battle, the AMA settled, and much of that has been made public, so I’m not going to get into that. Roger went on with his life, and today runs a very successful Grand American roadrace series, and he’s widely regarded as one of the most successful motorsports promoters in America. What I would add to that is that by many accounts, our roadracing series has not been run as well since Roger was affiliated with it – since Roger ran the program, it has not been nearly as successful as it was since then. We actually made a decent amount of money at that point, too, that we haven’t been able to do since then.
I’d like to stop here, because this has never been done publicly. I’ve done this privately, but I want to apologize to Roger Edmondson on behalf of the AMA for what the AMA did to you and to your wife and your family. Those dark days represent the old AMA, and that’s not what the AMA is about any more. It’s not about dirty dealings. We’re going to be led by integrity, honesty and hard work, and collaboration. All of those things are going to be the cornerstone of the foundation of the AMA.
With this agreement, the AMA is on sound footing for the first time in a generation. We have secured the future of professional motorcycle racing in America. We have secured the legacy of the AMA name in professional racing for years to come. We have freed the AMA to embark upon its core mission to promote and protect the future of motorcycling. With this agreement in principle, we are saying that the AMA agrees on all aspects of the DMG proposal, and this agreement was, by the way, unanimously approved by our Board of Directors. Of course, there remain many parts of the agreement that we still have to conclude and finalize, so we’re not going to be able to discuss all the parts of this agreement today, but we would like to answer as many questions as we can. Nevertheless, AMA and the Daytona Motorsports Group are moving forward in good faith to conclude all the remaining pieces that we need to work on. With that, I’d like to turn it over to Roger for his thoughts.
Roger Edmondson: Thank you, Rob. I feel like this is an episode of This Is Your Life. I didn’t expect the kind words or the apology. I have to tell you this is a very special moment for all of us here in Daytona. The opportunity to become the custodian – not the owners, but the custodian – of this sport, the entire realm of motorcycle professional sports in this country, is a once in a lifetime opportunity. When we first heard about the new direction the AMA was going to take, I was quick to point out that the AAA did the same thing back in the ‘50s when it turned out that they didn’t feel their future was in motorsports, but in motoring, and it’s proven to be very successful for the AAA.
DINGMAN: Forty-one million members.
Watch the Edmonson Interview HERE
Watch the Dingman Interview VIDEO HERE
