- Joined
- Mar 17, 2006
- Messages
- 1,003
- Location
- US
Help Support MotoGP Forum:
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2007
- Messages
- 10,518
- Location
- Tennessee
Typical DMG, putting a race on the schedule that was never finalized. I guess they thought they could come down to the last minute and the track owners would cave to their exorbitant fees out of panic. How many times do these chuckleheads need to be told no, your price is to high, obviously a 1/3 of the tracks is not enough. So we have what now, 8 rounds in "The Premier roadracing series in North America" Yee Haw!
DMG will now try to make VIR out to be the bad guys, when it was them who never got a contract signed. I wonder if NJMP is actually signed up, or if they are just on the tentative schedule like VIR was. From what i hear, ownership of VIR and NJMP are one in the same.
DMG will now try to make VIR out to be the bad guys, when it was them who never got a contract signed. I wonder if NJMP is actually signed up, or if they are just on the tentative schedule like VIR was. From what i hear, ownership of VIR and NJMP are one in the same.
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2006
- Messages
- 24,726
- Location
- Your Mom's House
Tell me about it. They canceled Fontana, a 20 minute drive for me. Instead I had to go to Infineon, 8 hours and $1000 later, to see an AMA race.
FU DMG!
Auto Club Speedway is owned by IMS so DMG will probably always be pushing for a round in SoCal at Auto Club. I believe it was the participants who objected strongly to making another cross country trip from NJ to CA for the season finale. Apparently, the constant back and forth from east coast to west coast is part of what impoverishes the paddock.
Terrible news about VIR. I'm stunned it happened so suddenly, but I'd heard some grumblings about the event be canceled b/c there was friction between M1 promotion and the track. Overall, I guess I'm wondering why DMG don't have a national promoter. Supposedly, national promotion by a single company was supposed to be at the top of their action item list, but AMA appears to be losing top-flight promoters.
I'm very perplexed by the mess in the AMA. It looks like DMG/MIC/AMA have settled on a compromise that has made everyone mildly unhappy. I still think the manufacturers are being vindictive, but whether DMG like it or not, they are going to have to do something. The lack of proper 600cc AMA Supersport class appears to have Honda and Kawasaki genuinely pissed off. DMG might have to bite the bullet, and give them back proper Supersport. DSB could graduate into the FX slot.
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2007
- Messages
- 10,518
- Location
- Tennessee
I think M1 and VIR split ways after the 2009 season. VIR has responded saying that DMG waited until June to bring them a contract and it simply was not enough time to negotiate its contents. What i guessed happened is what VIR is saying happened. DMG waited till the last minute, thinking VIR would roll over because tickets had been sold. They didnt, and now they are whining that they did everything they could do to make the event happen. The contract was due in ....... December, they presented it in June.
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2007
- Messages
- 4,934
- Location
- unda cheese
Bring it down here to homestead.
Sunshine every day all yr long.
Sunshine every day all yr long.
VIR fired M1, DMG impropriety notwithstanding. I don't know whether DMG was scrupulous in its dealings with VIR, but VIR basically doomed the event by firing M1. Why VIR fired M1 may be a twisted tale in its own right, perhaps it involved DMG's takeover of AMA Pro, but it was a mistake.
American tracks have been living on OEM welfare and national promotion for decades in the United States so it is unsurprising that as the American racing industry falls apart, these companies do not have viable business models. DMG can't collect sanctioning fees from a company that refuses to promote AMA events so it is not terribly surprising that DMG missed the deadline while they were formulating a business model for a track that should already have a viable business model.
I'm not saying that VIR is to blame b/c we all know that DMG is not offering much of a show compared to what the OEMs have offered in the past, but no one has ever forced the track owners to develop viable business models. Furthermore, I'm sure DMG are perplexed with the situations b/c renting the track to driving schools and track days barely gets the overhead paid. DMG is well aware that these tracks have got to take risks on series like the AMA in order to get any real profits, but the owners have become so accustomed to handouts, that they can't be bothered to work with anyone who doesn't bring handouts.
This is not what it appears. VIR are losing their shirts. Rather than developing a workable business model, they accuse DMG of taking advantage of their situation. Maybe DMG were taking advantage of their situation, but that doesn't mean track owners don't have to figure out how to turn a buck on the remaining American motorsports series.
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2007
- Messages
- 10,518
- Location
- Tennessee
But was that not after the 2009 season.If they fired M1 after 2009, what do they have to do with the 2011 event being cancelled
This is about attendance. DMG don't care if M1 is fired, as long as the attendance goes up. Attendance plummeted, both believe the other is to blame, hence they cannot reach a 2011 agreement.
Both parties are surely at fault to a certain degree; however, I don't think we can fault DMG for a late contract (business plan, imo) for VIR, and we can't fault them for failing to negotiate with a track that can't promote AMA. DMG's problem is the same old same old--the product isn't as good for the fans as it used to be, even if the racing is significantly better.
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2007
- Messages
- 10,518
- Location
- Tennessee
I guess it depends on who you believe. Did attendance drop because M1 was not promoting it, or did it drop because of the product being offered. The racing is great like you said, but the events just are not what they used to be. The big shiny factory rigs wit hospitality tents, the high performance machines, the huge vendor areas, all gone. Now you have a paddock that consist mainly of EZ Ups, backyard bikes and a few lounge chairs for the riders girlfriend and mom. The vendor area is a joke, it just doest look like "The Premier Roadracing Series in North America"
I guess it depends on who you believe. Did attendance drop because M1 was not promoting it, or did it drop because of the product being offered. The racing is great like you said, but the events just are not what they used to be. The big shiny factory rigs wit hospitality tents, the high performance machines, the huge vendor areas, all gone. Now you have a paddock that consist mainly of EZ Ups, backyard bikes and a few lounge chairs for the riders girlfriend and mom. The vendor area is a joke, it just doest look like "The Premier Roadracing Series in North America"
I can't fault DMG for that either. If DMG creates a product for the manufacturers, and the manufacturers don't have the business acumen to understand DMG's model (after the failure of the old AMA model), I can hardly fault DMG.
The DMG model is painfully simple, and it is actually what the Japanese wanted when they rebooted at 1000cc--fund racing with sales; marketing and advertising are bonus consequences of racing. In other words, make SBK racing a really big industry such that the manufacturers can sell thousands (possibly tens of thousands) of bikes to professional racers and amateurs. Manufacturers can't sell bikes unless their bikes are guaranteed to be competitive. In WSBK/WSS the manufacturer has an obligation to meet minimum technological requirements. In DMG racing, everyone is guaranteed to be competitive b/c they fiddle with the rules until all bikes are capable of having race winning pace.
Obviously, DMGs performance indexing model which is used primarily in DSB to make all bike relatively equal regardless of displacement is highly contentious with the manufacturers and the fans; however, both DMG and OEMs agree that motorcycles should be sold to racing teams not given to factory supported squads who live on OEM welfare. Obviously, the OEMs are not terribly enthused with the performance indexing, but I stunned that the OEMs, either through the US distributors or the Japanese HQ, are completely incapable of brokering a deal to get some simple rules tweaks put through for 1000cc 4-cylinder SBKs and 600cc 4-cylinder Supersport bikes.
I can only conclude that the OEMs have no desire to work with DMG b/c they are perma-bent over the acrimonious split of AMA and AMA Pro Racing. Maybe I'm wrong, but I doubt DMG are keeping the manufacturers away over some relatively insignificant rules changes. I suppose I could be mistaken, though.
DMG don't care if no one shows up, as long as the fees are paid. VIR canceled because the attendance would be small. From what I've read, the way things are at most tracks, attendance-wise, if you have a nice sunny day you might make a few bucks, if it rains you are out a fair sum.
I find it ridiculous when I read (not here from what I've read) that VIR are greedy because they want to make a profit - it is a business!
I find it ridiculous when I read (not here from what I've read) that VIR are greedy because they want to make a profit - it is a business!
Just take JU for what he is worth. He knows what he is doing and he is a competent business man and race team owner, but he is also one of the hypermoral crusaders who stirs up trouble in his wake.
VIR have failed quite miserably, therefore, according to John Ulrich, they must have committed some act of moral impropriety. In his opinion, VIR are guilty of greed and sloth. He assassinates their character b/c he imagines the world is a reputation-driven place where people are concerned with injecting moral considerations into every aspect of human life, but that's not the way the world works and character assassination will probably achieve very little. He likes to imagine the opposite--that muckraking encourages accountability. I'm sure that's why the guys in the black robes and the gavels are referred to as "journalists".
It is a recurring theme in everything he writes, and he rarely actually wants what he says he wants. He used to complain about the Big Mac theory non-stop as a means of ranting against the AMA race stewards. When he actually got the Big Mac theory (everyone was punished equally at every single event for the exact same pixel-movement infractions), JU was the first person saying that a substantive interpretation of the rules was necessary (case by case interpretation). JU understood the morality of McDonald's quest for quality control, he doesn't understand that selling burgers and administrating private law are not the same process.
The redeeming quality of JU is that he genuinely seems to care about the sport and the competitors. The same cannot be said for many of the power-players who are in the paddock or who once frequented the paddock in years gone by.
