<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (frosty58 @ Mar 18 2009, 07:53 AM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>i think dmg is gonna turn out to be the disease that kills ama roadracing. the tv coverage or lack of is absolutely gonna kill it.
i remember when i so looked forward to ama race weekends... not anymore.
Geez Frost, tell me what you really think.
I don't think it will be that bad buddy. I've noticed Johnny's enthusiasm and read his admonishments of those of us who talk doom and gloom. Certainly to us purest, we see the product and are a bit disappointed. And Johnny, I think we are all willing to let it all play out (even though judging by Frosty's comment above it might not look as though).
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (JohnnyKnockdown @ Mar 17 2009, 07:40 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Jumkie.
I think you've read too much and thought too much about the impending doom of AMA racing.
All that negative energy will melt away as soon as you smell the hi test fuel and hear the bikes on the track. That sportbike class is going to be better than any AMA class you've seen in a while.
Even with the advantage of the Buell, doesn't it make it even more interesting wondering if the 600's can hang with it.
You're going to laugh your ... off when you hear the Moto ST class.
It sounds like a bunch of tractors plowing a field.
It seems like only 10 of us or so will have any interest in AMA this year so probabaly 1 thread will do with a spoiler watch in the title for all classes.
Really, it’s not like the previous product was great, right? So I'm with you on seeing how the "new" product pans out. I didn't like the depleted Superbike field and what I believed then to be a real lack of parity. I called it a Suzuki fest, and for one who is addicted to motorcycle racing, I found myself deleting superbike races from my Tvo after 5 laps in and fast forwarding to the end to see the tired old recurring interviews by the two top Suzuki riders. Ah but how I looked forward to FX and SS. I can't say that's the case anymore, at least for the moment.
Johnny, I'm with you on most every opinion, and perhaps my expectation was too high after the rhetoric of DMG to create a "new" and "bold" series was announced (before they actually made public their proposals). Of course, the immediate realization that they sold off the promotion rights to a group deeply seeded in NASCAR was cause for some alarm, but when they actually made public there proposal, well certainly then I was worried. But even then, in my heart I thought ok, lets wait and see, because some things they were saying actually made sense and I was hoping for a good change. So now we actually have one round to see (well at least one race seens), and frankly buddy, many of my fears were realized.
Did you enjoy FX and SS last year? Well look at it now now paper. SS is a rookies novice ONLY class, with an age limit as well as a success limit! Yup, that's right, if you've finished a few top tens in the premier class or even the support class of Daytona SportBike, then you are no longer eligible for SS. Now that's nice that they have a club racing class, but that is what I go to the amateur races for, and read about them in the mags. But okay, I still accept it and think, at least they have they have consolidated a place for the rookies to contend. Which I find sometimes provides some of the most entertaining racing.
As far as FX, this is the new 'Daytona' SportBike (BTW, I hate that name every time I say/type it, I cringe, it smacks of cheap self-promotion of a name that mean nothing other than the contrived prestige the announcers try unsuccessfully to give it). "Daytona" for me is by far the ugliest venue, even uglier than Cali Speedway. "Daytona" is also the place where they try and simulate the Indy open-wheel like prestige for and assign it to their Nascar race at Daytona. So I'm not hip to the name, but I can get over that. What I'm NOT hip to is the class structure. What the hell is “Daytona SportBike”? Its more akin to GT than it is to essentially a 600cc platform where they have somehow allowed a few twins that are force fed to belong. I accept the 848, but the Buell? Really, does that make sense? Does it belong? And if it does, why not the 1098? Does it make sense to you Johnny, because I'm open to a good explanation? (Seriously, I am; keep in mind, I understand displacement has very little to do with parity of bikes, that is, I’m not one of those casual fans who give any credence to displacement as a be all to uniformity in a class). I do believe that the brightest minds can come up with some kind of formula to bring parity to displacement, so really I'm open to the idea, but frankly at this point it seems so force fed and contrived that again it exposes what seems to be a DMG agenda. (Of course all of which is speculation, they haven't given us a press release that admits to what us purest think they are trying to do—which may be a Nascarization of motorcycle racing).
So ok, they are trying to include other manufactures, I can appreciate that, and perhaps they just need some tweaking right? But they also screwed around with the racing FORMAT. Rolling starts and safety car? Can this smack any more of Nascar? (Now keep in mind, most of us use this reference of "Nascar" as derogatory, even though, me personally, I like Nascar. I may be alone in this forum, but I like many of the aspects of Nascar, and do believe it has both technical and entertainment merits). But I also believe that 'motorcycle' racing has its unique and inherent characteristics that should be decidedly kept in two-wheeled racing; which it seems, DMG has unilaterally decided against. But even this I can stomach, since at one time even motorcycle GP racing had that 'run-push starts' akin to La Mans endurance car racing.
But now we see that the numbers are assigned to the bike rather than the rider. Uhm, where have I seen that before? Oh yeah, Nascar. So not only are the manufactures fading, but our individual heroes fading as well. No more is the familiar number (which incidentally helped us the spectator associate a rider regardless of brand they were riding) but now the number is arbitrary.
Have I even mentioned the lag time of showing us the actual racing? So if I can stomach the individual points above that I'm not particularly fond of, how about having to wait 2 weeks for the premier class!? You see, there is a message there; the message is, ‘we know everybody 'thinks' the premier class is "superbike" but we don't give a .... what YOU think, because WE (DMG) think its 'Daytona SportBike' that is and should be the 'premier'. It’s like several little FUs then one big FU to boot.
So Johnny, I have been drinking the forums pulse on the doom and gloom for AMA/DMG a little…however; don't mistake the collective sigh as a simple knee jerk reaction. For the ‘most’ part (with a few glaring exceptions) many of us here are knowledgeable racing fans to the core. Think about this, how many real like friends can you bounce opinions off of like you do here and have a fundamental baseline understanding of the sport? Not many right? Me neither, that's why I come here to talk to guys that mostly get it.
So the collective sigh comes from many of the things I mentioned above--that is DMG taking AMA in a direction that is less than what we were hoping for. Perhaps, it might be a good idea to make a thread that doesn't just point out the negatives but perhaps one dedicated to ONLY positives. I certainly see allot of positive: a reaching out to new brands, enticing a new fan base, attempting to bring parity of machine to the racing, etc.
I haven't seen the Superbike race, so I can't comment yet. But this fact is already a big frustrating problem that reflects on DMG’s AMA. I think somewhere down the line they will fix this timely coverage issue. But they should tell us this instead of insisting like they did that this ‘AMA Pro Prime Time’ show is the second coming to sliced bread. They insult my intelligence and enthusiasm for the sport when they try to say .... like that when the big ... white elephant is, NO, we want it live but we are willing to accept delay on the same day (weekend).
So these are just some of my thoughts buddy. But I'm with you man, I'm still going to take a wait and see approach, however, so far, I'm not that impressed (for reason stated.)
