Bombshell: Edmondson done

Saw this while I was trying to read the new Noyes articles.

LINK

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jumkie @ Jan 2 2010, 12:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I agree, and actually the AMA is equally ......... They should have written in some stipulations but did not. I'm not convinced the series going back to the ... clowns that ran it will be the Second Coming of Jesus, though it will be much better than having DMG running it. Like I said we will see what happens; I just hope this near death experience makes those in charge take a good look at what we should and could have in American motorcycle roadracing.

The ... clowns are not better.

The ... clowns wrote new rules and then violated the spirit of the rules they had just ratified (i.e. traction control). The ... clowns had one competitive class that was comprised primarily of stock bikes (is it any wonder DMG think stock 600s are the only way to race in America?). The ... clowns cherry-picked championships and ignored the other classes. The ... clowns refused to adopt WSBK rules even though it would have drastically improved the on-track action. The ... clowns paid to attract world class talent and then sat them on AMA glambikes that looked good in pictures and sounded good on the track but had no realistic chance of beating a Yosh Suzuki or an Erion Honda.

If not for the giant bags of money and the factory racing parts, the old ... clowns would be permanently banned.......wait.....isn't Mel Harris permanently banned from the board of directors. The old ... clowns have pulled DMG-like stunts since the Japanese turned the AMA over to the marketing departments (2003?).

DMG suck, but DMG can't do anything without viewership ratings. If people don't watch, they can't make any money b/c the rely on the sponsors (not commercial rights money) to keep the teams funded. No viewers = no teams = no racing = no profits for DMG.

The old ... clowns have had their chance, the new ... clowns maybe just as bad but at least they paid for the privilege.

RoadRacingWorld Editorial: David Swarts evaluates Roger Edmondson's departure

LINK

[paraphrase]Edmondson is the problem with the AMA, but the rules he instituted are are workable and have contributed to the best racing in a long time. Edmondson's departure is the best news AMA fans have gotten since DMG bought the series. [/paraphrase] I wonder if John has simply assumed a new pseudonym or if he's doing a bit of ghost writing.

Overall, it is a good read. It appears that Edmdondson's departure has given people another reason to be hopeful. However, the situation in the AMA is still very puzzling. The Dean Adams camp lives in Honda's back pocket. The JU camp hates the manufacturers and Roger Edmondson, but they love the rules he has brought to the sport. There are also people like me who don't take any particular objection to Roger Edmondson or DMG's ownership (though I am pretty pissed about the tiny SBK purse).

In the end, I can only conclude that Roger led himself to believe that the old AMA was run by monkeys (it definitely was) ergo everyone in the AMA is a monkey (definitely not the case although very few participants did anything to make it appear otherwise). Edmondson apparently decided he was going to listen to no one, and while that was probably a good idea given the previous regime, it was not going to be sustainable unless he handed his allies big bags of sponsorship money.

In the end, Edmdondson is being sacked for a list of political transgressions similar to the following:

1. He doesn't listen
2. He helped Buell

As long as the participants in the AMA use Edmondson's departure to turn the sport around, I won't be the least bit upset about his departure. However, if they screw up yet another golden opportunity to restore sanity to the paddock, they will only prove that the AMA's problems are not vested in poor leadership but in the people who populate the paddock and the media.