There’s been a lot of discussion about AHRMA roadracing over the past year and many opinions offered as to what’s right and wrong, needed and unneeded, wanted and unwanted about our sport. I was charged with putting together a small task force to look into our roadracing to make some observations and recommendations about its future. Along with Cindy Cowell, Tim Stancill, Craig Breckon and Fred Mork, I canvassed a lot of members, a few fans and other AHRMA officials to come up with the following summary.

Most importantly, AHRMA roadracing IS NOT broken. But we are in danger of going broke if we don’t adjust our program in several key areas.

That sounds a little like double talk, but let me explain. AHRMA roadracing is without question the best deal offered for our riders to compete at racetracks all over the country. Our program of vintage and modern singles and twins racing is second to none in terms of racing, track safety and standardization. We do a great job of running events for a very small segment of the motorcycling public (vintage), with enough modern activity to provide some spice, pump up the grids and enhance our membership. Finally, we have the absolute best people that can be found anywhere as officials, volunteers, racers, sponsors and members.

Now the concerns: grid sizes are down at a lot of tracks, complaints have arisen about sacrificing vintage track time for modern classes at some venues and the costs of racing (and getting to the races) has risen dramatically. AHRMA promotes most of our own roadraces, which means we carry the full financial risk in the hope of taking advantage of healthy races to add to the financial side of AHRMA. We also take on all of the organizational tasks associated with these races, which entails a tremendous amount of time and energy BUT allows us to control the events and make sure we continue to provide quality racing for our members. This all means that the success of AHRMA is strongly tied to the success of our roadracing events, and concerns about roadracing’s future are concerns about AHRMA’s future.

While the task force did not propose any major changes, there were a number of areas highlighted and a general game plan put into place.

First, we ran too many races in 2004—too many races in terms of wearing out machinery and people, spending too much money traveling all over and not allowing enough time to rebuild broken bikes between events. AHRMA now has a goal of running approximately one race weekend a month starting in March and ending in October, with a focus on four “cornerstone” events at Daytona, Barber, Mid-Ohio and Sandia. Our other races will be based on achieving a reasonable geographic spread, loyalty to our established tracks and financial performance. In addition to racetrack financial performance, AHRMA has set a corporate goal to aggressively target series, event and class sponsorship in an effort to offload the ever-increasing cost of running an event from the backs of our members. Triumph’s coming onboard this year is a good step in this direction.

Next, AHRMA needs a regional roadrace framework. While the high cost of running stand-alone events limits the possibility of many pure AHRMA regional events, the likelihood of running with other organizations or with similar-minded enthusiasts, such as rider clubs or vintage car guys, is not out of the question. Establishment of a path forward to set standards for regional races and set process up to award national points for overall regional scoring is being worked for future use.

Lastly, AHRMA’s classes will be reviewed with a clear eye toward maintaining our vintage commitment, combining machines of similar performance and time periods and supporting our existing modern racing base. NO CLASS CHANGES are in place for 2005 and sweeping change is not expected anywhere. There may well be some class combinations and realignments in our future, depending on a thorough review of available track time, class sizes, member interest and sponsor support. AHRMA will continue to work this throughout the next year and into the future.

For a more comprehensive look at the task force findings and suggestions, a presentation is available by clicking the link below, and you’re welcome to page through it and submit any comments or ideas to me or any AHRMA official. I for one came away from this task force with a renewed excitement about our roadracing future and a true commitment to make it a bright one. ALL OF YOU can help by continuing to race and have fun. After all, that’s what we’re here for!

Roadrace task force presentation (Adobe Acrobat pdf format)

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