Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

The previously announced deal between AFM, Inc. and Fastrack Riders to resurrect AFM South for the 2003 season and start holding races in Southern California again has crashed and burned.

According to Fastrack Riders Association President David Pyles, “It really just came down to simply a business decision for the AFM/FRA deal to break down. FRA had a limited number of track days at California Speedway (21 days plus a Thursday before the AMA event practice and race day) and giving up eight days to stage races in the end had serious financial implications for FASTRACK and AFM. We had to keep both organizations separate since one is a for-profit and the other a non-profit. Also, it was determined through a round-table discussion of riders it would be hard to get enough riders attending an AFM event to get to breakeven because of the cost of the speedway and what it would cost to practice and race a weekend.

“The AFM board did raise legitimate questions but I don’t want it to come off it was as a result of the AFM Board we did not conclude the deal. Each entity had reasons why we could not complete the deal solely because of business issues. If anyone is at fault it is me wanting to get the word out about the series once we shook hands with AFM to go forward. We hit snags as we got close to completing the transaction which forced us to step back and look at the numbers again. The numbers told us at this time it is better for both organizations to put the concept on the shelf till another time.”