Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
This just in from AMA Pro Racing’s Hugh Fleming, in response to a June 17 posting of an AMA Pro Racing press release announcing the formation of a Medical Board for supercross racing under the headline “AMA Pro Racing Announces Medical Board without Any Road Racing Representation.” The release did not mention any specific future plans for the inclusion of doctors with road racing experience:
I would like to clarify a point made in your editorial regarding the AMA Pro Racing Medical Advisory Board. As announced back in December at the AMA Awards Banquet, AMA Pro Racing planned on working with a number of doctors specializing in many AMA Pro Racing disciplines to form this AMA Pro Racing Medical Advisory Board. At that time, we announced that the board would consist of doctors Bodnar, Augustine and Ting, who has since become unavailable. The plan then, as it is now, is to have the board include members with experience in many racing disciplines. And as we mentioned in the press release, the progress made in motocross is being used as a template for our other racing disciplines.
We have had contact with road racing doctors Jim Adams, David Kieffer and Ray Rossi and others, and our next meeting is set for the July 12-14 weekend at Laguna Seca where doctors Adams, Kieffer, Rossi, Bodnar and I will meet to focus on road-racing issues. Look for some of those doctors to be added to the advisory board very soon.
Most importantly, the mission of the medical advisory board is to promote the safety of the AMA professional athlete, to improve and elevate the quality of on-site medical care available at professional races, and to promote safety and performance research as it relates to professional motorcycle racing. Currently, the board is also formulating standardized policies on how to best deal with specific types of injuries, notably head injuries, which know no discipline boundaries.
In the future if you have questions about the AMA Pro Racing Advisory Board, please feel free to contact me at any time so we may answer your questions and concerns more directly and completely.
Hugh Fleming, AMA Pro Racing
Safety and Equipment Director