FIRST PERSON/OPINION: It’s time to do something about the AMA. They defrauded and cheated a joint-venture partner, squandered millions in a cover-up and lawsuit they couldn’t win, and finally settled out of court by paying $3 million of members’ money. They refused to fund Airfence, and lied about it in press releases and on TV. They talk out of one side of their mouth about defending the rights of motorcyclists, then turn around and persecute a racer who expressed his personal opinion in response to a direct question during a press conference. Their idea of a good time is telling you what to do, instead of listening to what you want. They run the member-owned association like it is their own personal, privately-held company—or kingdom. They turned Pro Road Racing from a money-making association department into a money-losing subsidiary propped up with huge infusions of membership dollars, run by people who don’t understand racing. Now they want to dismantle the successful Supercross Series—built into a huge success over a 25-year span—and turn series promotion over to unproven, under-capitalized promoters. It’s time for a change. It’s time for new blood on the AMA Board of Trustees. It’s time to reject deception, deceit and inaction and vote for HONESTY, INTEGRITY, ACTION. It’s time to: TAKE BACK THE AMA! It Starts Now: Take Back The AMA By Nominating And Voting AMA members, the time has come to take action. The October, 2001 issue of American Motorcyclist, the official magazine of the AMA mailed on September 1, 2001, contains a ballot and instructions for nominating candidates to be elected to the AMA Board of Trustees. Once candidates are nominated, an election will be held—using ballots included in the January issue of American Motorcyclist. Instead of talking about what you would do, now is the time when you can actually do something to change your organization for the better. The three Board of Trustee seats from the AMA’s southern regions are up for election to three-year terms. These are rank-and-file-elected positions, and winners of these elections will sit with the AMA Board of Trustees—even during top-secret “Executive Sessions”—and help chart the organization’s path regarding everything the AMA is involved in, from racing to government relations on the state and federal level, including the things that you never knew were happening because they were kept under wraps. John Ulrich started the “Take Back The AMA” movement earlier this year, and the result was hundreds of people stepping up and donating money to provide inflatable air barriers to help save the lives of their racing sons, brothers, husbands, friends, and fellow AMA members. Now is the time to continue with that call to action, and take the next step to Take Back The AMA by nominating candidates dedicated to representing all and making the AMA a member-run organization again. We ask that AMA members read the nomination instructions carefully and nominate a member of our Take Back The AMA slate of candidates as follows: If you live in the Southwest Region (Southern California south of San Jose, Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Hawaii): John Ulrich, Lake Elsinore, California. If you live in the South Central Region (Missouri, Southern Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi): AMA Pro Thunder Champion Jeff Nash, Mansfield, Texas. If you live in the Southeast Region (Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Puerto Rico): 1993 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz, Davidson, North Carolina. Nominate and vote Kevin Schwantz, Jeff Nash and John Ulrich for AMA Trustee. The Take Back The AMA slate’s objectives–beyond running the Association with Honesty, Integrity and Action–include the following: –Fight strongly for full access to public lands for motorcyclists. –Fight for the rights of all individual motorcyclists, including street riders, off-road riders and racers. –Strengthen government relations programs to fight unfair legislation and regulations. –Fight discrimination against motorcyclists in the area of health care coverage. –Give members a true and accurate accounting of the total cost of the Edmondson vs. AMA debacle. –Restructure AMA Pro Racing so it is directly accountable to the AMA membership, with rider safety as its first concern in all disciplines, including road racing and dirt track.
