American Honda responds to AMA Pro Racing
For more than 30 years, American Honda has maintained a seat on the
American Motorcycle Association (AMA) Board of Trustees. Unfortunately,
recent actions taken by the AMA have caused American Honda to question
its continued participation on both the AMA Board of Trustees and the
Paradama (AMA Pro Racing) Board of Directors. Ultimately, American
Honda has made the decision to vacate both seats on these boards
effective immediately.
Ray Blank, American Honda Senior Vice President, has served on the AMA
Board of Trustees since 1989, and on the AMA Pro Racing board since
Paradama’s reorganization in the late ’90’s. No Honda representative
will take Mr. Blank’s place.
During the time representatives from American Honda served in AMA
board-member capacities, the company played a significant role in many
positive changes that have taken place in motorcycle racing; the rise
of Supercross as a mainstream sport; improvements in rider safety
across a broad spectrum of professional motorcycle racing classes; the
building of Paradama as a solid business entity within the AMA
organization; and sponsorship growth to a level that now supports more
full-time professional motorcycle racers than ever before.
American Honda has supported the Paradama concept since it was
conceived as a means to create a profitable corporation to fund a
vision of what AMA racing should become, and what an AMA non-profit
organization could become—a million member organization that fights for
motorcyclists’ rights, advocates keeping land open for responsible
off-roading and maintains a vital Washington presence.
Recently, however, conflicting interests within the AMA organization
have caused a division of ideology and a blurring of the vision that
American Honda has always supported. Recent issues, including the
departure of dedicated individuals from AMA Pro Racing and its
inability to stand by its own rulebook with regard to recent Formula
Xtreme considerations, have been particularly alarming.
Honda believes the rulebook is a sanctioning body’s most important
asset. When a governing body violates the sanctity of its rulebook, it
loses credibility with everyone associated with racing—the teams, the
riders, the sponsors and, most importantly, the fans who rely on
sanctioning bodies to create racing environments which ensure fair,
balanced and exciting competition. Honda believes the AMA and other
sanctioning bodies must be responsible for coordinating the efforts of
all participants to ultimately benefit the sport. Honda also believes
that all manufacturers, through technical committees, must participate
in, and collaborate on, development and harmonization of technical
rules for each class of competition.
American Honda will continue its corporate AMA membership and will
continue to support the AMA’s all important, industry efforts in the
areas of land use, riders’ rights and the many other positive programs
the organization spearheads.
American Honda will continue to compete in AMA sanctioned racing, and
will continue to utilize its resources to build the sport and support
more riders and teams. Today, Honda offers unprecedented support
throughout the AMA professional paddocks.
Most importantly, Honda remains committed to providing new
opportunities for customers to enjoy and race Honda products, and for
fans to share in the unique passion and excitement of motorcycle racing.