AMA has a *serious* problem when the points leader, likely champion and __-time champion of the series is saying that it's shit and that he's going to retire because he's lost interest b/c of what's going on off-track.  Gawd, this is make the beast with two backsed. 

it's really become almost exactly like watching american politics.  only, the DMG'ers don't recognize that we DO have other options and don't care if they fail completely.

http://superbikeplanet.com/image/2009/us-superbike/middleohio/2/2.htm

http://superbikeplanet.com/image/2009/us-superbike/middleohio/2/9z.htm

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=37389

Wow. Ulrich hit the nail on the head and pulled no punches.

Those pics of Mid-Ohio were pretty funny though. 

Quote from: gm2 on July 20, 2009, 12:05:18 PM
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=37389

What an article!! Imagine an organization run by incompetent leadership...to think that could happen in the USA.  DMG has make the beast with two backsed AMA roadracing much more than the AMA could have even managed to if they tried.

In the pre-DMG days, no one could ever imagine that a day would come where motorcycle fans and the racers themselves would pine for the way AMA was run in '07 or 08.

Quote from: Spidey on July 20, 2009, 02:39:40 PM
In the pre-DMG days, no one could ever imagine that a day would come where motorcycle fans and the racers themselves would pine for the way AMA was run in '07 or 08.

Like the arbitrary and unfair decision to not allow a Tiger mascot on the starting grid

http://superbikeplanet.com/2009/Jul/090721akurdler.htm

Quote from: gm2 on July 21, 2009, 04:41:16 PM
http://superbikeplanet.com/2009/Jul/090721akurdler.htm

I was wowed by the rinky-dink manufacturers midway at Mid-Ohio. No displays from Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki and most telling by its absence was Honda, with no display at the Honda Super Cycle Weekend. Now tell me this isn't a series in trouble.

Very true...

So, DMG is condoning cheating and AMA sucks across-the-board, leaving us with boys on dirt bikes jumping over big piles of dirt inside the Astrodome or other kids riding dirt bikes with ten-foot long swingarms up the sides of steep banks.  Pretty soon it'll all boil down to a motorcycle sideshow at Monster Jam or Hulk Hogan drag racing against one of his kids

Quote from: OT on July 21, 2009, 05:39:48 PM
So, DMG is condoning cheating and AMA sucks across-the-board, leaving us with boys on dirt bikes jumping over big piles of dirt inside the Astrodome or other kids riding dirt bikes with ten-foot long swingarms up the sides of steep banks.  Pretty soon it'll all boil down to a motorcycle sideshow at Monster Jam or Hulk Hogan drag racing against one of his kids

Not a bad description of the direction AMA racing has been going. It's reminded me at times of both a monster truck jam and WWE. Or Monday Night Rehabilitation from Idiocracy.

Theory: the quality of the event is inversely proportional to the number of people with suction cup mohawks who show up.

Quote from: gm2 on July 21, 2009, 04:41:16 PM
http://superbikeplanet.com/2009/Jul/090721akurdler.htm

Ouch.  Ouch, ouch, ouch.

WTF going to happen at the end of this year?  Is DMG *really* going to try to do this same thing for another year?

Quote from: Spidey on July 21, 2009, 07:04:22 PM
Ouch.  Ouch, ouch, ouch.

WTF going to happen at the end of this year?  Is DMG *really* going to try to do this same thing for another year?

Doesn't really matter to me.

I stopped watching a long time ago.

Quote from: ducpainter on July 21, 2009, 07:18:25 PM
I stopped watching a long time ago.

I wasn't watching at the beginning of the season, then watched a bit and now don't watch.  But I thought it would be temporary.  I figured that it would just be one year while they worked out the kinks, had all sorts of internal squabbles and then got their shit together so that we have good US racing to watch in 2010.  But it's really not lookin' hopeful.   This isn't teethin' problems anymore.  It's starting to look like a catastromake the beast with two backs for US racing.    I hope I'm just crying that the sky is falling and there's nothing to worry about for next year. 

Remember way back, a few years ago, when manufacturers used their AMA racers in their ad campaigns?
I went back a few years and kind of skimmed through the major moto rags I have subscribed to over those past few years and it was like a light switch. There was no gradual phase out of the AMA guys in their advertising, it was an immediate and complete shut off of the proverbial switch as soon as DMG started making stupid decisions.

Heck, even the equipment and gear manufacturers have done the same.

I am just waiting for club racers to start showing up in their ads. Lord knows club racing isn't painful to watch like AMA "Pro" racing has been of late.

Rob McCurdy's article (read the whole thing not just the excerpts in the SBP article...) pretty much hits the nail squarely on the head for me.