Daytona Motorsports Group (DMG)/AMA Pro Racing principal Roger Edmondson met with a number of owners, managers and representatives of smaller AMA teams Saturday night at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The meeting was originally requested by Geico Racing’s C.R. Gittere and organized by Millennium KWS Suzuki Team Manager Chip Spalding to discuss DMG/AMA Pro Racing’s plans and how they will work for the smaller and private teams in the paddock. “The meeting went well,” said Spalding. “Everyone was nice and respectful. It didn’t turn into a fighting or shouting match. Nobody put on boxing gloves. In that respect, it went really well. We definitely appreciate Roger coming out and sharing the information that he had, as limited as it was.” Asked what he learned in the meeting, Spalding said, “Not a lot. We got a taste of what some of the things they’re going to do on a marketing point of view, a promotional point of view. We got an idea of how they’re going to look at private teams, how they’re going to view us. “As far as really solid information that I can take to sponsors or build upon for next year, there really wasn’t a lot there. That’s what we were hoping to get. We were hoping to get the meaning of life. We were hoping to get the answers. It just wasn’t there. They just don’t know yet. It’s so late in the game, and there’s so much work left to do. “But it wasn’t a waste of time because the unknown breeds fear and discontent, and open communication between the teams, the participants and the sanctioning body is a good thing. Any time you can get them to sit down and talk to you and explain what’s going on it calms people down and contains fear and allows people to be more productive. So I think that’s a good thing.” Specifics like the spec tire supplier or spec tire prices or details of how licensing will work and if one rider will be able to participate in two classes were not given, according to Spalding. “There wasn’t a lot of solid information given, because I don’t think a lot of solid information exists,” said Spalding. “He said we will get you guys the information that we know you need as soon as we have it, and that we’re working real hard to get it all done but we don’t have it all done now. We have a lot of stuff we’re working on. He seemed to imply when stuff gets done it’ll come like opening a floodgate, a whole lot of information at once. As of right now, it’s not there. And to be fair to them, they didn’t call this meeting. They weren’t ready to have this meeting. We did.” “It was good to get from Roger’s mouth the vision that they have for what the future is for the sport,” said Kenny Abbott, General Manager for Michael Jordan Motorsports Suzuki. “It’s good to hear from the source instead of reading it. It’s good to be able to ask a follow-up question on a subject. So I think that type of open forum is good for all of us who have our livelihoods invested in the sport. It’s encouraging to know there is a plan, that there is a back-up plan and over the next couple of weeks we’ll have where we’re going and what we’re doing. It was just confidence-inspiring for the privateer teams to have that open communication with the new organization.” Asked about details like spec tire prices and the 2009 race calendar, Abbott said, “There were discussions on that. I think details are pending. I think it would have been hard for a vendor to bid on a spec tire program when the classes aren’t 100% defined. Are we or are we not running the Factory Superbike class? That may have some bearing on what teams do and classes with spec tires. I think there’s a lot pending on some different scenarios. “We’re supposed to have answers in the next week or two weeks on the Factory Superbike class. On the schedule they said don’t expect a lot of changes. “I think with everything there will be details coming out, but it’s hard to have information right now. What we did learn was that over the next week the official letters will go out to vendors looking for the proposals for spec tires, for contingency sponsorships, for homologated parts, for the approved parts lists. So all of that stuff should be moving here in the next week or two weeks. So that will give us an idea of what vendors we can go to from a team perspective for sponsorships. Hopefully, we’ll know what the tires are quickly so we can start doing some testing and figure out what we can do on that stuff, get geometry stuff sorted out in the off-season. “They’re weren’t a lot of details, but there’s enough of an open and candid conversation to give us a really good idea of where it’s going and a time frame in which it’s going to happen. And I think it was still confidence-inspiring even though they didn’t have specific answers for all of the questions. “I think it was a good thing. It was a very open conversation. I think the meeting was very beneficial, and it was definitely time for it, given the [confusion] of what’s been happening lately and all the rumor mills. It was perfect timing.” Asked what Edmondson had to say about the OEMs and their participation in the Factory Superbike class, Abbott said, “He’s going to go to the five manufacturers, ‘Are you in or are you out for Factory Superbike?’ Yes’s go in the Yes column. The No’s and the I don’t know’s go in the No column. And at the end of the day if the ayes [a majority] have it then we’ll have Factory Superbike. If the answer is No, then there’s another direction. We won’t have Factory Superbikes. So for a team like ours it gives us very specific direction. OK, we don’t have to worry about Factory Superbike. We’re going production racing. We’ll run 1000s and 600s and here we go. Pretty straight forward, straight to the point, it makes it pretty simple. Looking at the 600 class and the Superstock [American Superbike] class makes it pretty simple for us. It will be really easy for us to go racing under that scenario, easy for us to create our budgets for next year and know where we’re at financially before we even get to September, if that’s going to be the case.” “The meeting was really good,” said Grant Matsushima, co-owner of Matsushima Suzuki. “There’s a really good outcome. The road getting there is going to be really long. It’s going to be a lot of work for everybody. “There were definite positive sides to the meeting. I can’t speak on the actual prices [of spec tires and spec fuel] or anything like that. They didn’t say actual prices. They said everything is going to be more obtainable, which is, for me, good. If you take the money part out of racing it will even it out. On that same note, if you take the manufacturers out of racing it’s going to be really hard to go racing. “It’s going to be a long road. I’ve been doing this for a long time, well not a real long time. For what I’ve achieved in the time I’ve been doing it I’m going to have to start all over again, especially if the manufacturers go away.”