A decision due this week from a bankruptcy judge in Tennessee may decide the fate of AHRMA, the Vintage racing organization locked in a bitter legal battle with AHRMA founder and Team Obsolete owner Rob Iannucci, who AHRMA officials stripped of membership and banned from AHRMA events because, according to court testimony last week, he was not the type of person the organization wanted to be involved with. According to testimony in a hearing held in Nashville last week, then AHRMA Executive Director Jeff Smith did not follow the procedure outlined in the AHRMA rulebook when he banned Iannucci following a series of bitter–and often personal–disputes, instead unilaterally instituting the ban and going to the AHRMA Board of Trustees for ratification of the ban afterwards. Also according to testimony, the AHRMA Board of Trustees knew as early as 2002 that its insurance carrier was insolvent and that only $300,000 from a state insurance fund was available to cover court costs, but the Board thought that would be enough to cover the costs of the continuing legal battle over keeping Iannucci, any motorcycles carrying Team Obsolete stickers, and any riders who listed Iannucci as a sponsor out of AHRMA events. Instead, AHRMA’s legal costs have approached $900,000 to date and led the organization to file bankruptcy. Also according to court testimony last week, AHRMA officials intermixed benevolent fund money–donations meant to help injured racers–into the general fund and spent it on the litigation. AHRMA has posted a short statement on the bankruptcy hearing, here: ~http://www.ahrma.org/whatsnew.htm~ At issue is whether the bankruptcy court handles Iannucci’s claims against AHRMA or kicks the entire case back to a Federal District Court in New York, site of the ongoing legal battle that brought AHRMA to seek bankruptcy protection. AHRMA hopes that the bankruptcy court handles the claims, effectively ending the legal battle, while Iannucci says the bankruptcy filing is a ploy to escape the New York litigation and wants the entire case resolved in the New York court. An AHRMA insider has said that if Iannucci prevails and the case is moved back to New York, “We’re finished.” Or, in other words, AHRMA would cease to exist. More details will be posted as they become available.