Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

The Roadracing World Air Fence Fund is now collecting funds to buy Air Fence for use at dirt track events.

Dirt track fund donations will be accounted for and kept separate from the existing fund established for road racing use.

The dirt track division of the Fund was established after numerous requests from AMA professional dirt track racers who also road race or have road raced.

The possibility of establishing a dirt track Air Fence fund was initially discussed by dirt tracker (and former road racer) Greg Tysor and Roadracing World Air Fence Fund founder John Ulrich about two weeks ago.

Further discussions with racers and sponsors at Daytona this week led to Ulrich’s decision to charge ahead and establish the dirt track division of the fund, rather than continuing to talk about possibly doing something.

Kicking off the dirt track fund were donations of $2900 made on the behalf of Yuasa Battery, Inc. by John C. Driscoll, Director of Marketing along with another $2900 donated by AMA Grand National Champion Chris Carr.

Yuasa sponsors Carr in AMA dirt track events and also sponsors the Blackmans Aprilia F-USA road racing team, which Carr is riding for this weekend at Daytona.

Donations to the Roadracing World Air Fence Fund can be made via credit card at www.roadracingworld.com or by calling (800) 464-8336 9:00-5:00 weekdays. Checks made out to Roadracing World can be mailed to Roadracing World Action Fund, P.O. Box 1428, Lake Elsinore, CA 92530. Contributors should specify whether they want their donation to go to road racing or dirt track applications.

All donations will be applied directly to the purchase, maintenance and deployment of Air Fence, and will be accounted for on www.roadracingworld.com.

The Roadracing World Air Fence Fund’s original efforts to obtain and deploy Air Fence for road racing use continue. So far the fund has contributed $104,000 to funding Air Fence for use at AMA Pro Racing events, the establishment of the Roadracing World Air Fence Fund followed by an additional $100,000 donated by Honda, Suzuki and Harley-Davidson.

The fund donated $10,000 worth of Air Fence for use at Texas World Speedway in College Station, Texas during CMRA and RPM events.

The fund also funded the deployment of 20 Alpina Air Fence modules at Formula USA races at Pocono in August, Portland in September and Daytona this week, as well as at next week’s WERA Grand National Finals at Road Atlanta, using a combination of $10,000 cash along with an ad trade in Roadracing World & Motorcycle Technology.

The fund is also donating 10 sections of Air Fence for use by Formula USA and CCS in 2002.

At Daytona this week, as of Sunday morning, about 8 riders had hit Alpina Air Fence modules, including one rider who highsided at the exit of the chicane, lost his helmet mid-air and hit the Air Fence backwards, head-first, without injury.

The WERA GNF at Road Atlanta next week will see a total of 55 sections of Air Fence deployed, including the 35 sections now in use by AMA Pro Racing along with the 20 sections rented for deployment at Pocono, Portland, Daytona and Road Atlanta. AMA Pro Racing officials agreed to deploy their 35 sections because WERA now has a loose affiliation with AMA Pro Racing and is hosting the final round of the 2001 AMA Pro Thunder Championship next Saturday. In a surprise move, AMA Pro officials also agreed to deploy their Air Fence on Sunday, October 21 in preparation for Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School sessions scheduled at Road Atlanta on Monday and Tuesday, before official WERA practice begins. WERA officials were coordinating deployment of the Air Fence at Road Atlanta Sunday.

Some observers at Daytona have been speculating that Speedway officials may require cooperative deployment involving Formula USA and AMA next March, with all available Air Fence deployed both during the F-USA/CCS weekend and the AMA Pro Racing weekend, which run back-to-back each spring.