Former AMA road racer Erik Buell, now Chief Technical Officer at Buell Motorcycle Company, kicked in $5800 for two complete sections of Air Fence. That, along with $500 from Jerry Wood of the Penguin Racing School and individual donations from Patrick Mee, Dave and Jason Parker, Vance Hacecky, Ned “Peanut” Brown of NESBA/TPM, David McElvain of NEDOD, racers Brian Stokes and Chris “Opie” Caylor, Brendan Guy, Charles P. Tomes and Marietta Motorsports, puts our Air Fence fund at $36,824 or almost 13 complete sections (390 feet) of Air Fence to protect our AMA racers.

Our goal is to raise $87,000 to buy 30 sections of Air Fence, which will give AMA racers 900 linear feet of inflatable barrier protection, or 810 more feet than they now have from the three sections of Air Fence (one of which leaks) purchased by AMA Pro Racing many years ago.

In his e-mail making his pledge, Erik Buell wrote “Cool deal, John. Thanks for putting this together, my friend. Where were you and those fences when I was racing? I might walk a little younger today if they had been around!”

In a FAX to Roadracing World following his $300 pledge, Brendan Guy issued this challenge to members of the AMA Pro Racing Board of Directors:
“Like you, I am tired of watching my heros (and tomorrow’s heros) get hurt needlessly. I challenge the AMA Board of Directors to each match my small donation ($300). It’s their job to care about racer safety, and if they can’t care as much as I do, or you do, then we ought to throw them out and bring in people that can and do care.”


The contribution list now looks like this:

Erik Buell/Buell Motorcycle Company $5800
Anonymous $4725
John Ulrich/Roadracing World $2900
Aprilia USA $2900
American Suzuki Motor Corp. $2900
Dennis Smith/Sport Tire Services $1500
Marc Salvisberg/Factory Pro Tuning $1450
Bob Dragich/Roadracing World $1450
Bob Blandford/N.E. Sportbike Assn. $1100
Chuck Warren/Arclight Suzuki $1000
Jim Rashid/4&6 Cycle $1000
Scott Willock $1000
Don Lemelin/Scuderia West $500
Kevin Erion/Erion Racing $500
Pinky’s Pizza of Walnut Creek $500
Doug Gonda $500
Jerry Wood/Penguin School $500
Edward S. Siccardi, Jr. $300
Dan Fischer/Copier1.com $300
David Finniff $300
Marietta Motorsports $300
Brendan Guy $300
Brian Mitchell $250
Al Ludington $250
Tim Simpson $250
Papa Thiam/WERA BBS $200
Bill Capshaw/ICE Motorsports $200
Scott Decker $200
Jim Williams/13x.com $125
Pat Stricker $ 100
Gary Rand $100
Michael Roberson/WERA BBS $100
Sean Jordan/WERA BBS $100
Army Of Darkness $100
Stuart Gregg $100
Pinky’s Pizza/Lippman Racing $100
Bob Szoke $100
TyrSox $100
Ron West/Omzig Productions $100
Joe Facer $100
Preston Rash $100
Geoff Maloney/GP Tech $100
Melissa Berkoff/Neighbor Of The Beast $100
Ceasar Gonzales/WERA BBS $100
Dorina Groves $100
Philip Rusin/RC51.net $100
Allen “Spence” Spencer $100
Matt Wadsworth $100
Dean N. De St. Croix $100
Tony Tugwell/TZ250.com $100
Bart Fuqua $100
Brian Stokes $100
Chris “Opie” Caylor $100
David McElvain/NEDOD $100
Ned “Peanut” Brown/NESBA/TPM $100
Vance Hacecky $100
Patrick Mee $100
Dave and Jason Parker $100
Tyson Kamp $75
Nelo Hakola $50
Tyler Sandell $ 50
David J. Kopfinger $ 50
Aaron Loyd $50
Martin Voelker $50
Steve Hopkins $50
Louis DeBlois $50
Leigh Taunton/EMGO $50
Randy Sinisi $50
Danny Hull $50
Team Skidmark Racing $50
Greg Gabis $29
Josh Loberant $25
Charles Tomes $25
S.C. Pittman $20


To pledge a contribution, call Roadracing World at (800) 464-8336 between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, when operators will be standing by. Credit cards accepted.

Pledges can also be made by e-mailing [email protected]

Readers should feel free to call their parts, tire and accessory suppliers and urge them to make a contribution to improve safety conditions for AMA racers. For that matter, contact local dealers and ask them to encourage their OEMs to contribute.

For background information, see Time To Take Back The AMA post from Tuesday morning.

Stay tuned for more details.