FIRST PERSON/OPINION By David Swarts If my boss were to come to me and tell me I was suspended indefinitely I would freak out. My stomach would develop an ulcer within minutes while I waited to hear if I would lose my job or not and I’d wonder how I was going to provide for my family if I did. But apparently that’s not how things work when an employee of Daytona Motorsports Group (DMG, currently doing business as AMA Pro Racing) gets suspended indefinitely. On Friday of the July 17-19 Mid-Ohio race weekend this year I immediately sought out AMA Pro Racing Vice President Marketing/Communications Ollie Dean to get official comment on the sudden approval of the Buell 1125RR, which was introduced by Buell as a “race-use only motorcycle” but homologated by AMA Pro Racing into American Superbike, which requires bikes be “street-certified.” Just as I located Dean, AMA Pro Racing Technical Director of Competition Al Ludington walked up, and Dean pointed out that Ludington would be the perfect person to answer my questions. It’s important to note that back in the mid-1990s when I was only a humble fan of this great sport I actually sought out Ludington when I attended my first AMA Superbike National. Miguel Duhamel had made it clear in interviews that Ludington was a huge part of his success at the time, and I believed him. Meeting Ludington was no disappointment either, as he stopped what he was doing to spend a few minutes talking to me. When I came to work in the AMA paddock in the late-1990s Ludington was equally friendly and accommodating towards me even though he didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye with my boss, John Ulrich, on a range of issues, most revolving around the relative status of privateers and factory riders. My enjoyable working relationship–dare I say friendship?–with Ludington continued after AMA Pro Racing’s Roger Edmondson wisely chose him to join his new staff. So back to Mid-Ohio where Ludington proceeded to answer all of my questions about the decision to approve and homologate the Buell 1125RR. I turned his comments into a story that appeared on Roadracingworld.com (~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=37360~) the following morning. When I returned to the track the next day, no one with AMA Pro Racing mentioned any problems with my article, and Ollie Dean even said he felt the topic was treated fairly. Later that day, Ulrich wrote and posted an editorial on our website (~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=37389~) in which he addressed inconsistent and selective enforcement of rules by the new AMA Pro Racing regime. Ulrich used an encounter with Ludington as one example in making his point that race officiating should be as universal as getting a Big Mac whether it be at a McDonald’s in Chicago, Tokyo or Paris. I knew nothing of this editorial until I read it on our website. A short time later I was in front of the paddock garages talking to Yamaha Team Manager Tom Halverson about his new role as Crew Chief for Ben Bostrom when Ludington walked over and asked me if I had seen Ulrich. I hadn’t and told Ludington where he might find him, probably somewhere around his two race teams, Team M4 Suzuki and Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki. After asking if I had seen the editorial, Ludington proceeded to tell me in a breathy tone indicative of someone trying to control their anger — that “if someone is trying to f–k with my ability to provide for my family, then that person better watch out.” He then said, in the presence of Halverson, that “it looks like it’s time for some vindictive teardowns.” He used the phrase “vindictive teardowns” more than once, and I later learned that Ludington had a similar exchange with members of Martin Cardenas’ Team M4 Suzuki crew. The next time I saw Ulrich I told him that Ludington would like to speak to him about his editorial, and I told him what Ludington had said to me. At that point, Ulrich took what action he felt was appropriate, an action that he did not discuss with me. Later that day Ollie Dean made a point to apologize to me for Ludington’s inappropriate comments and said that Ludington was just joking. When Ludington made his comments to me neither he nor I nor Halverson laughed or even smiled. Ludington looked dead serious, and he looked mad as hell. After the races that day, Ludington was filmed on video chastising–complete with a healthy dose of four-letter words and belittling comments–racer Johnny Rock Page for allegedly failing to respond appropriately to blue flags during American Superbike Race One and negatively affecting the outcome of that race. After the race weekend we were alerted to the fact that this video had ended up on the Internet as a posting on YouTube, and just like the network evening news would do with a video of a police officer inappropriately chastising a young speeder, we did a news report on the video on this website (~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=37409~). The next day AMA Pro Racing announced that based on his actions in the video with Page, Ludington was “suspended indefinitely.” (~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=37432~) At this point I felt bad for my friend Al, because even after his comments about “vindictive teardowns” I held nothing against him and didn’t want any hard times for him or his family, whom I’ve met on many occasions. In fact, I even told many people that it was an unfortunate deal because in the video Ludington was essentially expressing to Page what many in the paddock felt, but in his new position as an AMA official that was not an appropriate thing to do. Exactly 17 minutes after receiving AMA Pro Racing’s press release announcing his suspension I got a text message from Ludington on my cell phone that simply read: “Happy now?” What the hell?! My feelings instantly went from concern and sympathy to rage. Where does this guy get off trying to vilify me as being responsible for his suspension? What he told me at Mid-Ohio he told me because he wanted me to relay it to Ulrich. I didn’t tattle on him or complain to his bosses. And I certainly didn’t have any role to play in him losing his composure with Page, videoing the exchange or posting it on the Internet, on YouTube or Roadracingworld.com. My only role in the whole saga was forced upon me by Ludington himself, and now with his text message he was trying to bring me down with him. This was going too far. I work too damn hard trying to be a good journalist in the AMA paddock for someone to try and drag me through a mud hole that they themselves had created. I did not respond to Ludington’s text. Instead, I forwarded it to AMA Pro Racing President Roger Edmondson with this message: “I received this within minutes of his suspension. Pretty inappropriate if you ask me.” Edmondson replied: “I agree. Indefinitely just got a little longer.” That didn’t make me feel happy or satisfied either, but I was mad and wasn’t going to put up with Ludington’s sh-t. But apparently I didn’t need to worry about the well-being of Ludington or his wife and their two little girls, as being suspended indefinitely doesn’t mean a whole lot at AMA Pro Racing. Ludington did not miss a single day of work, and he was not docked wages or fined, even though Jamie Hacking was fined $4000 for using profanity in a private conversation he had with his wife as he exited the media center at Auto Club Speedway, a private conversation that was only overheard by DMG Vice President Roy Janson and media rep Gene Crouch. Ironically, Janson has a reputation for being one of the most profane individuals in motorcycle racing history, and is famous for explosive, obscene rages directed at employees, competitors and others he has encountered over the years. Ludington was “suspended” from one race, the event at Heartland Park Topeka, but he spent some time during his suspension sending text messages to other AMA Pro Racing officials that read, “I’m getting paid to sit at home and have a beer.” It’s a nice gig if you can get it. Especially compared to the lot of hapless competitors like Jamie Hacking, who are held to a completely different standard of conduct. So if you’re searching for a job in these extremely challenging economic times, just know that if you work for Daytona Motorsports Group (currently d.b.a. AMA Pro Racing) you can do whatever the hell you want — no matter if it is an honest mistake or an act of malice broadcast around the world — with no serious repercussions and continue to receive full pay. Hell, you might even get a couple of extra paid vacation days if you’re lucky.