By John Ulrich This is my personal opinion and only my personal opinion. In stating my opinion here, I represent only myself, and do not speak for any other person or any organization. I write as a racer, as the father of a racer, as a team owner and as a 26-year member of the AMA. The storm of controversy currently swirling around professional racing in this country reminds me of watching news reports from the Middle East: Everybody is in a state of outrage and wants to kill everybody else, nobody wants to work together, everybody is focussing on the past and past wrongs and wants revenge instead of trying to make things better now and in the future. You killed my brother, therefore I will kill your brother. No, you killed MY brother, therefore I will kill YOUR brother. What we have here is an opportunity to finally address all the stuff that has made everybody involved in AMA Pro Racing crazy over the last several decades. The secret deals, the secret rules, selective involvement of some participants in the rules-making process and the exclusion of other participants. For whatever reason, a lot of stuff didn’t work right. Now is the chance to fix all that. It won’t happen overnight, it can’t happen overnight. But change is upon us, and the result can be a lot better. Give it six months or a year, then look around and see”¦ In the meantime, here, in my opinion, are examples of the kind of problems faced by the attempt to change things, and examples of possible payoffs from the attempt to change things: Examples Of Obstacles To Reforming AMA Pro Racing 1. I Got Screwed Back In (Insert Year Here), Therefore This Other Guy Has To Get Screwed Now! (Example 1: Wanting Ricky Carmichael To Be Docked 25 Points For Failing A Fuel Test Due To Trace Amounts Of Lead That Everybody Agrees Did Not Affect Engine Performance In Any Way, Because Chad Reed And Bubba Stewart Lost Points In Past Seasons. Example 2: Wanting The Buell XB-RR To Be Thrown Out Of Formula Xtreme Despite It Being Secretly Approved By The Guy Who Handled Machine Approval, Because Several Years Ago The Same Guy Secretly Approved Chuck Graves’ R1/R7 Hybrid And It Later Got Tossed Out Of Formula Xtreme. And Never Mind That The Responsible Guy Is Now Out Of The Picture Permanently”¦) 2. Yeah, We Know What The Intent Was And Actually Agree With It, But Because The Rule Wording Is Screwed Up, We’re Really Mad! (Example: Buell XB-RR. The Intent Of Formula Xtreme Was To Have A Class That Isn’t Made Up Entirely Of Four-cylinder Motorcycles–Except For Two Ducatis In Superbike–And To Encourage The Use Of All Sorts Of Diverse Machinery In Formula Xtreme By Giving Extreme Modification Exemptions To, For Example, Two-valve, Air-cooled, Pushrod Twins. And If A Bike Granted Such Xtreme Modification Exemptions Turned Out To Be An Overdog, To Put Weight On It To Maintain Competitive Balance. But Because The Rulebook Written By Two Guys Who Don’t Work There Anymore Doesn’t Explain That Very Well”¦) 3. We’re Mad That The Superbike Series Doesn’t Have A Title Sponsor, But We Want You To Fire The Marketing People Who Are Working On Getting A Title Sponsor And Who Just Landed A Giant Deal For AMA Motocross Because That Money Should Be Spent On Operational People And The Hell With Marketing! (Example: A Pundit Complaining About The Daytona 200 Pace Car Screw-up And Suggesting That Two AMA Pro Racing Vice Presidents Involved In Marketing And Communications Be Fired And The Money Used To Hire More Operations People, When In Fact The Budget For More Operations People Is In Place And The Search For The Right People Is Already On. Sponsorship Deals Don’t Just Fall From Trees, And Take Time And Effort To Develop. Getting Rid Of The Guys Who Work On Getting Such Deals Is Simply Madness”¦) 4. We’re Mad At The AMA Pro Racing Board Of Directors, The AMA Pro Racing CEO And The AMA Director Of Competition And Constantly Write Editorials Blasting Them As Being Incompetent, But Now That They’re Gone, We’re Gonna Blast The Person We Think Is Responsible For Getting Rid Of Them And Who Is Trying To Change Things! (Example: A Pundit Belittling The AMA CEO Who Was A Driving Force Behind Reforming And Reorganizing AMA Pro Racing, Because She’s Not A Racing Professional Like The People On The Dissolved Board Or Other Former Employees The Pundit Was Mad At Before The Reorganization Eliminated Them…And Every Debate Turns Into A Personal Attack…) Examples Of Potential Improvements On The Horizon For AMA Pro Racing 1. New rulebooks that make sense. 2. New, additional operational employees. 3. New structure that ends secret deals and approvals and guarantees teams and racers can be involved and have a voice in the rule-making and decision-making process. 4. Rules and enforcement targeted at things that actually affect on-track performance, versus rules and rules-enforcement for their own sake.