Competition Etc

COMPETITION ETC

D. RANDY RIGGS

THE AMA AWARDS BANQUET—IS SEGREGATION NECESSARY?

It’s nice that the American Motorcycle Association holds an annual awards banquet to honor its best professional riders in Class C and motocross racing; the reasons are more than justified. There are AMA point fund payoffs, topped with even more money from the Camel Cigarette people for their Camel Pro Series awards. Contingency prizes also abound, and it’s an ideal time for the people involved in professional racing to get together: friends, mechanics, sponsors officials and riders. But the AMA Professional Awards Banquet comes off as being not-so-professional.

Having been held at the very exquisite Marriott Hotel near the Los Angeles Airport just after the final Trans-AMA Motocross, timing and location can’t be faulted. Ticket prices were a heady $25 per person, another possible indication that things were going to be more than a tad on the spiffy side. But it didn’t work out quite that way; and after the 1975 affair more than a few went away feeling somewhat ripped-off. What happened?

Perhaps the AMA’s first mistake was holding down the number of people to roughly 300, escalating the costs of the dinner (which was surprisingly palatable for a banquet style meal) and facilities on a per person basis. Secondly, not all the speakers were that adept at oratory, making them hard to hear and fantastic cures for insomnia victims. And as the night wore on, a major problem surfaced between the Class C and motocross factions. The fact was that neither group was interested in the other and verbal comments from various members representing each group began abounding from the podium. Tasteless. . .but under the circumstances, unpreventable.

There were far too many awards presented, lessening the impact of the important ones and dragging on the evening to a point of suffering. High (Continued on page 94) Continued from page 78

points of the night were few in number and consisted mainly of the moments when the AMA’s Dave Despain would deliver his clearly audible, interesting and worthwhile commentary, and a great Peter Starr movie on motocross Champion Marty Smith. But I was slightly bummed when I found out that film clippings on the making of Number One, Gary Scott, by the same Peter Starr were nixed by the AMA for largely political reasons. They felt that since Yamaha had won the Manufacturers’ Championship, it wouldn’t be too good to show a movie featuring HarleyDavidson.

Next year, I’d like to see more people in attendance through more promotion by the AMA, which would serve to lower ticket costs to a more reasonable $10. Cut down the number of presented awards to the most major and important recipients and leave the majority of the commentary to Dave Despain, who keeps his audience’s eyes open. Finally, consider separate banquets for the Class C and motocross people. Truth of the matter is, neither group is all that interested in what the other is doing. . .unfortunate but true. Let’s also see more good films about the people in our sport. . .and to hell with politics. That way many more people will go away happy besides just the guys with the fat checks in their hands. . . .

* * *