The politics of racing

We live in strange times right now, from the government wanting to give away your tax dollars, to seeing Nicky Hayden leave Honda. I don’t blame him at all. He came to MotoGP as Valentino’s teammate, a hard spot to be in..all the good stuff would go to Valentino. But, Nicky did win the championship. Then comes Dani Pedrosa, Nicky is again relegated to second banana. I have had a couple of good talks with Earl Hayden regarding Nicky’s unhappiness at Honda especially in light of being a World Champion. I wish Nicky the best of luck at Ducati because he certainly deserves it. And, being a Ducati rider…I’m happy to see young Mr. Hayden on a red sled

Now, on to what I really wanted to write about today. The politics of roadracing. I, and many others have written and podcasted( www.themotoworld.com )about the struggles of the DMG/AMA Pro Racing and the riders and manufacturers. As I have been getting ready to head up to Laguna Seca for this weekends AMA season finale, I’m also working with the teams PR people to line up interview time for our podcast, www.themotoworld.com . Here’s where the politics come in. We have been told by three out of the four manufacturers that we can do interviews, but we can’t talk about whats going on in racing, where are they, the company and the riders are going be next year. With the DMG who has said that they have lined up all the promoters and tracks, or the speculative MIC series also known as the SBBC series, that really don’t have much set in stone as yet. The fourth manufacturer said no interviews at all.

So, it looks like interviews this weekend will be limited to “what did you have for breakfast?” OK, it’s not quite that grim..I get to talk to Jake Zemke again to see where he is headed for next year, his wife likes Italy..Ben Spies about his plans, does his mom like Europe? And, I think we’ll have a lot of fun with Roger Lee Hayden.

It’s going to be a very interesting off season don’t you think?

Ride safe, ride fast
Paul