Petition to bring AMA back to Loudon

[Green Hornet]

http://www.lrrsracing.com/2005/ama_letter.htm


Subject: It is time for us to ATTACK!

I sent a letter to Cycle News about the situation with the Loudon national. It is in the issue that just came out. I will post a copy here for those of you who do not get the paper.
I have been told by close friends in the AMA that if we really want to get the race back, the best shot is a public outcry using the statistics in the letter.

What we need to do is write A LOT of letters. They should be polite and to the point. Sign with your AMA number if you have one. If you don't have one, tell them that you will consider signing up if they come back to New England. Not many people really write letters, so when they get some, they pay attention.

Here are the names and addresses:

Robert Razor, President
AMA
13515 Yarmouth Dr.
Pickerington, OH 43147

Rick Grey, Chairman
53 N. Duke St. Suite 420
Lancaster, PA 17602

John Ulrich, AMA Pro Board
Roadracingworld
PO Box 1428
Lake Elsinore, CA 92531

Rick Grey is chairman of the Board of Trustees and your NE district representative. If any of you are prolific writers, I can supply more names and addresses.

Don't forget to point out that according to the statistics, the AMA TRACK recommendations worked out. Here we have a promoter who pays one of the biggest purses and has been willing to spend money on safety and they walk away without even asking for more.

We need those letters from lots of folks, please don't sit back and let the other guy do it.

Jerry


Cycle News

I have been reading your AMA roundtable discussions with interest. I think that the suggestion of including the tracks in your talks was a good one. However, I am not comfortable with the impression that was left with respect to Loudon.

The day when Thomas Wilson and Miguel Duhamel got hurt was a bad one. It changed roadracing in this country and seemed to really start the riders’ safety movement of today. The events surrounding that day were extraordinary with the combination of new pavement, Wilson’s catastrophic brake failure and the sudden rain during qualifying. After that event, the NHIS track owners wanted to do the right thing and met with the AMA rider representatives and AMA officials about improving track safety.

The track spent then spent a large sum of money changing the track (turns 1, 8 and 10) and purchased soft barrier systems for many new portions of the track. These changes proved to work. For the following three years Loudon enjoyed some of the safest racing (lowest injury rate) of the entire AMA series. Loudon has some of the most intense use of motorcycles in the country with about 300,000 laps being turned every year. In over the fifteen years that we have had this track, motorcycles have run 4,500,000 laps with only one fatality.

If you compare those numbers with tracks like Daytona where there are only two race weeks per year and four fatalities in the same period, Loudon looks a lot better by comparison. In fact, if you look at the safety record at Loudon in general I believe that it would compare favorably with a majority of the tracks in this nation, particularly since the track made the updates 6 years ago. I have had almost four decades of racing experience and over three decades as a race official, board member, and race school owner. Admittedly, I am just a “club racer” now as one of the pro’s put it, but I have two son’s that race as professionals and feel comfortable racing at Loudon.

We run our LRRS club series and the Formula USA series races rain or shine without any drama. The pros will argue that club racing proves nothing because they don’t run pro Superbike equipment. That is true, but our top club guys race about 1-2 seconds under pro Superbike lap times on Supersport equipment. We have had FUSA national races in the pouring rain with top national riders like Mike Barnes running up front without any problems.

The bottom line here is the AMA walked away from Loudon for what reason? The safety record was good after the modifications. The actions of the owners at the last AMA race were understandable when you consider that the fans were screaming for a race after hours of messing around in indecision. The track owners felt a responsibility to those fans. They also put up one of the largest purses on the AMA tour and were willing to invest even more into track safety. So why walk away?

The track owners, the New England fans and AMA members want their race back!I don't know exactly what it would take to make it happen, but I have to believe that there is a way. Is there anyone at the AMA who can say what it would take? We are listening.......

Jerry Wood
Loudon, New Hampshire

[Kip]

I would love to see AMA come back to NHIS, but as a rider I can totally understand why the AMA doesn't want to race there anymore. First- off the track hasn't been repaved since the 1900's. Second- the transition bumps suck. Third- there is little room to pass which means you have to cut people off for a pass. Fourth- there is no run off if someone goes down.- Fifth half the track has concrete walls right next to you and a little air fence doesn't help build confidence. Six- each year the bikes get fast and faster which doesn't help when there is already no run off room for crashes. Seven- with the new tracks out there like Barber why would any AMA rider want to race at NHIS???????

Just my 2 cents.

[legalspeed]

Why do we want the AMA to come back?

Isn't it just another weekend us club racers can't race?

[jjs777]

AMA to Louden?

Yeah right. Not a safe track IMHO. After my first visit to Louden and witnessing almost first hand a rider hitting a turn and then being catapulted OVER the wall some 30 feet down...landing near the pit tunnel where the track attendant sits watchintg for wrist bands!

The are this occured was the bowl I think its referred to as.


to say I was shocked is an undestatement.

The track barely has any run off room in any of the corners. If it were AMA and there was any media present...would have given a huge black eye to the whole sport.

[Karaya One]

That track is a turd.

And having Jerry Wood write that letter praising Loudon is a little over the top. Kinda like having the fox design the sheep pen.

He makes how much money in his business running at that facility? Someone a little more objective needs to plea for that track.

When it rains there, the track is trouble. And what is up with Turn 3? You drive out of 2A and carry how much speed towards a WALL?

The National riders go 2 seconds a lap faster as of the last National there. That is a hell of a lot of speed to carry around a place that is in reality a go-kart track. And those guys go almost as fast.

This facility has never been safe for bikes, and surrounding it in air-fence won't change a really bad design.