Cycle News

T he announcement last week that a group led by Wayne Rainey was taking over road racing in the U.S. isn't as important as the demolition of the Berlin Wall, but if you are a racer, a team in the series, or a fan of American road racing, it sure feels like it. MotoAmerica means a fresh start and new hope. For a se- ries that needs a massive dose of both. I covered my first AMA Na- tional road race for Cycle News in 1985 (I was 12… okay, I wasn't) and Rainey rode a pair of MacLean Racing Honda two-strokes to victory in two of the races (a 250 in Formula Two and a 500 in Formula One) that weekend at Sears Point. And I've covered his career in these pages ever since. I've also covered a vast majority of the AMA road races since that day at Sears. So do I have pony in this show? I guess I do. I consider Rainey a friend and a man who I have a huge amount of respect for – and only a portion of that respect comes from what he was able to do on a motorcycle in winning two AMA Superbike titles and three 500cc World Championships. The rest comes from the man that he is today and the man that he al- ways has been: Honest, fair… determined. A good husband and a good father. And some- one who is deeply passionate about his sport. That's how I feel about Rain- ey, so if you want to bow out of reading the rest of this col- umn based on that, now's your chance. With that being said, I also care and have a passion for AMA road racing. You don't do this job for as long as I've been doing it without it. But of late, that passion has waned. Going to the races just hasn't been the same. Instead of the focus being on the races them- selves (which are quite good, really), the focus seemed to have shifted in recent years to the incessant whining and mis- ery from the riders, the teams, and whatever fans were left. It almost made me not care. So what went wrong? For starters, the economy went bad. And the 2008 takeover of the sport by the Daytona Motor- sports Group (DMG) wasn't what people were expecting. They got off to a bad start and never really recovered. With visions of sponsors lined up at the door and dollars falling out of the sky, most of us were left with glum faces. Racers were disappoint- ed, many were out of work, a lot of sponsors bailed, and some of the manufacturers were out of the game completely. Some of the racetracks joined them, TV ended up going away complete- ly… and there was a constant feeling of us vs. them within the paddock. For the want of a bet- ter word, it pretty much sucked. But I'm not here to kick a wounded dog or throw more dirt on DMG. I'd rather focus on go- ing forward. Not backwards. Do I think Rainey is the man for the job? Yes. I believe he's in this for the long haul and I know he's not afraid of doing the heavy lifting. I also think he and the KRAVE Group will put together a team to help them accom- plish the things they need to get done. That's what good leaders do. Again, as I mentioned earli- er, you won't find someone more BY PAUL CARRUTHERS CN III CARRUTHERS SAYS P108 ROAD RACING 101

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