The most tumultuous year in the history of American roadracing began badly but ended well. In between there was no shortage of drama, both on the track and off, with a steady worsening of relations between much of the paddock and AMA Pro Racing, now operated by the Daytona Motorsports Group whose main patron is Jim France of the Daytona France family. The bad blood actually began over a year earlier, when the deal was first announced, and continued through an '08 season filled with an ever-changing set of class and rules proposals. What was finally settled on didn't make the factories very happy, though the griping died down as the season progressed, mostly because the motorcycles were much cheaper to build. And the racing in the inaugural season of the American Superbike class was much closer.
Too often the racing took a back seat to various controversies surrounding the racing.
The season began with a pace car debacle and ensuing red flag in the Daytona 200 that cast a pall over what, to that point, had been an otherwise successful debut for the series. The incident was an unfortunate preview of more to come, with race control blunders plaguing more events, the most egregious coming during the AMA superbike race on the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. A steadily worsening relationship between teams and series officials developed over the course of the year, so by the time the series rolled into the farmland of South Jersey for the inaugural race at New Jersey Motorsports Park, positions on both sides had hardened and the pessimism surrounding the 2010 season lent an air of uncomfortable uncertainty.
A combination of the recession and refutation of DMG's vision cut deeply into crowd counts all year long. Tracks no longer give attendance figures, but the pattern was clear. The Daytona crowd was up for the first-ever night running of the 200, while Fontana was well down. It was at those two tracks that the hard-line policies of the DMG turned the paddock into a fortress of fear from which it would never recover.
The upending of the AMA superbike...
The upending of the AMA superbike landscape by the DMG resulted in seven-time AMA Superbike champion Mat Mladin's retirement from racing. The Australian leaves behind a number of records that will likely never be broken.
It began during the riders meeting at Daytona, run by director of competition Colin Fraser. The first of the DMG's proposals to make motorcycle racing more like auto racing—putting the starter in the elevated perch above the Daytona finish line—was being questioned and Fraser refused to discuss it. According to the riders, the problem was that with their chins on the tank at 190-plus mph, the flag blended into the grandstand. Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Mat Mladin asked, "Do you understand the problem? Do you not understand?" Fraser replied, "Yes, Mat, and I answered the question once." A few race weekends later, the starter was back at track level.
Fraser, who owns the Parts Canada Superbike Championship, was perceived as arrogant, rather than deferential. He had very little respect and support in the paddock. And because he gave preference to the Canadian series—he missed Mid-Ohio and New Jersey because of conflicting dates—many questioned his commitment. DMG's then-Vice President of Competition Roy Janson (he was recently let go along with Road Racing Series Manager Bill Syfan, although Janson remains in a "consultant" capacity) said in Kansas that the series deserved a full-time series director, but that they had yet to reach an agreement with Fraser...after 18 months. "He has a huge credibility issue with all the big teams," one championship-winning crew chief said. "The guy's an idiot. I haven't had any respect for that guy from the day he started. He's actually just proven that the last two years."
Fontana brought a more chilling incident. Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki's Jamie Hacking was fined $4000 and suspended indefinitely for what he said to his wife, Rachel, after he left a Daytona SportBike news conference. Hacking flew to Daytona to apologize and was re-instated without missing a race, but the $4000 fine, coincidentally what he'd won on the weekend, stood. Riders would think twice about voicing their displeasure, whether in official forums or not.