AMA needs to 'lay down the law' more consistently
Ricky Carmichael and Ryan Villopoto debate whether the AMA has been consistent enough with enforcing rules, comparing Haiden Deegan being penalized at Birmingham with Jo Shimoda being let off the hook at Arlington.
Video Transcript
Dunlop debate, okay?
The, I mean, all this chatter about AMA.
We're gonna do this Dunlop debate, then we're gonna take a, a, a quick break again, and then finish the show.
But, for the Dunlop debate, so the fans are asking for a fix, right?
And listen, dude, I, I'm gonna go ahead and tell you, I don't, I damn sure don't have a, a fix.
I definitely got my opinions like everybody else, and I don't even know if I wanna give my opinion on this.
But you I think that you really, you got your finger on the pulse here.
But, this fan asks, Charlie Bush, "Ricky, you and RV need to get an investment group together and buy the AMA or the series."
Okay, well, I, I mean, RV, I, I, I'm a, I don't wanna do either of those two.
Like, I- No I mean, I love the sport, don't get me wrong.
But if I'm buying something, it ain't gonna be the AMA or the sport.
That's, that's for sure.
I, it's just like, I appreciate that, Charlie, but yeah, if I'm buying something, it's not gonna be that.
like, okay, what, like, I guess, just hypotheticals, like, a- an answer in Charlie's question, and it's a great question, where do you even start?
Like, what, what, like, where, where would you start to Like, how do you make it better?
Do you keep the AMA?
Do you- I just, I think- Go on I, I, I think number one is, is, is Look, I, let's be honest, I know some of the teams and, and I'm not gonna, I, not, not, I don't know in, in, in actual teams, but I know there's teams that have maybe a little more horsepower than others or more persuade, you know, can persuade this, that, or the next, or there's, favoritism's not the word, but, like, the rule is the rule.
It doesn't have to be that.
You don't have to complicate it.
It's in the rule book, you pop them for it.
and I think that fixes, 99% of what we all have been talking about this year.
I just, I talked about it earlier in the show, red cross flag, we didn't penalize anybody.
Now Hayden goes around one marker and runs over another marker, in like a two and a half foot section of the track.
Which wasn't gonna change the race.
Like, right?
Didn't change the race.
Yep, yep.
Like, he's gonna take this.
He's gonna win regardless.
It's- And that's where But again, but to AMA's credit, the rule was the rule.
We ain't got to agree with it, but they were warned and they're, or they were told, and they were made aware of, "Do not do this."
And I don't, I don't think he, obviously, he didn't do that on purpose.
He didn't need to do that on purpose.
He just, he- I think he, I think he made a quick, a really, really- Yeah and we're talking split second decision, like, "Shit, I'm gonna go to the inside here."
but back to what I Is we had a red cross, we didn't penalize, now we have a little infraction and we penalize, right?
So that is the problem.
It needs, it's in the rule book for a reason.
Red cross flag out, they jumped on it, should've been penalized.
regardless of who it, who it affects in that championship, how it affects the points.
you know, we don't wanna become the NBA or some of these other sports that I think are somewhat, have outside influence on.
this is, this is hardcore, you know, Americana racing.
This is what we do.
you know, and just the, like I said, the rules are rule.
Stick to that.
Penalize them for, for, for what it is, and regardless of who they are or what the infraction is, if it's in the rule book and you're not allowed to do it, you need to be penalized for it.
Just 'cause the freeway says it's 70 miles an hour and I wanna, I feel like I wanna do 80, and, you know, I don't get popped for it, well, you know, it's a problem.
It's, it's the law, right?
AMA's the law.
They need to lay down the law, whatever the case may be, and I think that cleans up a lot of the gray area.
Yeah.
I, so I, I'm gonna give my opinion, okay?
I, I said I wasn't going to, but I can't hold back on, on this.
I, I, yeah, I don't know that, yeah, like buying the AMA or buying the sport, like I definitely don't want that.
But I think that it can get substantially better by doing exactly what you said.
Just, just adhere to the, and, and enforce the rule book, right?
And, and oh, and I'm gonna speak from a sit- a, a, a side that I've been in another racing group, right?
In, on four wheels, and I've been on that side of how they enforce rules.
Not saying I liked what they did, not saying I agree with everything that, that they did, but at the end of the day, you know who is in charge, right?
And I don't feel that the AMA has the respect from the riders, and rightfully so, because they aren't that consistent on, on what they do, the people making the penalties and the infractions.
I'm not talking about certain people, you know, others that, everybody that works for AMA- AMA.
I don't, I just think that they don't have that respect, so I think if they do, like you said, RV, and, and just enforce the rule book, I think they're gonna gain that respect from, from the riders first and foremost.
And I think, you know what?
Like everyone's asking, everyone says, "Ricky, RV, you do this," or, you know, "AC, JB, you do this."
You guys do.
We don't have that kind of power.
I know, I, I appreciate you guys thinking that we do, but we don't.
If, if everybody, if they wanna make it better, the rider's gotta do something.
They're the ones that are on the track, and they- they're the ones that are gonna get the attention.
Why?
Because they're the ones that, you know, have to play by these rules and, and they expect the rules to, to be enforced, when they should, and, and everybody do the right thing or make the best judgment when they can.
And so that's, that, that's my opinion, because I- I've- I've been in another racing group, again, where, you know, the respect was there, and I'm like, "I ain't messing with these dudes."
And they'll tell you straight up, "We run the show."
I'm like, "All right."
And I just think that the respect isn't there.
Enforce the damn thing.
Like I go back to the blue flagsDo we wanna penalize people like the, the, the the privateers for not getting out of the way?
No.
But dude, like, have firm conversations with these people.
It's not Like, it's almost like a form of parenting.
Yeah.
I don't think of Rex and Gage, you know, y- like, y- you just, you can be firm with these people.
It's gonna be okay.
Yeah.
You guys are all- That's where I'm at with Like, have these conversations.
Talk with these people.
I know, like, some, some people do.
Like, Ezra does a great job.
He's always trying to talk to these guys.
Yeah.
You know?
But talk to them, enforce a rule, and you know, like, sometimes you just gotta do things that are uncomfortable.
Yeah.
And if they're fine, if it's taking points away, the, the hard thing is, is I've, I've said this before.
Now, now, now you got me on my soapbox.
But And you can't do it because it's, of the safety, but when I was in NASCAR, like, if they penalize you Now, now remember, you can't p- you can't practice during the week.
You couldn't practice during the week so some of, some ways of how they penalize you, do they take practice away from you at the next race?
That is massive.
Yeah.
Right?
Could you imagine doing that?
Or, you know what- That's- Keep the suspension guy at home.
Like, like, or keep your, keep your ECU guy at home, or keep your mechanic at home.
Get a fill-in mechanic.
Yeah.
I, I think, I think for us, I think, I think for our form of racing, right, I think, like, depends on what it is, like, what the infraction is, obviously, you know, it's- Oh, you don't like that?
Like, keep guys home.
Keep people, keep the manager home.
Yeah.
You could, you could go that.
I think, I think, like, from a privateer standpoint, like, obviously, it, it can, it can fall back on money, like Coop said, like, like, fine them.
Yeah.
But also, you know, I think, it's a p- it's a penalize It's penalizing them, championship points, or, you know, and then same thing with, with you.
You gotta go for the top guys.
Y- you can't go, "Oh, we're gonna fine you f- $10,000," because that's, that's an easy payment, right?
Like, for, for a guy like Eli or Cooper or Hunter or, or Deegan or anybody like that, the only thing that sticks in their, in their mind and that will stick with them is, is, is, ch- like, championship points, right?
Depending on- Yeah.
Like, so, so, here, here's a good one.
So- Sure do you agree with what happened to, Evan Ferry when he cleaned out Pierce in the last lap of the heat race?
I actually don't know what the infraction was or what, how they penalized him.
Yeah, it was like, it w- I think it, what was it?
Like, three to five championship points, and then, like, two license points, and then a possible fine.
I gotta go back and read the I mean, let me see here.
I mean, I saw- So let's- that, pass on Instagram, and it wasn't, like, crazy, like, aggressive, like, trying to, you know, hurt somebody.
It was a, it was a block pass gone wrong.
And he, they both went down.
Right.
let's see here.
I think that's, that's the, the Yeah.
That, that seems- Yeah, here you go a little aggressive.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
R- the RD, race direction, reviewed rider 751 for aggressive riding, involving rider number 163, Pierce Brown.
At the review, Evan Ferry was penalized for aggressive riding.
Penalty includes loss of five championship points, two rider license points, and a fine.
There you go.
Yeah.
I mean, looking at poss- yeah, penalty includes five, championship two points, two license points.
Okay.
Yeah.
If it's, if it's, if you consider the, like, okay, if, if you're gonna call that aggressive riding, which is fine if that's what AMA wants to call it, they're the r- They're Remember, they're the, they're the- Yeah they're the law, so whatever it is.
That's pretty con- Like, for me, it just, it seems a little bit, you know, three different penalties.
Like, okay, hit him with, hit him with five championship points or, or hit him with just the fine.
two rider license points and a fine and five championship points, like, to me, that just makes it pretty, 'Cause I saw the pass.
It was a block pass gone wrong.
it wasn't a T-bone.
It wasn't a, it wasn't, something malicious.
Like, he went in there, and, he's, he's new.
He's, you know, not new, but, like, he doesn't have- Yeah a ton of time in, in the position that he's in.
and he executed poorly and took them both down.
Yeah.
That's how I kinda look at it.
Yeah.
I'm with you.
Yeah.
great question, Charlie.
Again, I don't think RV and I wanna raise no money and be buying anything if it's gonna buy that.
No.
No.
I think it's really something that's gonna make us a lot of money.
Uh- No.
I think money- I don't have the answers or an opinion regardless of the answers, that's a lot of headache.
That's right.
That's right.
I'm glad we don't have to be in those positions, but, we can have our opinions.
And I just, I, again, I go back to what you said, just enforce the rule book.
It's not, you know A- and I think as you do that and start talking to these people as much as you can, the people, the riders, if the riders aren't happy, they're the ones that need to speak out.
It's not people like you and I, you know?
they're the ones that are gonna make the impact and the change, I believe.
And, the riders need to, to, you know, to, to do that.
And I think it'll, it'll help, and then they'll get the confidence, hopefully, from the AMA that they're gonna, you know, continue to make better decisions and make better calls.
And, and, and there you go.
