Announcement / 2020 AMA Sanctioning & Membership Requirement

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Originally Posted by Wes Webb

How do you get this discount as I have not bought a transponder yet?

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Once you get the AMA membership, there is a link on their website to discounts. There is a promo code there that you enter in when you order that will give you the discount.

I fully agree with Brandie and Ty...
Support the AMA!! It is one race entry cost for the year.

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Originally Posted by Michael Snyder

The argument against is not about whether the AMA does good things for the motorcycle community. The argument about all motorcyclist should belong is a great conversation and yes perhaps all motorcyclist should belong but the choice should be up to the individual not to a governing body of a second organization. I have been an AMA member for a long time but it is by choice and I do believe they do good overall. However, that argument is like saying I have to belong to the NRA because I like and use firearms, I have to belong to AOPA because I am a pilot, I have to belong to ARRL because I have an amateur radio operators license. I don't belong to those others because I don't want too for various reasons.

Let's be honest about what this gives the organization. We get to be listed as a sanctioned organization. Great and in return for giving them several thousand dollars through our racers we get a few blurbs in the magazine perhaps in passing articles or maybe a few event dates get published. For a select few it allows them to go race MotoAmerica which is awesome really. I know I like seeing the CMRA racers on the video feeds. However that is a very small percentage.

What do the other racers get in return, a few discounts that barely any will actually use and maybe the right to say they race AMA sanctioned racing which sounds really good at a bar in the middle of night when you are picking up girls (or guys).

An argument point was made by someone that this will help cultivate new racers and help forward the pro racing circuit. Well yes it forwards the pro racing circuit to a point but I fail to see how this will actually cultivate new racers for the organization. Not a good argument but we are the only organization in the immediate area. New racers will already race with us but I venture to say noone is going to get into the sport because we have this sanctioning. I also doubt highly anyone in the area is going to the east or west coast or upper Midwest to do club racing if they live in the area.

Is sanctioning a bad thing, absolutely not for the organization as it does put us on an even par with other orgs however forcing the membership on those who have no interest in doing anything beyond the club level does and has already had an impact. I know of 7 racers who will not be returning next year or this silly argument. I also understand that the AMA has this requirement to be sanctioned and that there is little that can be done with that but I ask to what end will the CMRA bend?

My example is this, per AMA guidelines CMRA must submit a copy or our rulebook for approval in the sanctioning process. Let's say for argument sakes only they come back and say for 2020 all racers are required to wear suits with automatic air inflation devices. Are you going make all members abide? For a club racing organization it becomes a slippery slope. When I was president of MSTA we had this happen where they changed the rules on what was required to get their insurance for our events. We complied and it event attendance went down about 8% the next year.

In summary, AMA is good and yes people should belong, sanctioning is overall good for perception of the org, some but few racers will greatly benefit but it is wrong to force anyone to belong if they don't want (which I know is an AMA rule) and is a kin to getting a job in a closed union shop.....pay us or else get out. There should have been open debate before the decision was made for voicing of opinions. I greatly support and believe in our BOD and staff but this was handled wrong. I will renew and gladly attempt to race but I still don't like it forced on others.

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Well said

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Originally Posted by Brandie Cox

Hi Everyone,

The reason I think it is of the utmost importance that we all belong to the AMA, if possible, is to support them in their lobbying for legislation to continue to support the existence of what we love.... to ride and, for some, race. ...

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These are all good reasons to join the AMA. And good reasons to make a post on the CMRA board encouraging CMRA members to join the AMA.

None of them are good reasons for forcing people to join the AMA in order to be a licensed CMRA racer.

There are a billion orgs that do good works in this country. And many reasons to join them. But we are not required to join any of them (other than the AMA) to simply be a licensed CMRA racer.

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Originally Posted by Ty Howard

All motorcyclist should be AMA members. The AMA protects your rights to ride everyday! Without the AMA our rights to ride would have been reduced long ago. In the last 5 years alone the AMA has fought the Lead Law and Euro Beef Tariff. The Lead Law was a law being passed to keep minors from riding motorcycles because lead was used in some of the materials used to build a motorcycle. Had this been passed the motorcycle industry would have collapsed. Without children riding, there will be far less future riders and racers. A Beef Tariff was placed on US imported beef into Europe. So in retaliation the US was going to pass a 200% tariff on European motorcycles. This would have greatly effected a lot of American Motorcycle businesses. This would have increased the retail price of European motorcycles dramatically. Many Euro motorcycles dealerships would have been forced out of business. The AMA fought hard to make sure the Tariff was not passed. After 2 years of fighting they succeeded.

For me, being an AMA member was part of being a motorcyclist. Many organizations required it but I renewed my membership every year on my birthday regardless. I get that it feels like its being forced on you and if its forced, you hate it. However, this is your way of giving back to the motorcycle community. Without our membership dues, they can't fight for our rights to ride and race. This is not an easy fight! Most of the world hates motorcyclist and think we are crazy idiots. They don't want us on their streets or dirt for a long list of ridiculous reasons. If Sportbikes get outlawed for street use, guess what. The manufactures will not be importing Sportbikes any longer. This will spiral down and eventually you will not have a roadracing bike any longer. I see on a daily basis how close some of these laws are to being passed. If the AMA isn't there fighting against these laws, they will get passed. Shortly after we will all be racing bicycles not motorcycles.

You ask what are the benefits? The only benefit that should matter is that the AMA fights everyday for the motorcycle industry and your rights to get to ride and race.

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Again, I think it's great that you have come to the decision that the AMA is a worthwhile investment for you to support with your hard-earned money to support the valuable work they do. How does our BOD decree that this will now be everyone's decision or else you're not going to race in the CMRA? If we think the SPCA is doing excellent work, should we make membership in that org a requirement to be a licensed CMRA licensee? How about the Red Cross? Who hired the BOD to decide what orgs to force us to support? How about we all make our own decisions????

Very disappointed in this decision. The AMA does some good things for motorcylists, no question. And there are lots of reasons why it would be good if every CMRA member would also decide to join the AMA. But I did not vote for the BOD to decide for me what non-profit orgs I should support. The only benefit I see that is related to the club is this AMA-affiliated status, which does NOTHING for 95+% of the club. If we were going to raise license fees $50, I would at least like to see that money going to the CMRA, not the AMA. I don't understand what the thought process was that came to this decision.

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Originally Posted by David Branyon

Who hired the BOD to decide what orgs to force us to support?

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The members.

Just a suggestion...
Instead of $50 to AMA membership, why don't we all donate $50 to the club dedicated exclusively for the year-end banquet?
Don't you all think it could raise enough money to honor our racers without an extra expense in our pockets?
We already have to take time off, book hotel, airfare, rental car, and we still need to pay for the banquet...
Just my 2 cents

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Originally Posted by Rodrigo DaCunha

Just a suggestion...
Instead of $50 to AMA membership, why don't we all donate $50 to the club dedicated exclusively for the year-end banquet?
Don't you all think it could raise enough money to honor our racers without an extra expense in our pockets?
We already have to take time off, book hotel, airfare, rental car, and we still need to pay for the banquet...
Just my 2 cents

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Because we were not given that option. Thou shalt join the AMA if you want to race CMRA. Period. No "instead of" allowed.

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I too am disappointed that the current BOD didn't offer up a poll or vote to the membership regarding mandatory membership in the AMA. What happened to the transparency that has been promised in the past?

BTW, I'm a charter life member with the AMA.