From Scott Russell re: AMA/Speed Channel

[Lefty]

Mrs. Lefty and I attended the NorCal International Motorcycle Show last night and got the chance to meet Scott Russell (aka Mr. Daytona) doing a pit stop competition vs. some young whippersnapper on the main stage in the vendor hall. Unfortunately for us old dudes, Scott lost in the rear wheel swap contest when the axle came loose before he got the air wrench on the nut.
We were standing about 5 feet from the bike while he was working on and it and I was amazing how fast he could change a rear wheel, around 24 seconds as I recall.

Anyway, after the contest my wife and I had a chance to talk to Scott for about 10 minutes or so about racing, the AMA's upcoming season and the Speed Channel and he confirmed to us that Speed has chosen to not renew next season's AMA coverage on Speed. We could tell that Scott was pretty bummed about Speed's decision, but we gave him our best wishes that either Speed or some other channel would pick up the coverage.

It's really not surprising as when Cali rider, Mrs. Lefty and I attended the AMA races at Sears Point (Infinion/Sonoma Raceway) this spring and the turnout was dismal to say the least.

I'll post up the pic of Mrs. Lefty and Scott and soon as I can...

 

[Kazza]

Scott Russell!

That's a blast from the past

 

[Drew Terry]

We were standing about 5 feet from the bike while he was working on and it and I was amazing how fast he could change a rear wheel, around 24 seconds as I recall.

Anyway, after the contest my wife and I had a chance to talk to Scott for about 10 minutes or so about racing, the AMA's upcoming season and the Speed Channel and he confirmed to us that Speed has chosen to not renew next season's AMA coverage on Speed. We could tell that Scott was pretty bummed about Speed's decision, but we gave him our best wishes that either Speed or some other channel would pick up the coverage.

It's really not surprising as when Cali rider, Mrs. Lefty and I attended the AMA races at Sears Point (Infinion/Sonoma Raceway) this spring and the turnout was dismal to say the least.

Wow, that sucks. I really enjoyed watching their coverage, never watched road racing before. For some reason, I don't like watching the FIM coverage at all, but the AMA coverage was great (although I found myself wishing they would mix the audio with the sound of the bikes at a lower level, I can't hear what the announcers are saying).

Watching guys wrench fast is really inspiring and humbling all at the same time. I used to race enduros, and I'll never forget watching a guy do his top end in less than 10 minutes (that's all the time they get each day at the Six Days Enduro, with no help allowed). It takes me 10 minutes just to lay out the tools!

 

[Lefty]

I agree with you about the sound levels, both on the AMA coverage as well as FIM. Every race I wonder out loud if they don't have sound engineers who know what they're doing or nobody in the production facility notices. :spank: