Race-promoter Dan Murphy may leave the roadrace promotions business now that Laguna Seca has paid the bank note Murphy owned and has signed a deal with Dorna to promote a GP.

Speaking from his office in Colorado this morning, Murphy was still fairly tight-lipped about his buying the loan and effectively becoming Laguna Seca's mortgager. Murphy and a silent partner are said to have bought the note for around two million dollars, with Laguna paying it off this week at around five million. "We made more money on that then we would have in eight years of promoting races," Murphy joked.

"They have paid us and that situation is resolved, although not in the way that we wanted, frankly."

Murphy said that he doesn't see his company promoting World or AMA Superbike races in the future, and he isn't seriously exploring holding a World Superbike event at a non-Laguna Seca track in 2005. "We've talked to Paolo (Flammini) about it, but the talks were not real serious. We're looking at it, but it's a tough deal as the risk of rain is so huge."

If the details of his pay-off with Laguna are true, Murphy has actually managed to make a million (actually, two million) dollars in racing, disproving the old saying that in order to end up with a million dollars in racing, you have to start with two million. Larger than that, Murphy seems tired of taking risks for entities that sooner or later boot him out of the picture and take over. "As you well know," Murphy said, "this is the second time where we have built an event only to see it taken away from us when the track owner decides we were right and it is a good event, and they'll do it on their own." Murphy was instrumental in getting the Road Atlanta National re-established, and the Laguna Seca World Superbike event. Road Atlanta and Laguna now have self-promoted motorcycle races.

"We're looking at doing events like we have at Copper Mountain (a Super Moto event) where we build the event up and we then actually have an asset instead of a promoter taking over after our lease expires," Murphy said.

It sounds as if Dan Murphy will be taking a break on the roadracing side of his promotions business. Regardless of his future, every roadracing fan in the U.S. owes Murphy a debt of gratitude because, before he came on the scene, AMA Superbike didn't have a decent TV deal, Road Atlanta would not even consider an AMA Superbike event, and Laguna Seca had a sparsely attended AMA National for its premier motorcycle race.

The more astute have long recognized this. In 2002, at the culmination of the Laguna Seca World Superbike weekend, Murphy was driving a golf cart around paying riders in cash for their FIM-specified purse winnings. He came to Colin Edwards II's trailer and handed Colin something like six thousand dollars.

I was standing right there when it happened, and watched in amazement as Edwards counted the money, then handed it back to Murphy. Colin told him to keep the money because he was happy to race at such a great event.