The mornings are getting cooler here, won't be long before I make a dash through the garage to dig through the race stands and tires, mixed in with an eclectic mix of children's toys and boxes of 1980s Grand Prix tapes, to find a snow shovel. The racing season is over, but the new one starts this week when Yoshimura begins testing at Willow Springs.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the many people, throughout not just our portion of the industry, but throughout the world, for their help in assembling this media source every day. It would be damn near impossible to do so without that assistance. They are, in no particular order: Webmaster Tim, Maggie the Evangelist, Leah, John Ivy, Keith Patti, Bill Heald, Mark Lessleyoung, Art, Laura Hanks, Leigh the Guy, Brian Nelson, Crowbar Doran, Susan Haas, TBR Craig, Mr. Mitchell, Tracy Hagen, The V, Mark Wernham, Motorsims, Michael Parrott, Dan Kyle, Richard Moore, Danny Walker, Kevin Cameron, Henny, Stephen Hewitt, Larry Maiers, Kazz, Tim 'let's jump it' Nipp, Alfonse, Computer Dr. Mike, Jim Allen, Richie Oliver, Michele and Davide at Corse, Miguel, TV, Ohlin, Evan, Doug Weibe at Apple, Merrill, Dee and Swordfish at AMAPro, James Randolph, Tony G and Family, Gary and Andy, Larry and Eraldo, Rick in Tokyo, Larry Lawrence, WSC Chris, Jungleeddy, Ron Barrick, Randy Renfrow and his Hopefully Never Ending Retirement Tour, KR, Scott Brooks, Sean Bice, Ken Rogers, Mat Oxley, Robert Muzzy, Mat Mladin, Jason Pridmore and friends, Clifford of Macon, Mike Ross and many, many others whose names I can't seem to dredge up at the moment.

The story of AMASuperbike.com warms the cockles, in that it shows how a few people can put aside competitiveness and low level war to make things better for the whole. Just to bore the underwear right off you I'll tell it again.

In early 1997 I found myself with a case of intense jealousy over the sites of other major racing organizations like NHRA and Indy Car because AMASuperike didn't have anything dedicated to it on the web, and the AMA at the time really didn't have the resources to do it themselves because if they did Superbikes, then they'd have to do hill climb and dirt track and motocross. Maintaining just one racing web site will drain you in ways you don't want to imagine, three or four is unimaginable.

My first call was down to Westerville, and I spoke with then AMA President Ed Youngblood. I told him of what I'd seen others do, and what AMASuperbike should be doing and that I'd like to do it, secure the domain and do the site. "It'll be billed as the Unofficial site of AMA Superbike racing" I told Ed, and with that he gave his unconditional okay. That was a pretty big step. He didn't say "I'll ask the Board", or "I'll think about it" or anything like that. It was a five minute phone call. He put no time limits on it, and didn't limit it in any way, other than it be billed as unofficial. He recognized that this could be a big addition to the series and the pros outweighed the cons ten to one.

After seeing the bales of cubic dollars needed to start a complex web site when you don't know HTML from ABSCAM, I knew there was no flippin' way I was going to be able to get this thing off the ground without some help from some friends. I assembled a team of thinking ants and then tried to find a little money.

One of the cool things about working in racing is that you get to know people with extraordinary amounts of money. I sat down one night and wrote missives to five persons I knew who weren't hurting for dough. I plead the same case to them that I did Youngblood, that this could be good for the series, that we need it to stay current with other forms of racing and say, feel like giving us some seed money?
About a week later I opened up the mailbox and there were three letters in the box from persons I had written to, and all three contained checks. The three persons who initially backed AMASuperbike.com were Martin Adams, former owner of the factory Honda Superbike team; Terry Vance of Vance and Hines; and (the) Harley-Davidson Motor Company. Nobody asked for half ownership or stock options or the title to my GSX-R in return. Pretty much all three said, yeah, this could be cool. Do it.

From there it's been a wild ride, sort of. The downside side of the internet is that the more visitors you get, the more traffic that goes through your site, the more expensive it gets to operate. And right around September of 1997, this thing exploded, doubling in growth every month for like a year and a half. More than twice we were ready to throw in the towel, and were saved by Harley (twice) and Craig Erion (once). No matter what you think of those firms or persons, you can be sure that every morning when about 10,000 of you sit down in front of your computer to read the news, it wouldn't be there if not for them and those who came before.

We've accomplished what we set out to do, focused on the men and machines in Superbike racing; and along the way we've accomplished more than that. I'd bet my last dollar that at every race this year there were people, not a lot, but some, who had never heard of or imagined being at a Superbike race, but came out of curiosity, a curiosity started here, on amasuperbike.com.

So, that is where from which we came. Next year will be bigger and better. Like it now? You'll love it then.

Be well,

Dean Adams