Posts
4511
Joined
12/26/2007
Location
Syracuse, NY
US
Edited Date/Time
1/25/2012 6:49pm
I'm going to pull my "mini parent card" for what I would call totally unacceptable organization. My son & I have just left Albany AX, where during the day we had a good time, everything seemed well organized & the website boasted new & improved changes for the event.
In the beginning of the day, the "50's" all together had 3rd practice, and the 3 "50" classes held early heats starting at moto 3 & no later than 10th moto for the last one. Fantastic.
Wht myself, my fellow 50 parent friends & more than likely the rest of the parental group didn't catch was a schedule change that put the 50 class main events at moto 20. The night show began at 7:30 pm.
We filed in for staging at 9pm. NINE AT NIGHT FOR 4-6 50'S. Every major class had already raced, ams, experts, etc. They then proceed to take intermission right before the 50s!! These 4, 5, 6 yr olds are left outside in the 20 degrNY weather for a fucking clown to throw t shirts?!
My son got to his gate, tired & weary of a long day, at 9:45pm. Todd Hammond, promoter, organizer, owner, head honcho is by the gate so I felt the need to express my disappointment. I started very nice & stated that my son & I had a great day, but I felt the extreme time position these young kids were expected to compete in was highly unsafe & unacceptable. His exact answer was"the 50's are not exciting & entertaining, they were permitted early heats but he had a business to run & they were not condusive".
I just about came unglued. I admittedly swore "this is bullshit, my son should be fast asleep, not tired & on a start gate trying to earn a shitty piece of plastic ". His response was "if I have a problem, call him tomorrow ".
Yeah fuxkin right. I impolitely stated "my sons safety is more important at ten pm than losing 50 people in the crowd ".
I feel that I've never bitched about anything or whined, I'm pretty mellow. Todd, you certainly pissed in my cheerios, and I can assure you my families Cycle City Promotions career ended tonight. You can kiss my ass,and never see my support again. I can additionaly assure you the rest of the 50 parents were equally unimpressed.
In the beginning of the day, the "50's" all together had 3rd practice, and the 3 "50" classes held early heats starting at moto 3 & no later than 10th moto for the last one. Fantastic.
Wht myself, my fellow 50 parent friends & more than likely the rest of the parental group didn't catch was a schedule change that put the 50 class main events at moto 20. The night show began at 7:30 pm.
We filed in for staging at 9pm. NINE AT NIGHT FOR 4-6 50'S. Every major class had already raced, ams, experts, etc. They then proceed to take intermission right before the 50s!! These 4, 5, 6 yr olds are left outside in the 20 degrNY weather for a fucking clown to throw t shirts?!
My son got to his gate, tired & weary of a long day, at 9:45pm. Todd Hammond, promoter, organizer, owner, head honcho is by the gate so I felt the need to express my disappointment. I started very nice & stated that my son & I had a great day, but I felt the extreme time position these young kids were expected to compete in was highly unsafe & unacceptable. His exact answer was"the 50's are not exciting & entertaining, they were permitted early heats but he had a business to run & they were not condusive".
I just about came unglued. I admittedly swore "this is bullshit, my son should be fast asleep, not tired & on a start gate trying to earn a shitty piece of plastic ". His response was "if I have a problem, call him tomorrow ".
Yeah fuxkin right. I impolitely stated "my sons safety is more important at ten pm than losing 50 people in the crowd ".
I feel that I've never bitched about anything or whined, I'm pretty mellow. Todd, you certainly pissed in my cheerios, and I can assure you my families Cycle City Promotions career ended tonight. You can kiss my ass,and never see my support again. I can additionaly assure you the rest of the 50 parents were equally unimpressed.
The Shop
And yes, the event was executed precisely, and efficiently, I will say good job. But his attitude blows, & is out of line.
Chris, btw, saw a fella decked out in full oneal photo graphics on a honda, thought it was you but I think his name was Mike?
you didn't have to race and he can run it the way he wants. no reason to get pissed at him, make a suggestion of changes you would like to see...but in all reality, its his show and you chose to race it. shit happens. to me this came off as a mini rant.
FYI i've raced at 3am at the silverdome many many times just to see and feel a supercross track in my young days. i don't feel for ya. you know what you signed up for.
bottom line is its tough running a show like that. theres so much shit goin on and timing that has to happen...that stuff like your highlighting really becomes minor. I know to you its major...but in the whole picture of things...its minor. the best solution to the problem woulda been to run the race and then send an email or call him the next day to suggest a solution to your concerns...then its done.
i've been in his shoes. there is nothing worse than getting chewed by a mini-dad for something similar to this...he was very correct in saying call him tomorrow as he has a lot on his mind that he has to worry about.
It would certainly make more sense than complaining to him on the way to the line in the middle of an event.
Even if he admited that he made a mistake what could he do to remedy it, ride around the track backwards realy fast to turn back time?
I would also suggest making a note to contact him before the event next year as a reminder to address it prior to the event.
What we deltt with when I raced as far as promoters goes at arenacross racing would make you count your blessings. I pray I never need to see Randal Williams run the gate/event ever again. Cut em boyssss!!!
So where does he say he is not concerned about their safety? Even in YOUR quote of his exact words it said nothing about his not being concerned about safety, that is a assumption on your part because he didn't see things your way. The bottom line is if it was not safe than YOU should not have let him race and you are the ONE who dosen't care about YOUR sons safety. Take some personal responsibilty because the problem was you and not the program.
If you want to say it was inconvenient than say it was inconvenient but don't throw out the safety bullshit to try to make your point.
I said I told him we had a good time, we did have a good time. His program was run well, everything happened on time with little to no delay. I said that.
And like I already said, again, I became angry after suggesting that at future events the 4-6 yr olds weren't ran at ten pm, when he informed me that it was not a concern of his that it was not a good, safe, idea to run 4-6 yr old children at ten pm, I became angry. That's careless and callous.
In addition, I didn't expect him tp turn back time, give my son an extra lap, or a free head start.. I would like to have participated in his future events, we had a good time, I just didn't want him to be riding that late again.
Can't fault the promoter for making a business decision. We ran a night series here for a few years and usually wouldn't even start the second moto until well after 10:00.
Even before my son raced I always enjoyed watching the 50 classes and I credit the KJSC for me getting him a dirtbike at 5.
There isn't a chance in hell that I would ever take him to a race anywhere where we would be subjected to 20 degree weather. I'm to cold blooded as it is and couldn't stand that.
Pit Row
And did I complain about driving? A 3 hour drive is still a 3 hour drive...
We did have fun. Not knocking that. And yeah, its cold, but its NY. Coulda been knee deep snow! If anyone responds, please read this correctly, I am not bashing the event, don't want to hang the dude. The only thing I wanted to happen was just a change for the class in the future.
Post a reply to: Dear Cycle City Promotions (Albany AX reference)