Mladin out at HPT even as Track makes last minute changes

[tug296]

Sorry, stuck on the boat for a few days.

Yes, a proud FGPRA member from 1981 or so, then went AMACCS racing the first year with Roger Edmondson.
Fortunate to have known Dwain and raced with him and his beloved Norton many times.

As I recall, at a riders meeting, he explained the problems with the Hollywood track and we took a vote, it was a racetrack and we all showed up.
Tough to do the Endurance there.
Sounds like you may have known Dwain as well?

Dwain Williams, Always A Champion.
RIP.

So you were there at Hollywood when Dwaine Williams ran the show?

[tstruyk]

He's had an 06 R6 pretty much before anyone in STL had one.... LOL!

that aint no lie!  I had to go to Springfield to get it....

make sure you put gas in it timmay

Ive never run outta gas... (knocks on wood)

Never saw him in any race I was in.

Even if I ran the SV you wouldnt see me... well maybe a turn or 2... 

yes...yes it is.....

it throws FLAMES!!!

Helps break up the draft!   


yeah its been a LOOOOONG time down (early 07) been focusing on the SV for Mark and Kyle since 08.

[JBraun]

Your post is also wrong about the wall in T1. The track moved it before the event.

Which event? ASRA or AMA? I wasn't there for the ASRA weekend, but I thought the wall was still there.
They had equipment out on thursday night moving that wall at the request of the riders. Am I wrong about that?

You obviously didn't read the whole post. Mladin absolutely made his point by boycotting the event, I don't have an issue with that. But he gets paid a shitload of money to represent Suzuki, not Mat Mladin. When he packed up and went home he put himself first. It wasn't about safety. if it was, there would have been a constructive way to accomplish much more than he did. He just wanted to steal the spotlight. Why else would he announce his retirement in the middle of a race weekend in which he's not even participating?
I've always been a Mladin guy, but this deal was really poor form.

[Super Dave]

But he gets paid a shitload of money to represent Suzuki, not Mat Mladin. When he packed up and went home he put himself first. It wasn't about safety. if it was, there would have been a constructive way to accomplish much more than he did

Well, don't push the cart with a rope.

Mat is a man with skills that a lot of others don't have.  Suzuki and Yoshimura don't have him indentured into slavery.  They have a contract with him.  Doesn't allow Suzuki to impose a right for them to force him to kill himself or sacrifice himself for Suzuki.  Certainly didn't get any bonus money for winning a race that weekend.  And that is his choice. 

What I'd really like to see is that tracks, organizations, and riders take track safety more seriously.  So many still talking about this yet.  That's a good thing.  Does that steal a spot light?

[GIGOLO]

Since we are talking about track safety, could we talk about BHF?  2 years that I have been racing there, I still have not seen any reason for the curbing on the outside of 4 and 6a.  I have seen bikes get catapulted into the air at 4, as well as guys sliding along ok, then get injured when hitting the curb.  I would honestly go and take it out myself with a guy for free, it would make me feel better going through there.

[jigs]

Since we are talking about track safety, could we talk about BHF?  2 years that I have been racing there, I still have not seen any reason for the curbing on the outside of 4 and 6a.  I have seen bikes get catapulted into the air at 4, as well as guys sliding along ok, then get injured when hitting the curb.  I would honestly go and take it out myself with a guy for free, it would make me feel better going through there. Yeah for sure but I was told their there for cars to slow them down because of lack of run-off,that's why they have high curbing.Imagine in all the curbing there was flat.By the way,in the CCS riders meeting,there was mention that the owner bought the adjacent land to south and west,with plans to expand the track anywhere from 2.5 to 4 k mi.!!

[gonecrazy]

that aint no lie!  I had to go to Springfield to get it....

Ive never run outta gas... (knocks on wood)

Even if I ran the SV you wouldnt see me... well maybe a turn or 2... 

Helps break up the draft!  


yeah its been a LOOOOONG time down (early 07) been focusing on the SV for Mark and Kyle since 08.

last hpt i rememmber a certain bald guy pushing the sv in question down hot pit and that certain bald guy saying" I ran out of gas"

[JBraun]

Well, don't push the cart with a rope.

Mat is a man with skills that a lot of others don't have.  Suzuki and Yoshimura don't have him indentured into slavery.  They have a contract with him.  Doesn't allow Suzuki to impose a right for them to force him to kill himself or sacrifice himself for Suzuki.  Certainly didn't get any bonus money for winning a race that weekend.  And that is his choice. 

What I'd really like to see is that tracks, organizations, and riders take track safety more seriously.  So many still talking about this yet.  That's a good thing.  Does that steal a spot light?

Dave, read again. I NEVER SAID HE SHOULD RIDE! He has every right to sit out. I'm all for that! I don't think HPT is that bad, but I've never seen it from a 1:36 and I'm sure it looks a LOT different. His choice and I respect that.

Mat and every other pro has a list of obligations to their team each weekend. They are employees. Riding on a track that you don't feel is safe is NOT one of those obligations, but signing autographs and kissing babies and doing interviews is. If Mat genuinely wanted to make a difference, he could have been at the track, in front of the cameras, making his point for the world to hear. But he took his ball and went home.

THEN he announced his retirement on friday in a fit of spite. If all this was in the name of making racing safer in America, then I guess I really missed the point.

Put it in perspective, I own a HVAC contracting company. If one of my employees is on a job, and doesn't feel that the he's safe in the aerial lift, then I'm not going to make him go up there. BUT, he's still expected to do the parts of the job that don't require going on the lift.

Push the cart with a rope???   What the fuck does that mean?

[Super Dave]

Try pushing a cart with a rope.  It will make sense.  Or even a car. 

Mladin didn't have a fit.  He's really not an emotional guy.  He's a cut throat, no emotional rationalist.  He does things for reasons.  I've worked with some teams in racing against him, and he's an incredibly tough cookie. 

He's not a slave, still.  He's a contractor.

Again, I do have to say that I am surprised by the emotional responses about Mladin for his decision that everyone agrees is his decision to make.  Retirement is his decision.  I cannot answer for his timing, but he's at the top, I suspect that he's irritated with the track safety issues of HPT and potentially NJ.  I cannot answer for him, but one could easily speculate the timing if one wished. 

There are certain aspects that I know about that I just won't comment about in their historical significance to this matter.  It sucks.  Lots of things shouldn't have happened along the way.  Takes Mat Mladin making a personal decision for himself for people to talk.  But rather than talk about actual standards, many have made this about Mat. 

[backMARKr]

last hpt i rememmber a certain bald guy pushing the sv in question down hot pit and that certain bald guy saying" I ran out of gas"

I wish that was all that was wrong with it.....

[Ducmarc]

hey tug what was your # I've got a poster in the shop from the early 80's with everyones mug on it. even has Stan and his wife on it man that was a long time ago i was a mechanic at Long's cycle then did not ride at the time. looking back i don't really know why guess i listened to my dad too much. sure sorry to see Dwayne go. he was a lot of fun at Jennings.next time I'm there I'm going to buy a fence stake around the park for him . that brings up another thing if you want to honor someone the daytona 200 memorial on the beach is real nice. would mind pooling some money to get Dwayne on there. the public gets to see it . you all come to daytona you need to visit. it's a pain in the ass to find but worth it. as far as malidin he's a made man and still could go anywhere ducati would give their eye teeth for him .maybe he's pressuring suzuki to go to Europe. only he knows his reasons.

[Noidly1]

last hpt i remember a certain bald guy pushing the sv in question down hot pit and that certain bald guy saying" I ran out of gas"

For some reason, MAM comes to mind. Sounds familiar.. Last year I think..