Natc Clarification

[ringo]

Would an NATC member forward information on what the duties and responsibilities of the NATC are? A website maybe?

Also, how are the funds that are derived from the National entries used and is any of that money available for future promotion of a national?

Thanks in advance for the information.

[lineaway]

natctrials.org I believe clubs get half of the entry, but none up front. No I`m not one of them just set a few.

[ringo]

Thanks Lineaway,

We get $18 per $50 entry and NATC keeps the rest. I'm not sure about the $100 same day entry yet.

I'm know there are NATC members that read this board and I'm requesting some input from them. I've talked to other clubs that have put on nationals and they are not sure where the money goes either.

We have been putting on two day events combined with El Trial and figure that with average 75 entrants for the each day, the NATC is receiving $2,400 per round. Multiply that times 12 rounds and the NATC brings in a nice $28,800 receivable [note I did not say profit as I don't know] from the Nationals.

I'm sure it's put to good use, we would simply like to know what that use is and what is available, if any. I'm thinking that we may be able to use some of the NATC money to advertise future NATC events to grow the sport a bit but that is only speculation.

Once again, thanks in advance for info.

Back to the world round at hand!!!

[copemech]

The AMA has to get their cut(for insurance and all) and then you have to pay for Tony Bussing's fuel in the motor home, you have 18.00 remaining!

It is a THIRSTY BEAST!

[ronm]

Ringo and other distinguished persons,

I have been holding back on answering this because there are others who are able to give more details. The following are some NATC facts in no particular order:

Back in the 70's, the FIM dictated to the AMA that they must hold an AMA championship trials series. No one at the AMA knew how to do this, so the NATC stepped up and volunteered to manage the series. This became the beginning of a unique arrangement that you will not find in any other branch of motorcycle competition.

The mission of the NATC is to host a national championship series. That is all.

That is the reason they do not get involved in local clubs and events. They have no authority beyond the AMA/NATC Championship series. The USA world round business was mentioned in broad terms at the one meeting I attended, but I believe that this is mainly a promoter/AMA issue.

The council consists of permanent members (such as the founders and people who have hosted world rounds), representatives from clubs who have either hosted nationals or who are wanting to host one, importers, an AMA representative, and volunteer officers.

There is a yearly meeting where rules, event schedule, finances, etc are covered.

Having been involved in one meeting, I can tell you that setting the schedule is no easy task. They must work around the schedules of various clubs, holidays, geographical and climate issues, world round, etc. There is sometimes grumbling about the resulting schedule, but due to the locations of the clubs hosting the events and their schedule requirements, the resulting schedule is the best that can be done.

The NATC provides whistles, stop watches, minder bibs, punches, score cards, and marking supplies

The NATC provides scoring services and a sporting steward. Lots of you know Tony Bussing, who is the current sporting steward. The NATC pays fuel costs to Tony. He takes his personal time to travel to all events. His job is to make the series uniform and safe. He inspects the sections for safety and suitability. He ensures that the loop is clearly marked. Because of the sporting steward job, Tony is unable to ride the events. There is a great benefit to having an experienced person do the entire series like this.

The NATC also provides year end awards.

The NATC maintains a bank account and is able to advance money to a club if they need it for their national rounds.

The NATC is not a profit making organization. They spend what they take in to operate the series and furnish awards.

Some people think that they keep too much of the entry fees. I can only say this about the NATC: they have been managing a very successful series for nearly thirty years and have not made a profit doing it. Yes, it is possible that they could save money by eliminating the sporting steward and not providing the score keeping personnel. They could also save some expenses if they quit having the yearly meeting.

What everyone needs to remember is that any activity can be accomplished at different levels. At the local club level, it might be appropriate to do things in the cheapest way. If there is a dispute about scores or section layout, the stakes are not as high. But riding the national series is a much bigger deal. People dedicate a week or two of vacation and travel as much as 5000 miles to ride some rounds. If you spend this kind of time and money to ride an event, you want it to be the best experience possible. You don't want to get to the end of the year and find the results have been lost or messed up. The stakes are higher than local events, so things have to be done right. And doing them right costs a little more money.

People who are out of the loop sometimes question the financial side of the series, but hardly anyone ever has anything bad to say about the series itself. In fact, the NATC sends a poll to each rider at year end to find out what they liked and disliked, with the goal of improving the series.

The entire council is made up of volunteers. Some of the jobs require a significant amount of time. I for one would like to say thank you to Wiltz Wagner, Brian Behling, and the others involved for their efforts.

[ringo]

Ron,

Thank you for the information. This definately sheds light on what the NATC does and enables a great deal of respect to be shown to the organization.

I agree that many people [myself included] are out of the loop and don't understand and this is why I ask. It's important for people to have knowledge about what is going on and why things are the way that they are.

Again, thank you.

[copemech]

I second that ,Ron, great response and very informative!

There is a lot of talk in these parts about AMA sanctioning for insurance reasons in the state clubs and events, both pro and con.

Any thoughts?

[ronm]

Well, now that you mention it, I do have an opinion on the AMA. I think that all motorcyclists should be AMA members. Who else besides the AMA is out there trying to protect our riding rights? Not any insurance companies. Rarely our elected officials. As imperfect as some people may feel that the AMA is, it is the only organization with the clout to get anything done. Just read some of the topics on the UK forum to see how real the prospects of land closure can be.

Of course, there are drawbacks. You have to have an AMA chartered club to get the insurance. But there are ways around this. A trials group could partner up with a road riding or enduro group and form an all purpose club. The trials guys would handle trials events and the other guys would handle their events.

The biggest complaint I hear is that someone just trying out trials for the first time will have to join the AMA in order to ride that one day. But this is true of any AMA sanctioned sport.

A side benefit of membership is that you get a free subscription to American Motorcyclist. I have to say that it is not very interesting to non-road riders though. But they occasionally have an issue with trials coverage.

I recently read some really interesting facts in American Motorcyclist magazine:

The AMA is 80 years old.

The AMA is the largest motorsport sanctioning body in the world.

Last year, they sanctioned nearly 4000 events with more than 900,000 individual entries.

The AMA has over 1200 clubs

That is my opinion for what it is worth.