Let’s hold the AFM accountable.
A board member sent me a message saying this:
I understand the frustration, but you and Chris (and others) let it get the better of you, and you both handled the situation poorly. That is the reason the votes went down the way they did. To put it another way, they pissed you off, and you pissed them off. Who pissed who off first? It doesn’t matter anymore. The “argument” went too far beyond reasonableness and the point of the argument was lost.
The AFM can play life or death games with riders. And well, those riders made them angry, so the AFM officers aren’t responsible for their actions any more. No consequences. Wow, is that a self-serving bunch of crap or what?
AFM started by selective enforcement of the rules. I didn’t play along, which pissed them off. Worse yet, I found evidence and started calling them out on the matter. Now it was really out of control and they had to act. I am both smarter and more persistent than they gave me credit for, and I frustrated them. This is why they were angry. And this is the ONLY reason they were angry — they were being called out on their games.
But this is the AFM board point of view: “Who pissed who off first? It doesn’t matter anymore.”
A better statement might be It Never Mattered in the First Place. AFM officers are supposed to be above playing personal games, acting out vendettas. They acted inappropriately, they violated their own guidelines repeatedly. They should be held accountable for it.
If I go burn someone’s house down, or if I crash my car into their car, it doesn’t matter how mad I was. It doesn’t matter who said what, it doesn’t matter how mad they made me — the only thing that matters is WHAT I DID. These people should be held accountable for WHAT THEY DID. Giving them an excuse “oh they were angry so they aren’t at fault for their actions” is NONSENSE.
The following officers of the AFM need to be replaced as soon as possible.
Chris Van Andel offers riders a suicide choice to get into another practice group. He writes letters lying about a wide variety of matters including safety at the track (“ambulances didn’t roll all weekend” … oh, I guess they FLEW up to turn 2 for an hour then…). And he high-fives another officer saying “We won!” when a member quits the club. Yes, Chris succeeded in winning his personal war against an AFM member. What a great officer we have leading the club.
Barbara Smith stands as the person most responsible for safety on the track, but repeatedly refuses to address safety matters. Unless they involve her favorite Formula Pacific riders, that is. This is the same lady who asks you your opinion, lets you vote, and then overrules you because the Formula Pacific riders disagree with the majority vote. It’s all a game to her, and you only matter if you’re a Formula Pacific rider.
Grace Dorsey adjusts the practice groups to meet her personal choices. She will lie and tell you that its based on you not being fast enough, but can’t prove it when you bring her facts that discredit her statements. She’ll happily show you a time that you honestly don’t meet, saying you need to reach this to be in that group… but run to hide behind Barbara when you bring proof that others she put in that group have never met the times. It is her decision which allows riders too slow for the group to be put in there, endangering you. It is also her decision to hold you down to a slower group when you repeatedly show times which should place you in a higher group.
It is all a game to these people. A happy little game they get to high-five each other over as the members risk their lives accepting their judgements. These people need to go.
I don’t have specifics against any other board members, but this is almost entirely the exact same board who put their personal politics ahead of reasonable and safe judgement when carrying out their war against Alex Florea. I won’t say that Alex was right, but the actions taken by the board were reprehensible. It would be a good thing to flush the entire board and replace them with people who put safe racing above their own power games.
Next Up: why assigning practice groups based on times isn’t the right choice.