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Hello, A lot of you people know me, this is Robin Markey, I was the Assistant Chief Judge till the end of bike week when I was forced out of my position.
I've been involved in the AMCA judging system for approximately 35 years, from the Doc Patt days till the present. This has been a very large part of my life, growing up in an Indian, Royal Enfield and Honda shop and most of my life has been riding, repairing, restoring and judging. I am known throughout the world for my Indian and vintage Honda knowledge. I have been sharing my knowledge with our AMCA members and countless other people throughout the world. I have always tried to do my best to help the antique and vintage motorcycle world.
Our AMCA judging system, under Kevin and my leadership, was running very smoothly. But last year we overturned one of our marque experts judgment calls because the owner presented us with factory documentation, like our rules call for. This created a problem with several judges, two of which are board members. Approximately 5 months ago an improper judging committee was formed by them, disregarding AMCA Policies and Procedures. I tried to stop this illigitmate committee following the proper procedures by contacting the president. I tried several times with phone call directly to the president. But these two board members used their board positions and along with the president created a legitimate committee. So instead of our president reprimanding them for starting an improper committee he awarded them with a legitimate committee. It seemed from the beginning the whole purpose of this committee was to get rid of Kevin and myself. All this because of these two disgruntled board members. The president could have stopped this takeover at this time, but he choose not to.
All the new proposed rule changes that this new committee is trying to put into effect is going to ruin the most prestigious motorcycle judging in the world. They are dumbing down the system and trying to erase one of the largest parts of motorcyclling history by refusing to judge competition machines because they don't understand how to judge them. They do not feel that they deserve our top trophies. Being an Indian person this really upsets me because no Indian Sport Scouts, except the 50 648's, would be eligible for our top judging under their new rule changes.
Another large problem they are creating is with serial numbers. The new people in charge, lack the knowledge, common sense and experience of motorcycles to properly inforce their new quest to disqualify motorcycles. Most of the new people in charge have knowledge on all the same brand of motorcycle.
This judging committee, from the beginning, was a total farce. The president and the two board members that were in charge and were designing the new rules and changes to existing rules did not even have a clue of the old rules and even tried to make new rules that were exactly the same as the old rules. Kevin had to mail out judging handbooks so they knew what rules were in effect. Keep in mind, Kevin nor I, were able to run this committee. The president was supposed to be in charge, but anyone that knows the president of the AMCA knows his disrespect and disregard for our judging system. He's also the first president of the AMCA that never gave the awards out at the trophy presentation. I know this always meant something to me, being presented a trophy and shaking hands with the president.
After 5 months and over 500 emails and almost as many hours spent trying to work with this new committee, I could tell I was not part of their agenda. Most of the time my motorcycle judging knowledge and integrity were challenged or I was totally ignored. This email committee was not working, the written word can be interpreted too many ways. I also suggested that we wait till we have a face to face meeting to finalize and vote on these delicate decisions, but wasn't heard. Then we were told in January that everything we voted on so far was to be okayed during the AMCA Board of Directors teleconference call in January, so these new rules could be put into effect and used at Eustis without the notification of our membership. I protested but it didn't do any good. So I sent a 5 page letter to all board members, to either get rid of this committee or else postpone this to a face to face board meeting. Their decision was to postpone till Eustis. At this time, I also asked to speak at the board meeting. More topics were voted on by the committee before Eustis and we were asked to be at a judging committee meeting on Thursday evening at Eustis. Although not everyone was at the meeting I thought the meeting went fairly smooth. It seemed like everyone was on the same page. Most of us gave our opinions and evaluations on several subjects. Everyone agreed the face to face meeting worked great for final decisions on topics.
But I still had my appointment to talk at the board meeting about my concerns on this bogus committee. Right as I was to walk into the board meeting to give my presentation, I asked the president several straight forward questions, which he gave me answers to. I didn't know it at the time, but these ended up to be untruths. So I did not give my complete presentation, since I felt things were going better, and I still had hopes for our judging system to remain the best in the world. But instead the two board members that started this committee and the president used the board positions to go forward with their agenda, totally disregarding what Kevin and myself had to say.
(more coming on next post)
I've been involved in the AMCA judging system for approximately 35 years, from the Doc Patt days till the present. This has been a very large part of my life, growing up in an Indian, Royal Enfield and Honda shop and most of my life has been riding, repairing, restoring and judging. I am known throughout the world for my Indian and vintage Honda knowledge. I have been sharing my knowledge with our AMCA members and countless other people throughout the world. I have always tried to do my best to help the antique and vintage motorcycle world.
Our AMCA judging system, under Kevin and my leadership, was running very smoothly. But last year we overturned one of our marque experts judgment calls because the owner presented us with factory documentation, like our rules call for. This created a problem with several judges, two of which are board members. Approximately 5 months ago an improper judging committee was formed by them, disregarding AMCA Policies and Procedures. I tried to stop this illigitmate committee following the proper procedures by contacting the president. I tried several times with phone call directly to the president. But these two board members used their board positions and along with the president created a legitimate committee. So instead of our president reprimanding them for starting an improper committee he awarded them with a legitimate committee. It seemed from the beginning the whole purpose of this committee was to get rid of Kevin and myself. All this because of these two disgruntled board members. The president could have stopped this takeover at this time, but he choose not to.
All the new proposed rule changes that this new committee is trying to put into effect is going to ruin the most prestigious motorcycle judging in the world. They are dumbing down the system and trying to erase one of the largest parts of motorcyclling history by refusing to judge competition machines because they don't understand how to judge them. They do not feel that they deserve our top trophies. Being an Indian person this really upsets me because no Indian Sport Scouts, except the 50 648's, would be eligible for our top judging under their new rule changes.
Another large problem they are creating is with serial numbers. The new people in charge, lack the knowledge, common sense and experience of motorcycles to properly inforce their new quest to disqualify motorcycles. Most of the new people in charge have knowledge on all the same brand of motorcycle.
This judging committee, from the beginning, was a total farce. The president and the two board members that were in charge and were designing the new rules and changes to existing rules did not even have a clue of the old rules and even tried to make new rules that were exactly the same as the old rules. Kevin had to mail out judging handbooks so they knew what rules were in effect. Keep in mind, Kevin nor I, were able to run this committee. The president was supposed to be in charge, but anyone that knows the president of the AMCA knows his disrespect and disregard for our judging system. He's also the first president of the AMCA that never gave the awards out at the trophy presentation. I know this always meant something to me, being presented a trophy and shaking hands with the president.
After 5 months and over 500 emails and almost as many hours spent trying to work with this new committee, I could tell I was not part of their agenda. Most of the time my motorcycle judging knowledge and integrity were challenged or I was totally ignored. This email committee was not working, the written word can be interpreted too many ways. I also suggested that we wait till we have a face to face meeting to finalize and vote on these delicate decisions, but wasn't heard. Then we were told in January that everything we voted on so far was to be okayed during the AMCA Board of Directors teleconference call in January, so these new rules could be put into effect and used at Eustis without the notification of our membership. I protested but it didn't do any good. So I sent a 5 page letter to all board members, to either get rid of this committee or else postpone this to a face to face board meeting. Their decision was to postpone till Eustis. At this time, I also asked to speak at the board meeting. More topics were voted on by the committee before Eustis and we were asked to be at a judging committee meeting on Thursday evening at Eustis. Although not everyone was at the meeting I thought the meeting went fairly smooth. It seemed like everyone was on the same page. Most of us gave our opinions and evaluations on several subjects. Everyone agreed the face to face meeting worked great for final decisions on topics.
But I still had my appointment to talk at the board meeting about my concerns on this bogus committee. Right as I was to walk into the board meeting to give my presentation, I asked the president several straight forward questions, which he gave me answers to. I didn't know it at the time, but these ended up to be untruths. So I did not give my complete presentation, since I felt things were going better, and I still had hopes for our judging system to remain the best in the world. But instead the two board members that started this committee and the president used the board positions to go forward with their agenda, totally disregarding what Kevin and myself had to say.
(more coming on next post)
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