| Author | Message | ||
     4cammer |
Are you F'n kidding me......? http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/flat-track/2009/ 12/02/harley-pulls-the-plug-on-flat-trackers Harley Pulls The Plug On Flat Trackers Harley-Davidson won't support the Wrecking Crew It took four years of hard work for Jared Mees to win the AMA Grand National Twins Championship. It took him just over a month to lose his dream ride. At 7 p.m. on Monday night, Mees found out that Harley-Davidson was pulling the plug on the Wrecking Crew, a decision that also affects Bryan Smith and Joe Kopp. Harley, however, is keeping Kenny Coolbeth, who will be the lone factory rider for the Motor Company in 2010. On October 24, Mees finished fifth in the season finale at the Fairplex in Pomona, California, and it was enough to earn him the title he'd been chasing in earnest for four years. Thirty nine days later he got the news that his deal was done. "I had no clue and I would have never thought in a million years that they'd do that to me," Mees said this morning from his home in Michigan. "In this tough economy, I guess the only thing I can say is that I have the best bargaining power that anybody can have because I'm holding the number-one plate, but in this economy it's tough. I already started getting on the horn and I've got a couple of people interested, but it's definitely won't be what the Harley deal was going to be. It's a bum deal. I don't want to say anything bad about Harley because they gave me a pretty good ride for the last four years and I was able to make some pretty good money and had a lot of fun with them. But you sit there and you want to win the championship for them and they tell you how much they want you to win - and a Wrecking Crew dealer rider wins it and all of a sudden they send me down the road. There was no negotiation... nothing. There was no ‘times are tough Jared we can't do what we did before.' They told us at the award's banquet they said they'd let us know at the end of November and they let us know on November 30 at 7 o'clock at night. ‘See you later guys.' "Times are tough, but I don't understand. It's just a bum deal all the way around. I feel for [Bryan] Smith and [Joe] Kopp, but to hold the number-one plate and to not even get some sort of a kick back at all bums me out. I'd like to thank them for everything they've done for the past four years, but I am disappointed. It would have been nice for them to give me a heads up somehow. We're in December and I have nothing." HD blows. Again. | ||
| Swordsman |
I see a pattern developing here. If you're under the Bar n' Shield and actually get first place in anything, you're a goner. Harley-Davidson, where mediocre isn't just the way we do bikes, it's our ••••••• golden rule. ~SM | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
 WAY TO GO H-D!! | ||
| Rex |
Chrome and accessories for the road only. Most of the HD boys do not even know what Flat track is...see how many show up for the flat track races in daytona and the 200...some do not even know they are racing in town. | ||
| Rick_a |
That's crazy. They're too busy trying to build an image with a supermodel (who is vedy niiice), bad-boy commercials, and mass spam mailings while making a financial fiasco of themselves publicly. Awesome. | ||
| 4cammer |
Rex, you need to go to Springfield and see what type of crowd The Mile pulls in. | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
It was a sold out show when they brought it back to C-bus.... the also ran out of beer.... and food... It was the largest crowd Scioto Downs had ever seen. | ||
| Court |
Who'd have thought the quest to "return to core values" would first require purging all successful programs, champions and teams. I should have paid better attention in business school . . . I'm confused. | ||
| Slaughter |
You people do not understand. Hardley HAS returned to their core base as evidenced by the new CEO. Wandell has not ridden or owned a Hardley until age 59. Yep, sounds about right - their "core" rider. Old farts, butt jewelry. | ||
| Jon |
They are ghouls and ghosts of Harley executives. Harley is dead. | ||
| Blake |
Makes you want to slap someone. | ||
| Blasterd |
Harley without all of it's champions = LOSERS | ||
| Strato9r |
Y'know, I was holding this tiny little bit of hope that maybe, just maybe, there was some sort of soul still hidden somewhere within MOCO, something with a bit of pride and dignity. But, as much as I admire the history of the company, and hope for the best for the sake of their employees, this IS the end. The XR 750 was THE machine that got me into bikes to begin with, and seduced me into buying a Sportster when my buddies were riding CBX's and KZ1000's. It was the lone bit of credibility H-D had, ESPECIALLY when dealing with the slack jawed mongoloids who saw Buells as, (and I quote an idiot standing in line to ride the latest Lard Glide at the LAST test ride I attended) "Bikes what (sic) Harley builds for fags". I guess that makes me a fag, but better that than the bloated, foul smelling douchebags that MOCO is down on it's knees trying to keep happy. You nailed that one, Steve: their "core" riders. To me, that is the saddest part, because for every one of the great people I've had the privilege of meeting that has a zillion miles on a Road King, or is able to muscle a grimy FX through the gnarliest canyon road with astonishing speed and grace, there are a dozen jerks who figure they can look down their noses at the entire sport of motorcycling just because they ride a certain type of machine. Pathetic. | ||
| Rex |
Wow, if there is one area that Harley wins all of the time, it is flat tracking? Wow. Wonder if they are cutting back on drag racing too? | ||
| Cityxslicker |
wow, even in the dark days of AMF, they hung on racing flat track. Somebody is asleep at the helm, or maybe its the nap before Matlock | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
"I had no clue and I would have never thought in a million years that they'd do that to me," Mees said this morning HELLO, WAKE UP TIME. What planet has the guy been living on? If I had any sort of contract with H-D, other than for selling shiny things, I'd be bricking it. | ||
| Mr1spd |
Maybe Buell should stick it to Harley and build a flat-tracker XB | ||
| Crusty |
I think H-D is cutting everything non-essential, because they're up against it. There seems to be a very real possibility that there will be no Harley - Davidson in the near future. And if they aren't as bad off as I suspect, then they're doing everything possible to slit their own throats. | ||
| Rainman |
I keep hearing the economy is getting better, but we're losing 400,000 jobs a month, still. There is little consumer credit. There is little reason to be hopeful that anyone's job is safe or the salary you earned last year won't be rolled back to that of two years ago without so much as advance warning. (Don't ask how I know that) We are slowly being turned into a world-economy where the first world sinks to the second world standard of living and the third world rises. Mediocrity is the new world-wide success. Gad, I want to teabag someone! | ||
| Vampress |
I think this is great (except for Mees of course). Let Harley bury themselves all on their own. Obviously they don't want to be associated with winners. It must be against their image. | ||
| Court |
>>>Mediocrity is the new world-wide success. I agree. I miss the risk takers, the dreamers and the hard working leaders. As long as unemployment continues to rise and the market goes up with little reason (not that I am complaining) there'll be no "recovery". Until business taxes come down (unlikely in the administration) I expect little change. There is great opportunity as about 52% of the United States sits on their asses waiting for a handout in a bag labeled "hope and change". The government, having dispatched $879,000,000,000 of your dollars has stimulated nothing but fraud . . . the same fraud they propose to eliminate to fund healthcare. As long as folks buy this crap . . . . count on continued shoveling. | ||
| Sayitaintso |
The government, having dispatched $879,000,000,000 of your dollars It aint our money....its our kids, grandkids, and great grandkids money. There is little to no hope of repaying that money within our generation (or even our kids generation). As for HD....its a fire sale to keep from going tits up. They saturated the market for two wheeled chrome pigs in the 90's and extended credit to unworthy folks in the 2000's to be able to keep "doing business as usual". They have a great name (that they are trashing quickly) and a crappy business model. Going back to their "core" is a recipe for a much smaller HD. But then maybe thats the limit of their vision, and all of us that had mistakenly thought HD had vision beyond motorcycles that were pigs (oops I mean HOGS) were the ones that were wrong. | ||
| Swordsman |
"Maybe Buell should stick it to Harley and build a flat-tracker XB" Hmm... that's seriously not a bad idea. A great way for Erik Buell Racing to thumb their nose at the Motherhog. ~SM | ||
| Greg_e |
But he must do it with a Rotax (or any other no Harley) motor. | ||
| Larryjohn |
Makes me wonder. Does a company "race to sell bikes" or "sell bikes to race." If indeed most of HDs customers could care less about racing then the "racing to sell bikes" does nothing for them, and I think we all know that none of the HD board would sell bikes just so they can go racing. So this seems fitting, HD does not belong in racing if the company has no interest in it and the customers (or potential customers) don't care. Why bother as it really becomes a nuisance for both. Thank god for Erik Buell. He sells bikes to race and races to sell bikes. | ||
| Rex |
I would love to see a Buell take the number one plate this year, the year, HD pulls out. | ||
| Swordsman |
"But he must do it with a Rotax (or any other no Harley) motor." Yup. But I bet that wouldn't be a problem at all. matter o' fact, I bet the Rotax would be scary as hell in that application, given the proper tweaking. ~SM | ||
| A_s_r |
I wonder how long it is before H-D pulls the plug on their drag race team. I mean, they did lose this year to a...wait for it...Buell!  http://www.lucasoil.com/articles1-3976 | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
Didn't HD just sign up for sponsorship of the NHRA? | ||
| Endoman33 |
I have a feeling that Harley-Davidson INC. has cut their own throat with returning to their "core customers". It will be interesting to see what news the owner from my dealership brings back from the executive forum in Tennessee today. |
