Kevin Schwantz watches the proceedings in '09. image by evan williams

I've waited, sat back and watched and held my tongue, hoping that DMG would follow through on what they said they were going to do, create new interest in the sport. This is my opinion and my opinion only.

As far as I am concerned classroom is now over. If I had to give them a grade right now on how they have done this season, DMG would receive a D. D as in dog.

In my mind one of the biggest sins they have committed was not doing anything to help keep the manufacturers in racing. Most fans come to races and watch races on television because of the factory teams and factory riders. They want to see riders on the coolest stuff, maybe new technology that they'll see on their street bike two or three years down the road. Now what do they have to come and look at?

DMG has made just .. comical errors in the running of the races. The pace car, the pace bike, the no pace car, etc. It's been embarrassing, frankly. They've made us a laughing-stock of the entire racing community.

They have left the series in a very vulnerable position. There hasn't been any strong direction from them, at all, to work with the manufacturers, other than Buell. Both the Honda factory effort and the Kawasaki factory effort have pulled-out. Those trucks don't come to the track, many of those people lost their jobs. Sure, they've given Buell a big rescue, a big opportunity, but at what cost? Yamaha is still in the series in a big way, as is Suzuki, but will they be next season?

If you were a Japanese executive watching this, would you sign up for another season? Knowing that the market is soft and the sport is very expensive? Adding to that the fact that the U.S. AMA series is a laughing-stock.... Why would they sign up for this financial burden seeing what has happened?

Both MotoGP and WorldSBK have made huge strides in safety during the last decade and the AMA has not. We need to go to new racetracks because they are hands-down safer than other venues, not because they hope to one day to be safe enough and not because one section isn't as bad as some other place, or because they already have an association with a car series. If the track is not safe, then we go somewhere else to race - period. There are plenty of venues that have made those safety provisions. The riders are one of the integral parts of the show, and racing at an unsafe track, putting them in undue risk is foolish.

Every time I have spoken to Mat Mladin about this he has always said that he's so happy that he's not a 21-year old kid just starting out in racing today because who knows where this is headed?

This report card for DMG with a grade of D is not a passing grade. What I have seen happen this year in the AMA paddock is disheartening.

Kevin Schwantz is the 1993 500cc world champion.