DESPAIN: How to Heal A Dying Dog

The way I see it, those who created this mess in the first place have now done everything possible to try and make it go away - everything except to take responsibility.

Dave Despain | Posted July 22, 2012 Charlotte, NC

Watch Dave Despain every Sunday on Wind Tunnel, only on SPEED.

There been another bizarre development in the botched Motorcycle Hall of Fame induction of Nobby Clark, a Grand Prix legend who built and tuned bikes for Mike Hailwood, Giacomo Agostini and Kenny Roberts. Having already voted Clark into the Hall of Fame once, electors will now be asked to so again! Let’s quickly review.

Clark’s selection for the Hall of Fame, a subsidiary of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), was announced with full fanfare in April. Whether or not that election was properly conducted depends on which HoF election committee member you believe. Regardless, shortly after that announcement HoF Chairman Jeff Heininger, AMA Chairman Stan Simpson and AMA President and CEO Rob Dingman determined that Clark’s election should be overturned.

In response seven members of the Hall – Ed Fisher, Dick Klamfoth, Dick Mann, Kenny Roberts, Jeff Smith, Ed Youngblood and yours truly – resigned in protest. I did so because I have lost faith in the nominating process and the people who control in.

The people who control it quickly released a Hall of Fame report blaming staff underlings for the “error” that allegedly rendered Nobby’s election invalid. It appears that report failed to carry the argument. Just three days after it was issued Heininger next felt compelled to call Nobby and ask if he might just end all this fuss by withdrawing his name from HoF consideration! Clark declined, telling CYCLE NEWS, “I want to stick with the guys who stuck with me. I think the guys who have withdrawn have principles. At the AMA some people might have principles but I think there’s a whole bunch of them with no principles.”

And that brings us to the latest. On Thursday the Hall of Fame announced that it will now conduct “a supplemental vote for the inclusion of Derek ‘Nobby’ Clark in this year’s Hall of Fame induction class.”

This raises interesting questions. Where in the Hall of Fame regulations do we find the authority to conduct such an election? Since Nobby has already been elected once, why the need to do it again? Is this to be a Nobby-only ballot, an up-or-down vote on his HoF suitability? If so, how many votes does he need? And since the same people will be counting those votes, is there any more reason to believe in this election than the last one? Most important, what happens if Nobby does “win” this election? Will the man who didn’t get his Hall of Fame medal and the seven who sent theirs back all agree to forgive and forget? Will Nobby happily bow to accept his award while his supporters cheer him on? I doubt it.

The way I see it, those who created this mess in the first place have now done everything possible to try and make it go away - everything except to take responsibility.

In conclusion, throughout this ordeal my respect and admiration for several of my motorcycling heroes continues to grow. For example, one Hall of Fame member legitimately questioned double Grand National Champion Dick Mann’s decision to resign from the Hall of Fame rather than trying to “fix the system from within.” The interrogator’s analogy was, “You don’t cure a dying dog by breaking its legs.” Mann responded, “You don’t have to break the dying dog’s legs. But you might have to give it an enema.”

Dave Despain's Original Take on the "Nobby" Clark Case