M1 Powersports: Promoting the Roadracing Circus

M1 Powersports boss Cameron Gray talks about tigers, tough times and the three AMA Pro Road Racing events that his company will promote in 2012.

You may not know the name Cameron Gray, but chances are you've attended a roadrace that he has promoted. As the patriarch of M1 Powersports—formerly M1 Entertainment—Gray has been promoting professional motorcycle roadracing in the U.S. since 1995.

Now, thanks to two new business partners and a contract with AMA Pro Road Racing to promote three races in 2012, M1 Powersports has received an extra injection of promotional horsepower.

The three race weekends will include the series' return to Road Atlanta from April 20-22. M1 Powersports will also promote two new venues on the schedule: Homestead-Miami Speedway from September 21-23 and Louisiana's NOLA Motorsports Park from October 5-7. The trio will be known as the "Big Kahuna Nationals Triple Crown."

Gray is no stranger to promoting AMA Pro Racing. He spent a decade promoting the Big Kahuna Nationals at Road Atlanta, and another two years at Virginia International Raceway.

"We were breaking records every year at Road Atlanta," Gray says. "Every year the growth was 18-25 percent, every year for the five years that we did it. It was the same way at VIR. We doubled the attendance in our first year. In ‘08 it was massive at VIR; the biggest number they'd ever had. We had another super strong crowd in ‘09."

Unfortunately, as AMA Pro Road Racing underwent reorganization and changed its approach to race promotions, M1 Powersports faced a few years of uncertainty. Gray and his company worked to promote World Superbike at Miller Motorsports Park, as they will again in 2012. They also worked with Road America to secure outside sponsors for their AMA Pro weekend.

"Otherwise," Gray says, "we didn't know if we were going to survive. We started looking at doing something else."

That's when the two new partners came along and a new deal was reached with AMA Pro Road Racing. Both events breathed new life into M1 Powersports.

Now, it's time for M1 Powersports to return the favor by breathing new life into AMA Pro Road Racing. "We want to turn around AMA Pro Road Racing. We've lived and bled this; we love promoting races, and this is what we want to do. Now we have two new partners who also want to do that," Gray says. He notes that with the current state of the economy, big sponsors aren't writing $100,000 checks for title sponsorship anymore. He adds, "We're the last true promoter in roadracing."

As a promoter, M1 Powersports ensures that there is a constant stream of activity during a race weekend. Gray says, "We've always had that same vision: that whole family festival, almost like a circus where you've got a little bit of everything. Racing on the track is always there, and overall, especially now, the racing is fantastic. We try to bring a little bit of everything to the track, even off the wall things that people wouldn't expect."

Gray uses the races he promoted at Virginia International Raceway as an example. They brought in a wild animal rescue group with baby tigers and bears, concerts, Jumbotrons, and fireworks.

Before the audience can be entertained, though, it's M1 Powersports' job to get the people to the track. They do a lot of pre-event marketing, setting up special ticket rates for motorcycle clubs, personally visiting local motorcycle dealers to set up promotions, and more.

As for the return of M1 Powersports to AMA Pro Road Racing promotion, Gray says, "The AMA Pro guys should be commended for their tireless passion and their hard work. I've done 15 long years of this, and it's a fresh new start. I'm extremely happy to be working with the AMA and these tracks. We're going to do what we always do: put on a Big Kahuna Nationals Triple Crown. Expect the same from M1 and more in the future."

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