Pro Star Series Update

USSA ProStar Series
Eagle River, Wisconsin
12-31-2020
Pro Star Series Update.

The USSA Central Division, Inc. has announced that the Eagle River Worlds Championship event will not be sanctioned by, or part of the USSA ProStar Series.

While USSA holds great pride in the Eagle River Snowmobile Derby and has been the sanctioning body of the event for 48 of the 58 years of the Derby. In the early years, the event was handled by the Lions club who was also the promoter. After the initial years USSA was selected to be the sanctioning body and have continued to do so in the subsequent years. The only hiatus in the event sanction was for a two-year period when vehicle sponsorships, conflicted, and later two additional years when financial arrangements could not be met.

2020 brings us to a similar situation, with USSA not being financially able to accept a recent counteroffer from WCDC. The agreement language and requirements had been in open negotiation until recently.

The most recent counteroffer from WCDC placed USSA in a position of overextending itself in the number of concessions made to WCDC, and the USSA Board of Directors elected not participate in the event, rather than incur more financial hardship in the unique Covid 19 affected season.

Len Wiedemeier, President of USSA said on behalf of the board, “USSA regrets not being part of the 2021 Worlds Championship, but it is part of the boards duty to not jeopardize the well being both financially and reputation wise of the organization. The final offer we received would either cause us to limit the amount of people we bring to the event and substantially lower our ability to handle Registration oversight, Technical inspection, and Race Administration and Direction. Due to the importance of the Derby, USSA prides itself in making sure rules are interpreted correctly, and extensive technical and safety inspections are completed. We also owe it to our members to preserve the treasury of the organization, for future operations. While we are willing to contribute to race events production financially and have at all our events with each promoter, this request takes us beyond established business practices.”

Bob Richardson, Director of Competition, stated, “It is not an easy decision on anyone’s part, but we cannot risk future insolvency by reducing our fee as much as requested. We realize that the Covid Pandemic situation has caused all businesses to adjust to preserve their finances, and we are sure that WCDC is in the same position. This is a year when decisions need to be made with business sense and not emotion! This is an extremely hard call!”

USSA Board of Directors extend sincere wishes for a safe and successful World Championship Snowmobile Derby event to WCDC, and anxiously await the opportunity to participate next season.

For more info: Contact: Director@USSAprostar.com