Jordan added that he would be willing to speak with the AMA and consider playing a even more active role in promoting the sport as long as they had an understanding and were acting in concert, working towards the same goal with a shared vision. "If they want to sit down with me and understand and talk about evening up the playing field and can you give us certain support and whatever -- sure. But if you want support with things the way things are, as a privateer you can't win. Even though my competitive nature is that I'm going to try and prove you wrong anyway.
"It depends. I'm not opening a blank check here. I've got other business ventures… I run the Charlotte Bobcats as well so this to me is a hobby and I'm not gaining anything other than maybe some brand recognition, but I still have a strong passion for the sport. But I think this sport could be very intriguing and very competitive and people could enjoy watching this sport. How can I contribute to that? Well, I come to as many races as I can and obviously I sponsor a team with no kickbacks of money coming to me at all. It depends what the AMA wants to put on the table for me. Show me the bigger picture and I can say, 'I can help you with this, I can help you with that.' As long as I know it's going to contribute to a bigger picture for everybody and not just the factory teams. If I'm here to represent Suzuki, Honda, whatever, me personally -- you can't pay me enough."
Note: In response AMA Racing officials stated that they would welcome the opportunity to sit down with Michel Jordan and discuss his ideas, concerns, and the possibility of working together.
Additional Assorted Michael Jordan Comments of Interest:
His favorite race:
"The race that really sucked me in was the race in Daytona when Spies was leading coming into the chicane and Mladin hit the brakes and got in the draft… that to me was a lot of strategy within this game. It's craftiness as well. Mladin would be good at playing any sport because I think he has the competitive nature, the brain that he could break things down and find a way to win. I think it's going to be tough with Spies because Spies is gaining confidence with every win, but you can still see at certain tracks and in certain
situations, Mat pushes his buttons, which I think is the beauty of this sport. I wish everybody had that same situation."
Whether or not Mladin's competitiveness reminds him of himself:
"In some ways, him (Mladin) as well as (Miguel) DuHamel. I like DuHamel. He's a crafty old guy, too. I think he's younger than me, I don't know that for a fact (laughs). You can tell I've learned a little bit about the sport (making reference to the ever present light-hearted questions surrounding DuHamel's exact age). It's fun. I love it. It's a lot of fun."
How close he was to signing Spies during the offseason:
"And Suzuki at the same time? Once again, it's a political aspect. I don't even know how to answer that question. In my mind I'm thinking I'm close and in their mind it would never happen because at the end of the day, you want wear the Jumpman and people are going to be happy to see you, but you want the better parts and you want to be up front. When I say political, it can happen that way, even with me."
What was scarier -- riding the MotoGP bike or being a passenger in a BMW with Valentino Rossi at the wheel?:
"Rossi… I'm a guy who likes to be in control. When you're sitting there and someone else is driving, you're not in control. But if they would have told me how good he was, I wouldn't have been as nervous. He's really good. He scared the (bleep) out of me, but he was good. It was a lot of fun."
His opinion of motorcycle racers as athletes:
"I rode on a track and you don't really sit down on the bike except on the straightaways. Everything else is shifting weights and positioning yourself on the bike to make the turns, downshift… all the things that I couldn't calculate like these guys and that's some of the reasons that I fell. I don't underestimate these guys as athletes. They are great athletes. Some of these guys ride bicycles 100 miles just so they can train themselves to get on the bike. They're little guys, but they are powerful little athletes, don't think they're not. It's little guys working a big bike and that's a lot of work. I appreciate the athleticism in this sport. It's not just get on the bike and ride. It's a lot more than that and they train themselves to do it."
