Nancy Sabater Named 2011 AMA Motorcyclist of the Year

The American Motorcyclist Association has named activist Nancy Sabater its 2011 Motorcyclist of the Year, recognizing her efforts in helping get the “lead law” ban on youth motorcycles overturned.

Sabater helped organize the May 26 AMA Family Capitol Hill Climb which brought families to Washington D.C. to lobby in favor of overturning the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act’s ban on youth motorcycles containing trace amounts of lead. Sabater also produced a number of videos featuring racers and industry personalities speaking out against the ban.

The efforts of grassroots advocates like Sabater and other industry lobbyists helped lead to the signing of H.R. 2715 which granted an exemption allowing the sale of off-highway vehicles for youths.

“A number of partners had a hand in our victory over this misguided law – the motorcycle industry, race promoters, parts distributors and others,” says Rob Dingman, AMA President and chief executive officer. “But it’s Nancy and those like her – the individual enthusiasts – who truly put the rubber to the road, gave our cause a face in the crowd and brought this victory home. They were the most influential motorcyclists of 2011, and AMA member and grassroots activist Nancy Sabater is the AMA Motorcyclist of the Year for her stellar work on behalf of families and kids.”

Sabater’s recognition comes a year after the controversial and somewhat ironic decision to name former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger the 2010 AMA Motorcyclist of the Year for signing S.B. 435, a law against noisy motorcycle exhausts.

In 2009, the AMA named young off-highway motorcyclists as its Motorcyclist(s) of the Year as victims of the CPSIA lead law.

[Source: AMA]

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By Dennis Chung