Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125435
l .. • 9 SAN FRANCISCO CYCLE SCENE Could the SWI Fran ci scc motorcycl e scene be s ummed up in one word, th e word woul d be " ch an ge", Consid er: Champion Speedway, the bay area's hal£-mile aren a loc ated ac ross th e freeway from Can dle s tt ck Park, home of the San Francisco Giants , abandon ed motorcycl e ra cing last year. And whil e Champion is bein g pav ed for the upcomin g s e ason, thus permanently ruling out bik es , a new half-mil e near Ltvermore will try ' for th e mantle o f II Ascot of th e North" BSA motorcy cl e s, he re tofo re di s tributed to the western United Stat es from Oakland, is mo vin g its headquarter s to Los An gel es. Th e pre s sure of popul ation growth continues to encroach on off- th e-road ridin g. One county ha s even clo s ed 0 (( it s fir e trails to motor cy cl es , WId s port smen events ar e bein g forc ed farth er from the bay area. Hell's Angels ha ve j oined the s ocial ele te . Ye s , it' s tru e. Whil e the rest of motor cycli ng ha s be en s t ruggling to put fort b a new ima ge , th e Angel s, remai ning their grub by old selves , have leapfrogged from the bottom to the top of th e avant garde heap. Th ey have s tatus. How this cam e about is still unclear . and is peculiar to the pop art world of San Francisco, Nev erthel e s s , some portions of the road upward can be chart ed. A s tarti ng point migh t be "Scorpio Ris ing," a hal f-hour colo r film by Kenneth Anger, rel eas ed in 196 3, the ' fil m fea tured a Brooklyn mo to rcycl e gang WId received good exposure in s ome,art movi es hous es WId co ll eg e theaters. The next indication of the upward tre nd of the Ar!gel type s appeared , very s urpri singl y, in th e society col umns of th e San Francisco Chronicle . Th e c ity's social elite, according the to Chronicle , was throwing parties at a motorcycle bar call ed t he Tool Box . HIS 1'1' 'ND.THE Y'I'H' Jerry Van Dyke, popular star of the TV series called "My Mother the Car' '. recently purchased some transportation that doesn't talk backv'The TV hero' s mother in the story carne back reincarnated as an antique car . so she could continue to give her boy advice through the radio speaker. Van Dyke (astride the bike) is shown here taking delivery of his real-life wheels from Pete Joseph, West Los Angeles dealer, while "Mother" pouts in the background. OPPORTUNITY GALORE ! Join America's largest volume Honda· BSA dealer! By IJ_,.,1S/c,..,i.Jr On t hos e par ty ni ghts . howev er, the girls WId boys in the s ocial s wim inte grate d th e Tool Box. Accordin g to the Chroni cl e , whi ch i s very blue-blood in th ese matt ers , a good time was had by all. T he California Sta te Attorn ey General issue d an official report on t he Hell ' s Angel s a nd predi ct ably , th e news papers WId magaz ines, including T ime and Newswee k too k off on the Att orney General ' s repo rt. In turn, thes e articles were pi cked UP by medi a for the intelligensia. Commented Th e Natio n. a 100 y earold journal of liberal opinion, in it s May 1965 iss ue : The dif feren c e betwee n t he Hell' s Angels in the pap ers and the lIell' s Angel s for real is enough to make a man wonder what newsprint is 17: for." L est the wron g Impre s sion o f The Nation's vie wpo int be give n, th e articl e continu e s. "De sp ite eve ryt hing th e ps ych iatrists and Fr eudian c asuists have to say' about th em. they (the Angel s ) are tough, mean and potenti ally as dan gerous as packs of wild boar ." Via T he Natio n WId other medi a, out law motor cyclists bec ame " inter es tin g," a new kind of soci al phen omenon. Th e mos t recent boost to the prestige of the H. A.'s occurre d last Octobe r when they became "patriotic " by attacking the Vietn am Day Committee anti-war marche r s i n Berkel ey . A few marc hers wer e brui s ed, a Berkel ey polic e sargeant s uf- . fered a broken l e g, and the H.A.'s shot in to the headlines again . This time, however, was different Th e s crounges found sympathizers . A politic al group opposed to the Vi etnam Day Committ ee, the Repuhl icans for Cons ervat i ve Acti on . bailed tbe H. A.' s out of jail. Money was rai s ed for thei r l e gal defense. Th ey bec ame nearly folk hero s. ( Continued nert week ) COOLEY'S COLUMN YAMAHA 100c C TWIN ~!deljefi;~EE~~; DOTWIN First with the Newest. Sleeper Exhaust, Oxide or Chrome. High-rise Tuned Exhaust also available. High Compression Heads available Now, eit her "Hern i-Squish" or Trench Type. ".?;~~AC M~;~7 o.r~~ Hoc'Cle s Motorcycles 22025 S. Torrance ' 00% F igueroa ~~ Bu Wes Cooleu MWlY of yo u hav e eit her heard about or att ended the indoor short tr ac k events on. Saturday ni ght at the Long Bea ch Aren a. Th e crowd is in creasing at ea ch event . Apparently, this has s timul ated qui te a bit of interest or conc ern on anoth er promoter' s part, s in ce his assistant i s continually s ee n pacing busily throu gh th e . pit are a . We he a r from a vety authoritative source that motorcycles will be run two ni ghts pe r week this season at Ascot. Co uld It be t hat we are going to see ..,arter-mile racing at Ascot for th e first time? W predict there will be a cons i de rahle e amount of dissen s ion be twe en th e promo-, ter an d the rid ers concerning the purs es gi yen at As cot. It should be very interesti ng to obs erve. Th er e is a good possibility of great changes in profe s sion al mot orcycl e racin g in Southern California thi s s eason . Even if there i s no chang e , at least th ere will be a gre at deal of sc re aming WI d holl er in g. T o coin an old phrase ·" It ' s tough to get the boys back on tb e farm after th ey ' ve s e en P ar ee"; WId one mus t admit that th e Lon g Beach Arena af te r As cot is Paree . ....A ~~.- . _ . _ L_ -HODAKA-~CUJUUe4 Phone 328· 1242 ROAD RACING CARLSBAD ./WA C :S P. O . 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