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/125439
HAPPY - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - APRil FOOLS DAY FRACTURES THUMB WHILE POSTING TRAIL Volume III Number 12 W of M eek .ch 31 lbrou April & 19&& , ANDERSON FOR GOY. Alth ough it is well k n ow n that Lieutenant Governor Glenn Anderson is a fearles s. capa ble administrator (remember how he pe rso nal ly quieted the W atts riots before the Governor arri ved on the scenev) . it is also true that the Lt. Gov. is a staunch cyc le enth us iast. He has appeared i n his official capacity at many Cali fornia racin g eve nts includin g pres entin g the trophies to winner s of the Sa cramen to 2o-mile ·National eve ry ye ar. If it is not too late , perhaps Lt . Gov. Anders on cou ld be persuaded to throw his ha t in the rin g and try for his par ty' s nomin ation . He may not be as good an actor as Reagan or as bad as Brown, but we thi nk he would make an even finer Governor than anyo ne. He has the experience. .. come to thi nk of i t, this may not be a foolish sugges tion aft er all. H'A's Invited as Guest of Honor at Funeral Wher eas by their o w n admis s io n. Cal ifornia' s w a r s t ac ti ng and bestpubli ci zed motorcyc le gan g is "Born to Los e" . the Hell ' s Angels and al l their kind ar e urged to get it over. with as soo n as pos sibl e and ta ke ad vant a ge of once-in-a-lifetime offe r made by Cycl e News . Ev ery Hell' s Angel that wlll commit s uicide in the ne xt three days will be given an all -e xpense pa id, deluxe Fun eral courtesy of your friendly news paper. All arrangements wlll b" in the worst of taste a la H.A. tradition. We real ly dig you fellows ... like six feet deep! APRI l FOlll ES ED! TION " #$o/c&(ai' r ¢%" Ru be n Gl e rsh was quoted as s a y in g whe n he hit the na il ri gh t on the th umb re c e n t ly while hamme ring up a " No Motorcyc les " sign on a wilderness trai l. The re has been an e pidemic of thumb mashing among the anti-motorcyc le set ever since they successfully bulldozed the state legislature into passing a la w permit ti n g wilderness t rails to be declared off limits to ve hicles by the simp le posting of a sign. Alth ou gh tile Sierra Clubbers aim is obviously way off, pe rh aps a fact that contributes to the epidemic is that th ey still us e stone a xe s. APRI L F OO L! ULTIMATE DRAG STER? An impre s s i ve li st of new A .H .R.A. W d Re c ords were esta blished a t orl L ion s Dra g Stri p iast Sund ay . Now 10 gel serious: By Bob Ebeling Amon g th e fa s t and s pe cta cular . two brands of mach i nes can be n omin a tes! as ou ts tandin g; Su zuki and Tri umph . Ste ve R owles , who is sponsored by Glendora Spor t C ente r , established an E .T. re c or d of 14.74 seconds on hi s 250cc Su z uk i. Thi s bi ke was in full s tree t tr i m ye t th is was not re qui re d in hi s class. His was an a c c omp lishment which d e s erve s applaus e . T he fas test elapsed time a nd s pe ed re c or d of the meet was set by Ni ra Jo hnson on hi.. 650cc Triumph Ga s drag bik e . An 11.94 seco nd 3 .5 a nd 115 .8 3 mph can be co nside red outstandin g regardl ess o f the e ngin e disp lac ement. H PPY APRIL FOOL A With this is s ue coming out jus t' before APril Fools Day, 1966. we feel we have sufficient excuse to rid our systems of s ome of the non s en s e that accumulated in our tenth year of motorcycle journalis m. We wish to than k many of our advert isers for going al ong with the gag and hasten to assure our reader s that we sh a ll be bac k to normal (?) by next week. We hope you' ll unders tand how it is. .. al l in th e sp irit of fun . AT THIS TIME.. . •.•It gives us great pl easure to announc e th e winners of the firs t annual cycle News APril F olly Awards. for outs tanding foolishness in mot orcycling during the past y ear . Grand pri ze of a solid brass dunce cap (ap proved by the Shoell F oundat ion) goes to. .. the M otorcycle and Allied Trades As sociation for approvi ng Mr. .Arnold Mende as chairman of the na ti onal publ ic relations committee for motorcycling. M Mende is the very same nitr. wit who approved the national ad s lo gan u There ' s no stigma to ridin g a Vespa." To Royal D u te h Shell P etroleum Company goes the plastic wall placque with a right hand on the front and a left hand on the back (nei ther knows what the othe r is up to) for sponsoring a TV s how that depicted motorcycle ride rs as thugs when one of theiI very own s u osidi aries is U.S. distributor for a popular importe d cycl e. For dooatiDg over $3 ,000 cash to Charity without side tracking ooe cent to publicize their good deed. the Southe rn California Road Riders COllllllittee des wins our Mo t MlIl"Vin trophy which all the clubs may exhibit If they dare. To the Cal ifornia Sta te Motor Veh icle Departm ent goes our Boner of the Year award (ci vil service di vis ion) for issui ng ins tru ctions that the 1966 licens e tags sh ould be put in the s ame piace as last ye arS tags when theiI own Vehi cle Cod e sp ecifies tags s hould go on alternate si des of the plat e. W inning over s ome stiff compe tition for the M ost F atu ous Fellow, our pokewith-a- spo ke award for 1966 goes to J . C. Coffey . No inscrip tion. To Lynn e Wineland for managing the affai rs of the U.S. dra g te am in En gland goes a movie camera rn a u n te d in a Mousketee r cap. And L ast , and ce rtainly least , to the Sat urday E vening P ost for thei r feature art icl e glorifying ' on th e animal s who treat motorcyclin g as th e vice of California, goes the Adolf Hitler award for irresponsi hllity in J ournalis m. - -- - Th e Edit or Every brand of machine that performe d per formed at thi s me et des erves reco gnition for their rine e fforts to prove the full truth and quality in per formance . The rec ords are all in the results sectio n of Cycle News and when someone tells you of his bike s' s uperiority th is ( Continued on pa ge 40) Ascot Double Header THIS WEEK END No fooling , the 8th straight season or weekly half-mile racin g starts Fr iday night , April 1st at Ascot P a rk unde r the spo nsorship of J. C. Agajanian . Ready to try for another champio nship , is cu rrent n a t ion a 1 dirt track Champio n, Sammy T anner. Dan Haaby , who ranke d second to T anner last ye ar at both Ascot and in the fin al A.M.A. national standin gs, will also be back , with his eyes on the title. Both of these men wi ll be BSA-mounted for C.R. Axtell and Gary Bray res pecti vely, who bac ked them last year. Coming UP to the Expe rt class will be the fin es t group of amateurs to ever compe te at Ascot. Eddie Hammond, J i m Ni chols on, Chuc k Jones, Gene Romero and P aul Cons err ier e wlll be pitting thei r abilities against the top names li ke hite; Mert LawTann er , Haaby, Ral ph W will. Neil Keen , Guy Louis and many more of the nation' s bes t experts. Followin g F rid ay night' s flat track raci ng, will be the third IT steeplechase of the season, now runnin g on Saturd ay night at 7 p.m. unde r the ligh ts.