Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

....... 4 AMERICAN COMPETITION A T THE CROSSROADS 8 " h igh . laced. we ia:ht 2 Ibs. per pa ir $15.95 plus c.o.d. posta•• O Association or M ne any? KEN MAELY the shoeman R oute 2, Box 75B, Corona, C alif. Irll tire ",~It wit, wurr 11,,1 122.50 Send boot or ca rdboa rd cutouL o LAWNDALE CYCLE INC A YAMAHA ~ VELOCETTE ) :t!t Due A T I SALES' SERVICE" PARTS•RENTALS 15324 HAWTHO R NE L.AWNOALE CAL.IF Th e Amer ic a n Motorcycl e Association is presently the large st a nd most powerful moto rcycle race-sanctioning bod y in th e United States. Last y ear th e Motorcycle & Allied Trade s Ass ociation , which controls th e AMA. expande d its membership. This re organization has mad e availabl e enough mone y and , most important , more brain-p ower to th e newlz-chnst en ed Motorcycle, Sc oot er & Allied T rade s Association than was e ve r available to th e old M &AT A. One of th e fi rst edic t s to com e from national th e Competiti on Committ ee of t he AMA was the ruli ng that thi s ye a r, for the first tim e , rac e rs ha ve to make a choice at som e point in their careers , whether to ride professional AMA rac e s only or non-p rofessional (s ports man) AMA races only . T he AMA is fully wit hin its rights in requiring its rid ers to mak e thi s deci s ion. A ride r may wish to learn how to rac e as a sportsman , th en apply for a professional competitor's li c e nse . But once 'he ha s obtained an Amat eur or E xpert pro li c en s e he cannot ra c e in a non-profes s ional AMA race and ke ep hi s profess io nal standi ng. He can c hoose to forfeit his pro li c ense and beco me a s po rts ma n ra cer again , or he can ri de a ny other as sociat ion ' s e ve nt s withou t jeopa rdizi ng hi s AMA profe s s ion a l standi ng (in Cali forni a , at least). B O U L E VARD • S P 2 1822 OS 6 ·tt548 T HE FAMILY FUN CENTER 2-STROKE SPEED EQUIPMENT 1857 Merced Street £1 Monte, call1ornia 91733 InHLE55 ~,,; HODAIA ~ SALES" PARTS" SERVICE EDDIE CROWELL 104 27 P ra ir i e , ln g le woo d OR. 3-9S73 COMING SOON GILERAS GO! When they'r e tuned by CYC LE CITY 2142 Long Beach Blvd. Long Beach, Phone 591·1389 Glle.. speed kits / Gllera-Royal Enlleld dealer W ithin t he las t co uple of years a ne w associ at io n ha s gro wn to giv e t he AMA cons ide ra ble co mpet itio n in Sou th ern California. C alle d t he Ame rican Cycle As s oci ation, owne d and ope ra ted pa rt ti me by W s Cooley, t he ACA is e a ble to ac t quickly . It i s fina nced by e nt ry fee s and memb e rs hips , as well as Cool ey' s 's ize able salary as execut ive of a Sa nt a Ana drug ma rketi ng fi rm. With the he lp of a few dedicated volu nte e rs , who make no sec re t of th eir di s appointme nt wit h AMA progre s s , th e ACA mana ges to s tage a mont hly roa d rac e, a scra mble and tw o we ekly s hort track rac e s in th e L. A. a re a . T hrou gh hi s c l ub's indi rect affili ati on with ' the F ed erati on Int e rna tion a le de Motorc yc l is t e, Cool ey rec ently ope ne d th e c hoice Riv er s id e Rac e way to motorcyc les for a world c hampio nshi p ev ent. In Drag racing, the Amer ican Hot Rod As s ocia ti on has taken ov er from the AMA by def ault an d now s anc tions moto rcyc les und er a goo d new s et of rule s t hat our drag racing col umnis t , Bob E beli ng , he lp ed to writ e . In Nort hern Califor nia , the Americ an F ed erati on of Mot orcyc lis t s sancti ons a s erie s of road ra ce s for its me mber s , and la tely the Sou th ern California branch of the FIl\I be came a cti ve a gain by ope ni ng W hite man P a rk to moto rcyc le Gran d P ri x ra c in g. Healthy COqletition W out doubt, the f uture will bri ng a t lea s t one more major sancti oni ng ith body into bein g, maki ng a total of fi ve associations scheduling events on the Californi a racing cale ndar. With any l uck, we shoul d fi nd the competition between them healthy for the sport, with each association trying to .outd raw the others by stagi ng better events, with better promotion under better rul es than we now have. L a st we e k Cycle Ne ws promised to pre s en t the · ot he r s i de " of th e c urrently ra gin g cont rove rsy ove r profe s sional ve rsus non-profes s ional mot orcycle racing. Which is not to say th er e a re onl y two sides to th e c ontrove rsy . L i ke any s ubject wi th de pth it has many fac ets , many facti ons which mak e up th e who le . And some wee ks a go we pro mis ed an edito rial ti tled · Wha t happen s when yo u s wa p yo ur headli ght for a number plate , " inten ded to de s cribe t he trans iti on from compe tition enthusi ast to com petition rid er. T he int erview with Ne il Ke e n in t his issue makes good the rece nt promis e , but we s ha ll not att empt to chart the path for a be gin ni ng rac er until th e pro-no n-pro fa c t ions hav e re ac he d a greemen t t o everyo ne 's s atisfaction. Meantime , Cycl e News wi ll dev ot e its pa ge s to uniting t he bitt erlyoppos ed associations and per s onalitie s who ho ld t he de s ti ny of our s po rt . Our co lumni s ts re pre s e nt ne ar ly e ve ry important fa ction, a nd e ac h i s qua li fi ed to s ta te t he c ase of hi s s i de . W s ha ll av oid taking sides in many di s putes sinc e we gene ra lly dise cove r tha t all sides ar e often wron g as well a s ri ght. Unt il re ce nt ly th e motorcyc l e game existed in the ba c k waters of the sp orti ng pon d . Only in the pa st few month s ha ve cu rr ents indic a te d tha t motor cyc l e racing is on the move . When th e i ndivi dua l fa cti on s re alize that we have to s tee r tog ether if this same boat we ar e a ll in is goi ng to get anywh er e , t he n th ey'll be on our --Chuck Clayton s id e. MOVIETOWN M.C. An unusual ad ap peared in a recent issue of dail y " Var tety ," th e ente rt alnment bus in e s s ne ws pap er. It re ad : "M OTORCYCLISTS - A small group of ac tors and busin ess people in the entertainment indu stry have commenced the formatio n of a cl ub for participation and encouragement of the sport of motorcycling. Th e construction of a facility toget her wi th roa d trips , scrambles and outi ngs are plann ed. If yo u are empl oyed i n the i ndustry and i nte rest ed in bein g kept advi sed of our pl ans, pl ease call CR 4-7841. • Bei ng c urio us , we c a ned , a nd reach ed P et er Ra chtman , a bik erid in g per s onal man a ge r who sparkplu gs the ne oph yt e group (a nd . Inci dental ly , s ubscribes to Cyc l e New s ). He explai ned t hat t he c lub is re c eivi ng quite a re s pon s e as P at Boone , Al ex Cord, co-star of ·Sta geco ac h, " J e rry Hellman . prod uc er of " F'Ine Ma dne ss , " and singe r J ohnny Ri ve rs have a ll inqui red . Rachtman s ays that the group will be loose ly organ ize d at bes t, sinc e most persons i n the ente rt a inment fi eld ar e notabl y adverse to re gimen tation . T here will be no meetings , no club name , no rul es-the whole point will be freed om to pursue th e sport of motorcycling with ot he rs in the indus t ry who share a common i nt erest in pleasure riding. And a fine id ea it is. COOLIES Jh .\\ COLUMN l" ( ( I,ll 1/ Team Cycle World Cancelled We were very disappointed to hear tbat Team Cycl e W orld which was going to participate in the Is le of Man TT was ca ncelled. Canc ellation was caused hy the maritime shippin g str ike which is oow going on in E ngla nd. In order for the team to do an adequate j o b of representing the United States , it was felt they must a rrive with thei r equipment by M 31st, but becaus e of the ay s hipping strike it was not possible. W e hope tbat poss ibly Cycle World magazine and Yamaha will get toget her a nd try to organize a team again for the 1967 event. I know Yamaha and Cycl e W orld P uhlis her J . C. Parkhurs t are both very disappointed. They s pent a great deal of time and money in preparing the equipment a nd taking ca re of the neces sary arran gement s to se nd ove r this team, only to ha ve it ca ncell ed. SCRAMBLIN AROUND By Maureen Lee W went to the Nelson Benefit Sunday e and bad a good time. The Antelope Ramblers threw a good race . their paper work is well-handl ed and the only complaint came from so me riders who a rrived too late to srgnup , Clos ing times for entries had bee n printed on the pos ters and it is a club's right to close signup at whatever time they choose . Thi s eli minates constantly adding to hea t lis ts , or the problem of starting with motocros ses and havi ng t o switch to eli mina- tion heats a s more riders keep signing up. The lat e comers were told by Jean Carter that. as it was a Ben efit, they could ride if they wa nted to pay an extra fee , bringing the tab to $5.00. This upset them we hea r, because t hey felt that if that was the ca se, then the entries really weren 't closed. Clubs at times even put on a poster that if you ar e lat e at signup it' s going to cost you extra, but not this time--just the clos ing times on eac h c las s were liste d. The riders feel tha t they were being dis criminat ed against by bei ng asked for an extra fee, and if the entri es were clos ed, they were closed, period. No amount ext ra should make a diffe rence . Jean Cart er felt that the extra fee wasn't off- base , but if it hadn't been a Benefit he wouldn't have let them s ignup for any price. They sh ould j ust s how up on time . The argume nts that go on during a day at a scrambles! • • W ,ise Co mp romise W s till want to s ee that Clas s · C" e Amate ur-Expert ban on riding Sportsma n events changed to a workable one. Such as perhaps all owing Class C Amateurs and Novices to ride and ba nning only the Ex perts . P ers onally, I'd like to see them riding any ti me they want t o, but in their own group (alt hough there're not tha t many of them who do come t o a sc rambles all a t one time , even for a National ). By the time a man is an Expert TT rider he is pas t the point of wanting the number one Sportsman plate to put on his bike . He just wants to come out and ride once in awhile for the fun of it. M ost of the time he is a different breed of cat from the died-in-thewool flattracker who only rides that type of event. Thin k t hrough a list of the Ascot winners and you'll see my point. Quit e a few of them only ride TT events and t hen Sports man events and the desert, and most of them have se parate equipment they ride on t heir ' fun" days . Li ke one Class C rider told me, he knows he doesn't do real well at TT events , and he likes to come out and ride a s crambles once in awhile for the pure fun of riding, and he res ents being told that he ca n no longer do this . He has ta ken ti me to write the AMA to protes t. He is not t he only one in this bracket. There are quite a few riders who've been around for awhile and who have ne ver completely a tt ai ned the · s tar " status as a n Expert . Nevertheles s , t hey always do well in competition, us uall y fini s hing t oward the middle and back of the pack, ride only TT ·events (eight a yea r if they ride j ust Asc ot), and like to scramble or hill-climb once in awhile. Now they ca n't , and they s hould have their place in the system of things too. Or at least the •Amateur" professionals s hould. • • • .. The continuing cross-country adventures of JournaUsVracers Jim Nicholson and Marty MacDonald. In Oklahoma City, Jim takes over the wrl tI ng chores: May 5, 1963 - Sunday • EXTENDING OUR TRIP TO EUROPE W went down to the s hop, put the e bikes in sh ape. W drove to Tulsa. W e e got to the t rack about twelve . Mark raced the Honda 50 in the hea t and flipped it off the li ne. He finis hed fourth or fift h. I rode my heat , got off the li ne first and finished second. Mark rode the 50 aga in in the main. He was leading until he went wide and crashed. He fini shed third. Again I got off to first in my mai n event. I only finis hed third. Mark got a had s tart in the open main, his s ea t fell off and he managed to get se cond place. W hen Mark went up to get his trophy the announce r told him that his pants were ripped. Everyone thought it was furmy. Mark got two trophies and I got one , not including the t rophy we both were awarded for coming the longest way. W met a guy that won the race I e rode. His name is Bob W ers. He inint vited us over to a friend' s of his and we had s upper. On the way home we started talking about going to Europe . I s uggeste d that we stay back eas t for a yea r and s ell our truck and bikes and work our way to Engla nd on a freighte r. We both ag reed that it seeme d li ke a good idea so that 's what we will do. W dee cide d that we wouldn't say anything to anyone yet until we were ready to leave. W hope to get a couple of Norton e Manxes when we arriv e in Europe. T hat' s all the plans we made except for some small details. W finall y got home at e about 2:00. May 6, 1963 - Mond ay • WAITING rained and I didn't go to work. I forget what I did, that 's if I did anything more than lay around waiting for next week. Mark came in lat e , he we nt with Gene . (Continued Sex t W eek) It •

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