Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

Wh&t About Wes? • • • • • .. You were off to a flying start until you chose to give one so-called " writer" s pace to carry out personal gripes and space to half-truths and outrigh t bad reportin g. I am speaking of cours e, of an ar ea in your paper that is cal l ed " Cooli es Column" . All one has to do Is to look back and see that he did not want t o writ e anything until the AMA started road raci ng in the area . Then out of the blue he became a self-appointed authority and watchdog regarding anythhl g that is not ACA. He has never bothered to explain what the ACA is or who it Is . To thos e of us that foll ow cycling the ACA is a one-man organization, W Cooley. es He tries to appear as the chamalon of all good and a battler of eviL Yet, has there ever been an el ection In the ACA? Has there ever been an accountIng of the money taken in by t he ACA? Has this stalwart defender of two wheels ever mentio ned the purses that he pays at such nationally known tracks that are located in South Gate and out by EI Toro? He I s a self-procla imed authority on t he AMA, so he says. When you all ow such thin gs to be printedin your pap er we as sume that you first ch- c k themout. e W ell, you bett er check again. A few months a go Cool ey astounded the racin g world with the "Scoop" that AMA would be racing every Wednesday ni ght at As cot. He knew al l abo ut It , contracts had ' been signed . Have -you ever ,been to a Wednesay night cycl e race at As cot this year? If s o where are the res ults In your pape r? For years Cooley and his small band of non-believers have been preachin g what great riders on pa vement all nonAMA riders were at such places as Willow Springs , Santa Barbara, Et c . Yet, he came out rec ent ly and was bragging and thre atening AMA riders to come and join his merry band at a Riverside Road Race. Never once did he mention that there wa s no purse for th e event. Only that it was a demonstration race for Count Somebody. All of a sudden he wanted the cooperation of the AMA riders in the area to put a feat her in his little poi nted hat. W hen s ome of the rea l pro' s didn't go along with him he did the usual, sta rted complaining to all that would listen. This Is a fast-shrinking group. Now he comes out with the mos t halr-brain ed statement or all time, at least for your paper. He stated, In what to him was undoubtedly another of his famous scoops , that Ascotshould s tart paying riders 40%. J ust so he will keep inf ormed li ke he te lls his reade rs, As cot has been payin g 40% to the riders since - - 1959. Before that It was 32%. He has s o many things going for him that he came out in print a few months ago and s tate d tha t spor tsmen road races could not be held at a track with crashwa lls and grandstands. Very informativ e only the rule appli es to sc rambles, not road racing. He now is s ta rting to Invade clu bs that bel ong to the AMA. One club has announced that a race will be c o- sponsored by the AMA and the ACA. If the club Is nuts e nough to pay Cooley a sanction fee then let them go ahead but will the riders now have to join th e ACA to ride the event? (Editor Yes. ) If so then Cooley now has his hand Int o the AMA pocket that he ha s so lon g tried for. You interviewed Neil Keen a few weeks ago, now how about doing an interv iew with s ome rider that has gone out to Willow Springs to road race and ask him how much It cost him, total, before he was all owed on the track. As k also what it costs just to practice at Willow when Cooley Is In comm and. Ask any AMA rider what It cost him to go to Rive rside and be a "Good Guy" to help out the sport of raci ng if he went there not belonging to the ACA, AF M, F IM and al i thos e other combinations of letter s that sp ell out private enterprise. As k a lso any rider that has ever bee n Injured in an ACA road race and rind out what a problem he had getting his s o-call ed racing insurance coverage. While you ar e on the asking kick, ask s ome AFM members 'why Cooley Is no longer a strong backer of this orga n- Ization, All of this would make for far better reading than the weekl y axe-grinding that Cooley does under the banner of a " columnist" . If your paper Is rea lly dedica ted to all you say then either get COoley to start writin g what he knows about, the ACA, or tell him to j oin the AMA and come around to s ome of the eve nts so he will know what he Is talking about rather than to hide behi nd a cover of gett ing his false info from as he s ays , .. sources" . To those that are being hoodwinked Into the real m of the ACA and its oneman operation we only can s ay, good luck. If Cooley is the Ichampion of the little guy, why is It tliiit all the rider s that ca n' t turn left at Asc ot ar e the only ones that ever ride his events? Is It perhaps for the whopping $6.00 to $8.00 they receive for winning? Or is It that they have seen the light and are j ust trying to get back the money they pa id out to join the ACA, enter the race, get Into the pits, and all the res t of that good stuff that goes with s uch a nationally known organizatton? ·Mr. Cooley sho uld get over the idea of bec omin g such a big man in cyc l e racing and col umn writing an d l ook at himself In th e mirror, then go out to As c ot and s ee what good raci ng really Is all about. Better yet, he Is an advocate of all that Is Eur opean in cycle raci ng. Maybe they could use s uch a talented man of this ability over there. He has tried fur year s to run the AMA a nd the FIM into the ground and has not succeeded, his hit and mis s column in your paper Is just a dyin g breath. You and your readers ar e the only ones that must suffer wit h this weekl y s ewage. Yours for tbe bett erment of cyclin g and the el1m1nati on of nitwits . 'L OREN H. WILSON Los Angele s . EL LIOTT SC HULTZ .» .. • • , By George B. Maness Elliott Schul tz. former National Number 27, now belongs to that ra ther large group of racers who couldn 't make a retir ement stick. In the middle of the 1965 seas on, Elliott hung up his leat hers because he was tire d and felt that to contin ue I would be pushing his luck. Racing though, is li ke a dis eas e. It gets in your blood and once It ' s ther e It i s difficult, if not impos sible , to cure. Elliott first rode a motorcycle in 1957 at the age of 20 when he moved to California from his home In Romules, Michigan. He enjoyed ridin g in the dirt but didn't learn that there was such a thing as motorcycl e racing until th e following year. It was then, in 1958, tlfat he began riding sportsman events. Two years later he joi ned 'the professional ranks and began his climb to prominence. Elliott graduated to Expert status in 1960 and earned his National number a year later. Although considering himself a conservative rider ("You can't win races in a hospital bed"), Elliott has nonetheless given the fans and himself many memorable rac es. High on his list of memories are the winning of Dodge City in 1963 as a firs t year Expert and taking the one, five, and fiftee n-lap Expert records at Asc ot. W hen El110tt retired, he gave up his National Number which is now carr ied by his Royal Enfield teammate Guy Louis. The Enfields that these two men ride are owned and tuned by Shell Thu et of Shell Motors in Lynwood and are the only machines that have been able to hreak the BSA-Harl ey-Davldson hold on the local oval with any regularity. Th e relationship between Elliott and Shell Is much more than just sponsor and rider for Elllott has been ridlnlZ for Shell Elliott Schultz s ince he started his professional career in 1960. A family man, Elliott's life revolves around his wife and two boys , Dave , age three and Elllott Jr. , age two. In addition to his family (and motorcycles of cours e), he has been Int erested In many thing s In his life . At home he played football and basketball and was on the school track team. His ambition at one time was to be a professional skater. Th e possessor of a fine voice, Elliott has been a member of two semiprofessional quartets. Until recently a heavy e q ul pme nt operator, Elliott is now a route s ale sman for Sanuny Tann er Distributors, Incorporated. I wonder If he'll be fired when he beats Sammy at As cot ? Th e local racing funs were fortunate to have a racer of Elliott 's call ber around In the firs t place, but to have him le a ve and return like the prodigal son Is truly a blessing. Welcome back, Elllott ! Road Rider Rundown By Robert O. Fee Sherman Ames,long time Road Riders Commit tee representative for th e Norwal k Centaurs M orcycl e Club and ohot s erve r for the Harley- Davidson Deal ers Association. was el ected to the post of Sec retary by the RRC at their J une meeting, M onday t he 6th. He wielded the scribe's pen In 1965 for the same group but declined the nomination in 1966. preferring to allow other representat ives the opportuni ty to se rve. Afte r five months of literary chaos , the RRC assembly removed the electe d Secretar y for non-performance of dutie s and re-Ins tal led Ames to his former position. Other actions of the RRC Include d the es tablishment of a penalty for nonfulfillment of volunteer work. Henceforth, any cl ub representati ve fai ling to perform the work volunta rily undertak en to assis t the RRC shal l los e 50% of his ca le ndar poi nts. F or the first ti me si nce 1958. RRC members were abl e to obtain a copy of t he RRC Constitution. Anyone desiri ng copies can obtain them at the next meet Ing or contact Bob Adsit, Tr easurer , P.O. Box 2102, Alhambra, or Sherman Ames , Harley-Davidson of Pomona. The ori ce Is $1.50 oer copy. Although lack of minutes delayed the start of the meeting , the RRC reps enjoyed the quietest, best ordered , and shortest meeting this year. The July meeting will be hel d M onday the 11 th at 3815 No. Baldwin Ave. i n EI Mont e. All road clu bs are Invited to at tend. CBM loiBS RRC The Committee for Bett er M otorcycling took its place as a member of the Southern California Road Riders Committ ee during their Jun e meeting in Alhambra. Fo r the past three years , the CBM has worked dn close liaison with the RRC in promoting road events and improving the caliber of the sport. Many RRC repres entatives belong to the CBM or assist In Its work. Not bein g an organized motorcycle club, per se , and thus with no axes to grind, the CBM has offered a viewpoint In RRC deliberations that in most Instances has been representativ e of outrider views . P as t chairmen of the RRC have recogni zed this vie w and called upon It many times. Two clubs have felt the vie wpoint so important that they accorded the CBM one of their chairs and accompanying vote with no strings attached. . During a period in which th e CBM was without a vote or even a voic e due to a ruling of the chairma n citing an obscure constitutional clause, represe nt ati ves of three other cl ubs took up a coll ection and funded the CBM to obtai n members hip In t he RRC. The Committee Is repres ente d on the RRC fioo r by Del Brummet and Mark Ca tlow. - The contlnulnl cross-country advtntures of Joumallsl/racers J im Nicholson and M Jlrty (Mark) MacDonald. Leavlnl Oklahoma en route to Mlchllan, Jim takes over the writing chores: May 13 , 1963 - Monday ON THE MOV E W got up pretty early. I drove most e of the day. W crossed a corner of e Kansas and later entered Into M sou ri is to make our sixt h state. After a few hours we crossed the Mis sissippi River on a toll brid ge, thus ente red Illinois. ' W drove for hundreds of miles through e beautiful green pas tures and trees (on the hi ghway that Is), still on-jtoute 66. In Springfield, Illi nois we decided to stop and get a bite to .eat jl9 I turned Int o a drive-in and nearly caused a catas trophe, for where I thought was a road was nothing of the kind, just a telephone pole. So I turned up the "road due to no other alternative and scared the wits out of us and the oncoming cars. W decided not to eat here because of e our embarrassment and drove on up the road. 'About a mile up the road we came to a bowling alley where Mark pull ed off to look and see wheth er they had a cafe. There wasn't anythin g to our l1k1ng s o Mark s tepped on the thrott le and all 01 a s udaen the engine revved up and wouldn't move the truck. I thought maybe we broke au-Ioi nt, but it turned out that due to the heavy loa d causin g a lot of traction, a s na p of the throttl e cause d the right axle to break. W pus bed the truck next to a closed e gas s tat ion by the bowling alley . Then we both debated for hours In the coffee sh op inside tbe bowling alley what we sh ould do, how much the expense s would run and how to fix it. W finally e decided that I s hould phone up my dad and ask him to se ll my Studebaker as soon a s possible, and have him send the money to Mark's aunt's house In Michigan. We really hat ed to have to ask my dad or anybody else for help but we had no alternative due to tbe fa ct that we had spent most of our money on gas already and had barely enough to make it to Michigan. Also another ac cident happened this morning. Mark got his finger smashed In the rear door. We went to a drug store and they wrapped It up for)l lm. Mark got _ dizzy and I thought he was going to pass out due to shock , although he said it wasn't the pain that did it. The cut was down to the bone. When we left the arug store the nice man gave MartY- a lollypop so he would feel better. Anyhow, my father, causing great relie f, said he would try to sell my car as s oon as poss ible. After that we went to bed In the back of the truck feeling much better. M 14, 1963 - Tuesday ay CONFUSION IN THE WINDY CITY Mark and I got up. I asked the guy at tbe station if It would be okay to work on the truck where we were. We unloaded Mark's bike, took along our s pare radio with us and rode down to the junk yard. W bought another axle for $10 e and It was a s mall task of putt ing in the I 'Vermont or Bust!" axl e once we tigure d out how It goes in. W were off and on our way once e a gain. Nothing much happened of int erest except that we hit a big 01' wind after goi ng through st. Louis . W got Into e Chicago about 5:30. Man, what an enormous pla ce. "I was amazed at the s iz e ofthe cit y and the buildings themselves. We drove down the maln street and everybody on the road started honking and wavin g. W didn't know what In hell e was coming off. we just waved back. It turned out that the cause ' of all the exci tement wasn 't because of their friendlines s . W found out that we wer e e drivin g on a boulevard and trucks were illegal on these roads. an

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