Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

You' II alwavs s ee it FlflST In f!Jf~.&B J1J.W. 6477 N, Long Beach Blvd, Long Beach, Calif,90805 Or: Box 498 , Long Beach, Calif, Phone: 423-0431 (Area Code 213) From L.A, Phones: 636-8844 .. • liTH E VO ICE OF CALI FORNIA" Charles Clay to n •••••••••••••••••Ed itor Sharon Clayto n •••Business Manager Gil Brown •••••• Adverttsina Manage r Robe rt Bradford••• •••••••A.ssl. Ed itor Denni s Greene •••••••••• Ph o to Euitor Ga,l Thomason .Circulation Manager, P uh l is hed we ek ly except the fi rst and last weo k of t he c ale ndar vr-ur bv C&S P u bli s hi n g C ompany . P, O . Box 498 , L on g Beach, Cali forn ia . on request. F INISHTHEFUNNY CON NUMBER 6 Guest Editor ial TEST VOICES • WANTS TO JOIN A CLUB In you r la st Scram bli n' Around column you talked about loners not belonging to an y club. We thi nk yo ur (and ot he rs ) idea is grea t. My que s tio n Is , how do you joi n a club and wher e a re they ? My two so ns a nd I go to all the r a ce s a nd they rac e Prad o, P erri s a nd Els in ore. No s t reet riding at all. W e would be glad to help , but whe re? HELEN PARKER Los Angeles ("Glad you want to help, Hel en. To rind the motorcycle cl ub tha t Is best for you, check the Cl ub Directory pu bli sh e d How's your funnybon e these days ? Ours i s in great need of tickling and our captive cartoonist, Herman, i s little help. He can draw funny pi ctu res, but he alw ays forgets to think of a job like to go wi th them. So we once again have to call on the sense of humor that our readers have demonstrated five times in the past to complet e the cartoon shown here. What funny line occu red to you when you saw the cart oon? Send it i n with yo ur name and address and if it makes us laugh, you win . The joke that gives your grumpy old edito r the l oudest chuckle win s first ( and only) prize- $5 in coi n of the realm and the orig inal draWing of Herman's unfinish ed f unny, neatly framed, with your winning joke line printed thereupon. Ready? Set? Then go head on, jot down your joke and send it to "Fini sh the Funn y '#6 w , c/o Cycle News, Box 498, L ong Beach, Calif. Entries close midnight Sunday, January 8, 1967. In case of a tie the earli est postmark win s. Winning joke and runners-up will be publish ed in our first i ssue after we rerorn from our annual two weeks vacation , Th ursday , January 12. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to La Paz••. • • • Dear Sirs: You have c e rtai nly let me and many ot her people down a s a news covenna media. Monday I vainly' searched the or ama- Televtston was there. To compare it with" Ameri ca 's num- be r m e sport- baseball, how many h undreds of pages of ne wsprint ha ve been de voted to games which drew much s maller crowds? Compare tbe two sports a bit. Take phystcal con dition. A bas eball player just rnfght have to run 36 0 ' in the cou rse of an inni ng. Won'! J10 w would one of these magnificent and hij(hly touted a thle te s compa re to the man who wrestles a bucking 3 00 pound machine for .!" C8 M REC OMMENDS In an e ffo rt t o fo cus California L e gislat or' s attentio n t oward moto rc ycl e s a fe ty , th e C ommitte e for B e t t er Mo t o rcy c li ng will s u bmit th e follow in g r e c omme nd a tio ns to the California Transportation A ge nc y for t hei r co nsideration and s ubmi ssi on t o t he 19 67 legisl at ure . Fina nc e s pe rmitti ng , a copy will be b e maile d to each l e gislator afte r t he sessi on be gins . T he C ommitt e e is c ompo s ed of Southern C alifornia R oa d R id e rs C o mmitteeme n wh o ha ve banded to gethe r as the ra ti o nal vo i c e of o rg a nized motorcyc l e hi gh way us ers. EDITOR'S NOTE- The CBM recomm endations follow verbatim in light type. The comments of Cycle News regardin g these appear in bold fa ce and in quot es immediately tollowing the recommendati on. Comment and opi nions from readers is i nvited and welcome i n hope that motorcycling as a whole may benefit fr om the open di scussion of these current i ssues. I. Special M otorcycle Operators License/Endorsement A. A gene ral operato rs license is not valid to ope rate an oth e r vehi cl e whose cha racte ristics a re s ignifi cant ly di ffe r- FREE CYCLE NEWS FOR MEN IN SERVICE Got a fr i end or relati ve in t h e Army , Navy , Marine or P e a c e Corp s ? We 'd like t o s en d him (o r h er) a fr e e copy of the late st C ycl e N ew s vi a air mai l. Send u s the name and a ddr ess of the p ers on vou ' d li ke to OPEN LETTER TO THEGENERAL PR E SS. te ur motorcycllngts premi er event - the first ever runnt ng in the United States of a ra ce counting towa rd th e world's championship. This was no run of the mill sporting event . Three times world champio n To rsten Hallman journeyed all the way from Sweden to ride (a nd win ). T he s po rts pages listed various a rticl es on auto and boat racing, includi ng a sma ll no ti ce of the death of two drivers In far off Australia, but com pletely tsnor e d this event riJ:tlt in our own back yard. It is strange that litis paper never seems to miss reporting any incident that casts a bad name on motorcyclmg, By no standards could this be callee! a minor e vent. 7H rid ers pa rtic ipa t ed. Nearly 10 ,000 spec tators braved the rain to watch th i s great ra c e , H o w c an it be justified not to class this as news? News. F ind a cl ub in your area for co mpe ti ti on riders a nd write to them o r simply attend one of their meetings. Tbey 'll welcome you and your family with open arms; " ) I' ve been wai ting anxiously for more new s as promis ed a bout th e Baj a P en insula run by the four BSA's but no thin g has s hown up i n the la s t fe w Is s ue s. Either th e Beeza' s blew up bef ore t hey got to En s enada or Ekins qui p abo ut gi ving the m six hours he a d s ta rt and s till beat th em sca red t hem off . W d you pleas e cl ue us in on th e oul outcome of thi s propos ed eve nt? ?? Cycl e New s keep s us well Informe d so we got all excited about thi s . Our staunch Enduro man , Geor ge olfe is co nt emplating running hi s 1952 W T riumph Sideha c k from her e to th e tip of Baja and back this s ummer. He' s the '65 J a c k P ine winn er in Sid ehacks an d has done well the re a nd in o ther large enduros many times. I think its a bloody good Idea, appar entl y no one ha s bot her ed tryi ng s uc h nons ens e before, but if properly prepar ed I' m s ure he' ll do it. We co ul d s ure us e some inf ormation on the run th ough, so if you know any of th e fellows who have made the run and li ke to co rrespo nd, maybe you co uld. steer me to one of them an d we co uld learn mor e a bou t what ha rds hips we face . I ha ve als o Incl uded a Cycle News gi ft subscription for Geor ge W e which olf you ca n forwa rd to your s ubs c ri ption depar tment. This wil l s top frien d Geor ge from ruthles s ly taking off with my weekly co py , Merry Chris t mas from your cold frozen subscriber in N. Dak, J ASPER KE INJ AN Bi s marck , N. Da k. 58501 (" Dear Jasper, we were hopin g you \Wuldo 't ask. Two of the four reco rd ride rs made It to La P a z , after a one day layover j ust hours s ho rt of thei r goal, ca used by' the ' Baj a Cal iforn ia gastrick ph enomenon called ·Montezuma's Re ven ge," By the t ime t hey reac he d La Paz the A.MA. ob s erver had Oown home . We a re including your address in hopes that one or more of th e Baja Record Club may ge t in touch with you . Also, see Ron Grant's acc ount or hi s tri p dO\m Baja on a Ga relli in rec ent issues of Cyc le News. Our only advice, which cam e too late to save the recent affair ; is to alway s eat hotsauce with your meals in Mexico . It kills the microbes ," ) ( Editor ' s Note- The following letter was sent to most of the major newspapers in Southern California shortly after November's Hopetown Grand Prix. We think that many of the points Mr. Weber brings out are bei ng overlooked by general circulation publications which parpart to report the news.) spo rts section for so me mention once a mon th as a C ree service i n Cycle • Seconu Class P os ta ge P a id at Lon g Beach , Calif. Any pa rt of this newspape r may be us ed wi thout permissi on as long as cred it is gi ve n. Ed it ori al co ntri buti ons , ca rtoo ns , phot os are wel comed an d will be paid for upon publicatio n, Self-addr essed , s ta mped envel ope assu res return. Si nal e Copy Pri ce 15¢ Subsc riptio ns: One year 2nd class ma il $7 .5 0 Advert ising rates will be sent ha ve a fr e e c o py o f the mot or c y cl e newspap er s e nt to a nd we'll d o th e rest. Addre s s c a rd o r l eit er to "Sample s for Servi cem en ", Cyc l e News, B ox 498, L ong B e a c h, C alif. This offer will cont i n ue i ndefi nite ly . ent from thos e of an automobile (I ,e , tru ck s and bus s es). B, Th e opera ti ng characteristics of a motorcycle a re s i gni fi ca nt ly different from those of an au tomo bile. C. T her ef ore , a moto rcycle ope ra to r should be requi red to qualify for a sp e ci al license or e ndo rsemen t to ope rate a mo torcycl e on the public highways. D. Th e exami na tion s hould test th e appli can t's s kill in ha ndli ng the vehi cl e doi ng co mple x maneuve rs in an open lot AND in a ctual traffic s it uations . E. T he exami na tions s hould be co nduc te d by a per s on t horoughly s killed i n moto rcycle riding who woul d foll ow n hour or more o f continuo us physical effort? 110" abuut skill ? Compa re the ability' to ca tc h , throw, and hit a ball, admittedly' not easy when done to perfection, with knowin e how far and fast )'OU can dri ve into a co m er in a high s pee d slide, with a co uple of other intens e men trying to beat yo u throu gh , Guts? No comparison, i s there? T echni· cal knowledge? 1I0w to select a bat and siov .., compared with dev elopi ng some of the world's most e ffici ent engines , frames, and braking systems, Most ride rs are directly respo ns ibl e for setting up their own machines. Finall y, spectator pleasure. I dare say an inning of basebal l does dra g a bit more than a good rac e of comparabl e time . So why is motor cycl e racing such a relatively negl ected sport? I believe you, the newspapers are a l arge co ntributing factor. In Europe where races are acknowledged, crowds of 5 0 , 00 0 people at an event ar e common. Where would ou r own big sports be with out news coverage? It's time LQ a ba ndo n your prejudices against mororcycltna , Don't let the ac tio ns of t he few bad apples cau s e' you to ignore th is great sport, You won't find any of t bem competing anyway. I co nsider myself an avera ge racer, a family man with two dau ghter s and a re sp ec ta ble engi neeri ng position , "ith 11 years at the same job, i n the a erospace industry. I certai nly don ' t feel I co ul d be classed as a - koo k- . GAil Y F. WEBER Tujunga the app licant in the traf fic test. "Cycle ;\;ews is empha t tcal ty in favo r of e very' section of thi s recommendatinn except l etter E. T he e xpe ns e of hiring, trai ni ng and payin g th e immense number of e xa miners need ed in Cal ifo rnia al one would tax an a lrea dy' o verta xed state budget to the e xtreme. AI,.., the hazard to examiners cannot be overloo ked . T his is why Cycle News and the University of Sout hern Ca liforn ia a re both worki ng dili gentl y to per fec t a motorcycle si mulator for t raini ng and exa m- ination of cycle operstors witho ut hazard (Cn ntinued on pa ge 24)

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