Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

BTHE VOICE OF CALIFORNIA- YWIl •·ar' _It FIRST • I. 1411 N. LIIIg Buell BIn. L. . leacll, Calif. _5 Or. IIx., LIIIg Buell, calif. P"'e:UHW. (Area CHeDJ) F,. L.A. P....s: &3&-8844 Need Sunday Racers We've had a considerahle number of requests from people who have wanted to attend our road racing sebool, but were unable to attend on saturday. Walt Jame's has agreed to 1et us use the track on Sunday, providing at least 15 students show up. Sunday is his big day and it is certainly nice of him to offer the track to us. However, to insure an adequate turnout, all those interested please call ahead of time and let me know how many of you plan to make it. The first Sunday session will be Sunday, June 18th. Unlef;S we get the minimum 15 students, we'll have to continue to hold the classes on saturday. Give me a call (213) 7852421. BOB BRAVERMAN Road Racing School MOTOR MAID RUN Thank you for your advertisement of our McFarland Run. We had a nice large crowd with approximately 20 clubs represented. Our parade was well attended by all cyclists present. The towns people thoroughly enjoyed the drill performance by the ,Ace of Clubs. The children had quite a day trying to keep up with the two clowns as they tossed candy and balloons from their mini-bikes. Our sweepstake was won by sandy McKinney of Los Alamitos. The field events were managed by the husbands of the Motor Maids. They had all new games and they were enjoyed by all that entered and by the spectators, also. Oh yes, a percentage of this run goes to the Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles. IVALINE TENNEY State Director of SO. Calif. Motor Maids Bellflower, Calif. APPROVES CREEPER'S ACTION Congratulations to the Desert Creepers Motorcycle Club for doing something besides talking about the cheating going on in the desert. A lot of the cheating is being done by members of some of the oldest big name clubs in desert racing. How proud can a rider be of points and trophies stolen from friends and fellow riders? Maybe it is the stolen glory they are after. They even cheat at the non-point Ponderosa runs. You know you can buy your own trophies cheaper than you can race. several of the top riders have expressed the opinion -What the hell's the use of racing when you have to pass the same rider two or three times in the same race.- I think it is great that one of the newer clubs is doing something the older clubs, so proud of their reputations, are not doing, namely cleaning themselves up. DICK GILMAN President, Victors Motorcycle Club TRUEMEANINGOFSPORTSMANSHIP Yes, R. Stumpf, I know what a sportsman is. For being a sportsman it did not allow me to be able to finish the Victors run. Between checks 5 and 6, I picked up a rider wbose bike broke down and packed Please allow three weeks for dress~e• ~ second CWis Postaee pad at Loac Publisller Cbuck Claylon Beacb. Callf. Business Manager Sbaron Clayton Any put or this newspaper except Circulation Manager.Gaye 1bomasoa copyr1cbted matter ma.J be used ECWOr Rudl Hartmut without permission as 10111 as c~ .Jack Dolir Advertising Manager It is given. Editorial stories, ~ Photo Edltor Deanis Greene toaDS, pbotos are welcomed and will Ad I< EdlL AssL llobert Bradford be pUll for UIlOn pnbllcation. A~ Assoclale ECWOr Carol Sims drelllSed, stamped envelope UlIures return. Published weekly except the first SUlde 00IfS' price • , • • • , • • • Z5t and last week of the calendar year s."~"'s: 0IIe year 2Dd cia.. by C&S Publishing COIl\P8llY, Post -n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 57.51 Office Box 498, Long Beach, Calif. AdverUlIiDI rates wUl be _ t _ I'eQlIeL GALS n. GUYS By Chuck Clayton IN SCUM.fS, TT's? SCRAMBLES ACADEMY SLATED him in for about 20 miles to the finish line• .And as to getting a flat tire or having engine trouble,I allow myself 3 hours. SOme of the riders get there the day before. And what about the riders that came down from Red Bluff, I bet that the$' allowed themselves more than a half hour of lee way. BILL A. ZAREMBA Dynamites OBC Women and' men are becoming more equal all the time. In every field, from business to politics to sports to art, the ladies have shown time and again that there is little diffeIence between the sexes. Vin La Dlfferellce! But now the girls are asking for the chance to compete in scrambles on an equal basis with their male counterparts. Not in separate powderpuff races, mind you, but in the heats, semis and Main Events, just like the fellows do. Debbie Jackline, Sue Buchanan, Rusty Grant and Susan Clark, are four girls who protest the scramblers' discrimination against their gender. "Even kids under 15 years old get treated the same as the men." Susan points out. But the girls are allowed no practice. They are limited to lOOcc bikes, no matter what th~ir skill, in District 36 where Susan rides. The question of responsibility usually is raised whenever the girl's demands come up. No promoter or official wishes to incur the blame if one of the girl scramblers get hurt. Miss Clark answers, "We feel that the responsibility for what happens to us is ours. U we have the SADDELITES DRILL TEAM AT SPRING TOUR In your last issue you asked for all road riders to send snapshots and letters of their fun on the run. The enclosed photos are an example of our fun on the run. The pictures are of the santa Maria sad- dlelites drill team. Weare busy practicing for upcoming parades. Our first parade this year is the La Fiesta parade in san Luis Obispo. Then we will compete for trophies in Lompoc, Salvang, also in our own Elks Rodeo parade here in Santa Maria. STAN SKINNER Santa Maria ATTENTION &Oee CLASS Mr. Sprayberry: If I remember correctly, when your ;r~~;r3~~e~~ ~~rtb~~Yt~~~t:o f';~ .. g ~ .. ~ :Ii! .; · :~~,X ft though you said you had engine l:l trouble the bike ran fairly well. As ~ ,J'. /. , ...-; -'lI"'. J / ". for your engine trouble you had, you j said your wrist pin needle bearings ~ .' ' 'i went out. Well, I was just thinking, ~ that in a 55cc Yamaha, you don't a. have needle bearings. The only way A u .. .. polat Sua. Cia. you could have needle bearings, would be to run a bigger rod. I'm not capabili ty of building and tuning the one to point a finger or anything, our own motorcycles and prove we but something is awfully fishy. can handle it in races, why shouldn't About us 50cc riders coming up we be allowed to take chances like there, well I'm not too sure, because everybody else?" you guys don't run a 50cc class., Against such logic most males A LIGHTWEIGHT RIDER would mumble something about "a man's sport," or "racers aren't polite on the track." But Susan 'might just smile, Giacondalike, without admitting that some girls have already disguised themselves as boys and survived more than a few mixed scrambles. In the desert, road races, trials, enduros, etc, of COUIse, women are encouraged to try and beat the men and they are allowed to compete on a purely equal basis. Professional and scrambles races, so far as we know, are the only motorcycle events which bar or segregate the women. Women are not even allowed in the pits at many professional races. Whether girls ever get to let their hair down and compete in these events will depend to a large extent upon the all-male rulemakers and Would you believe ••• race officials, and upon whether the men riders would stand for it. We'd •.• that any illegal motorcycles running like to know what readers think on the Ascot half-mile will be protested? about this. ...tha.t there are a lot of orthem California girls racing with phony names? ...That President Taft's military aidede-camp, Army Maj. William Nichols, is laid up in his room at tbe Maryland Re•••that an Elsinore lightweight rider has tirement Hotel here with a broken leg. been nicknamed -The MidnightMaruder?Nichols, 91, was hurt on his motorcycle, coming home from a dance. ...tha.t your CYCLE NEWS editor believes that Ai Glmter will figure prominenUy in ...That Big Jim Goldl!llllith, almost leethe baU·mile points race as tile season eadary cycle raciDg stu, will m&IIe a progresses? comebadl. at TlOjaD SPeedway? ,/ If. '" , ,.... THE IUMOI .'U ·.................. ·.............. .. .. ·.. ................ ................... .. ................. FOR JULY 4 Bob Braverman, Tom Paschal, Jim Hunter and John Rice got together with Cycle News at the show last weekend aJ:ld hammered out plans for the first regular Scrambles School. Mr. Braverman will manage the school, Jim and John will be instructors and Paschal's Elsinore Race Track will serve as the campus. Next Open Sunday, the fourth of July, will be the date, and the classes will begin at 9 a.m. To get to Elsinore, take Hwy. 71 east past the Perris turnoff and look for the race track sign on the left, near the city of Elsinore. John R. and Jim Hunter were chosen for the first instructors because of their acknowledged mastery of the art of California TT-scrambling. I know from personal experience that both men are competent and patient teachers. When they tell you something, you know it's right. Classes will be held every Open Sunday from now on. The session will last all day and tuition will be $10. per student, per day. Students are urged to contact Cycle News by letter or phone to register, although post registration will be accepted at the track up until 9 a.m. July 4th. Bring your own scrambler, boots, helmet and leathers or heavy clothing • .Any size machine will be acceptable, but it must have scrambles gearing, road equipment removed, folding footpegs and no knobby tires. For further information write or call to Cycle News. and watch these pa~es for future announcements. WHO CAN HELP liS NOW? California's youth will soon be struck by a hurtful blow unless we can persuade state lawmakers to amend a bill coming before the assembly. Assembly Bill 978, if it passes, would requiIe kids who want a motorcycle operator's permit to get a drivers license first. .And there is a new law, just passed, that requires a course in driver education to get a car drivers license at age 16. Kids who were not fortunate enough to attend high schools which offer -Driver Ed.will thus be draft-age before they can turn in their pedal bikes. The biggest injustice that would be enacted if AB 978 passes unamended would be the giant crop of 16 and 17-year-olds in California. The child of today matures much sooner than past generations. Today' s 16-year-old has outgrown the bicycle stage. He wants, and in this state he needs private motor transportation beforehe or sheis out of high school. Requiring kids to wait two more years before driVing legally wiIl place more of a burden upon them and their paren ts than the average family can stand. I think the law should let people apply for a motorcycle leamer's permit at and a license at age 16. That's how it has been, and that's bow it should remain. AB 978 contains many good provisions, but the part requiring a car license before applying for a motorcycle license is not good. It should be deleted. If readers want to prevent this injustice, they should write to their state representatives and ask them what is the best procedure to follow to get AB 978 amended before it is passed into law. There is still time to straighten this Qut if you act now. 1*

• Cover