Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

• GOODBYE GEORGE. • • • The spectacular slidi ng slyle 01 Geor ge Roeder will be sorely missed from lin eups In theluture. His rellrement after 14 yea rs of professional racing lea ves an unl illable gap In the ranks of AMA Nallon a l Champions. Ohio Fanner Retires From Racing B~' • ., '- • Ro xy Ro ckw o od Four teen professional racing seasons and over 300 races won. That' s the span that was brou ght to an end at the close of the 1967 racing seas on for Geor ge Roeder, the well known " Flying Farmer" fr om Monr oevlll e, Ohio. Along the way Roeder won eigh t National Championship races. All of them were on half-mile and mile tracks across the country. It is all a thing of the past now as George last month officially announced his retirement from active racing. Long one of the mos t popular and best liked riders on the National circult and long considered one of the top ten dir t track riders in the nation, Roeder was also a many-time Ohio state dirt track champion and always a pre-race favorite at any dirt track National . He turned to professional racing in 1954 as a Novice and was the high point Amateur dirt track rider in the nation in '55 with 47 wins. Although he was never to become the high point dirt track expert he was, however , for many years always well up the ladder in the top ten in the final standings. ' Geor ge !lrst made headlines in the mid -'50's when he was talked Into c1alming Everett B r.a she a r ' s dirt track machine under the " claiming" rnle. It came about after he was first turned down In an e1!ort to obtain better backi ng from the factory. George always sai d it was one of the biggest mtstakes of his career and Brashear always claimed that the machine was not the best one he had at the time. Roeder did go on to obtain full factory backing and right up to the end last October was one of Harley-Davidson's ranking aces. It was a long and many times frustrating career for the rider who always had a grin and a handshake for everybody: He was an Exper t class ed rider for nearly nine years before he wonhis!lrst National r ace in 1963. At the start of the ' 63 season he r eplaced the injured and r etired Carr oll Resweber and was r iding the potent equipment tuned by the well knownRalph Berndt. His !l r s t Na tional cam e In August of '6 3 when he won the 50- mller at Springfield, Ill . He later won the 20mller at sacr amento and the five- mller on the half- mile . Prior to '63 Roeder' s r acing career was slowed down for two years with ti me out to serv e in the Ar my in Vir ginia. He did manage to ride In many events thos e two yea rs , however, mai nly in and around the ca mpsite. From 1963 through 1967 George won eight National races. He was s hut out of the win column in ' 66 but ca me bac k strong to win both the san Jose and sacramento Nationals this past s eason. Although he was voted the mos t popular r ider in the AMA a few years ago the one title that always was just a gr as p away, the Grand National title, always eluded him . In 1963 he missed winning the coveted title by a mere one point to Dick Mann. The margin of victory was when Mann s cored the upset win at the Ascot National IT while George failed to quall!y for the !lnal. The following week Roeder won the sacramento ' national and M nn failed to a fini sh . But under the scoring system that year Mann earned mor e points for his Ascot Win than did Roeder for his sacramento victory. It was the cl osest point race in National racing history. Roeder again ca me close this past season and was leadi ng the standings late in the year due to his back to back wins at san Jose and sacr am ento. His thir d pla ce at Dayto na was also an impor tant factor . However , the title was once agai n s natched away when Gary Nixon won the Car lsbad Na tional and then !lni s hed ahead of George in the !lnal National at Oklahoma City; Nixon took the title, Roeder !lnished second. Although he was consid er ed a !l ne road racer he was never abl e to win one of the big ones on pavement. Twice he finis hed second at Daytona and led one of the l\Ieadowdale Nationals until r unning out of gas on the next to last lap. Roeder will for ever r emain untque in racing annals as perhaps the only r ider who was always on the best of terms with all of his fellow r iders both on and off the ra ce track. His quiet and sincere pe rsonali ty was many time s a cover for bitter disappointments on the track. At the ' 63 Ascot 8mile National he shed tear s after the race was ove r , not because he did not w n, but because he did not do better i and live up to som e of the advance publicity. Last yea r Geor ge became a married man and at the end of the season he was a · father for the first ti me . Thes e things must have so me bearing on his decision to r etire. The Flying Farmer will fly no mor e . He had a lot of things going for him the pas t fourteen years - he still does. George Roeder and his genuine attl tude will not soon be forgotte n. The National Number 94 will take a long time changing riders . SUPER TUNING GASP! WOW! 2·STROKES RUN WHEN WfGET DON{1 Porting and tun ing 2-strokes is l our specialty. Compression releases expertly installed. ' by Culver City Cycle Center 10248 Culver Blvd. BULTACO & MOro-BETA OPEN 6 DAYS A W EEK 9 a.m. to 6 Po... AND THURSDAYS 9 a. ... to 9 p.m. (213) 839-9000 mentesa WHY SHOULD JOHN McFARLA ~D YELL VIVA? "' ride Montesa and wi n, " says J ohn Mc Farland owner of Val le y Cycle Shop in Anderson , Cal if. For 2 years John ha s ca rr ied the VIVA banne r hi gh , all bec ause says John, Montes a is fa st, rugged , a nd be tter bui It. J oh n hasn't lost a race on hi s . ~\V4 M O NT ES A MOTORS , INC . S ole U.S . Dist ributor 3657 Bev er ly Boule va rd l.os. Ange le l . ~Iltorni. 90004 !!':ii!!ll BRIDGESTONE Grac ious George Roeder smiles ha ppil y alter setting las te s t qualllying time a t '67 Sac ll.· ~ n to 25-Mlle Nationa l C ~ mp lonshlp race. ~:i :~:r BILL KRAUSE'S LARGEST PARTS & ~ \/11/ IIUIl ( 1.1. /1"(11, " " " ACCESSORIES DEPT. HONDA !~/YAMAHA IN THE SOUTHLAND 12S7S.lA lREA at Ct'fttury • BMW b19'c:wood • • County Fairgrounds ( Expo Building) - San Jose, California JAN. 19,26 • fEB. 2,9,16,23 & 24 (SAT.) RACES START 8 P.M. SEE YOUR fAVORITE STARS IN ACTION ON THE ASPHALT OVAU • '71.SOJ5 GREEVES CYCL E NEWS SERVES ALL OF TH E WEST W ITH NEWS OF THE BEST SPORT ON WHEELS 4 TIMES A MO. PROFESSIONAL SHORT TRACK RAONG INDOORs at die SAN JOSE 671-0406 • MOTO·BETA ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• INDOOR RACES COME TO fRESNO Sunday JAN. 14 • fEB. 4, II, & 18 ~~:~~ FRESNO SPORTS ARENA C orner of Ven tura & M Str e e t ( ta ke Ve ntura off ra mp from Fre eway 99 ) Pres en ted by Valley Spor t Inc. , 505 W Ke arney Bl vd ., Fre s no 93706 . 5900 purs e plus 40% over 54,000 gate . Also on Jan ua ry 7, 14 (n o race on 28th) an d Fe bruary 4th, 11 & 18. Pit gat es open 4:30. Prac tice Irom 5:30, FI RST RACE 7:30 p. ... ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• -

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