Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

..... CIl 'OIl til You'll •America' 5 Only leekly Mlfircycle NewSIIaper" PU,b1isher••••• Cha rles C. Clay Ion " •• It BUSlne,s s M anage r•• Sharon Clayton Edlt oria l s to ries , ca rtoons , photos , <::l rculation Mgr• • • Gay e Thomason etc. a re we l comed and will be pai d Fl~ST • • ,,~di ~~ ••••••••• , • Ca rol Sims for upon publicatio n (except pre ss , ' ve . nc Mgr•••••• Tom Culp rel ea se s a nd " Voice" let ters .) AdA Ph,OIo Edi lor• •••• Denni s Greene dressed, stamped envelope assures S5 1. Bus. MlI;r••• Meli nda Foster return. &411 N. Ling Beacll Blld. Lab 1.'ec~nician •• , .Bill Pe Uill;re w Singh, COP)' prtc e • •• • • ••• • 2:i¢ LIng Beach, Calif. !G115 Re c""tlom s 1. ••• •Louis e M arshall ~b5cnPtion: One year 2nd class Box 498, LOIIg Beaell, Calif; Publi sh ed we ekly except the fi rst Mall ••• ',' ••• • • • • • ••• $7.50 an d las t wE;ek of the ca le nda r year One Y!'ar First Cla ss Mail • • $ 101.0 0 PboAe: 42H4U by C&S Publishing Co•. Pos t Office (Subscn bers pl ea s e allo w three (Area Clde 213) weeks for address change. ) Box 498 . Long Beach , California . , Adver tls l ng , ra te s and ci rculation Second Class postage paid a t Long From LA. PhHes: &3~8I44 Beach , Ca lli. lnfo rmatiop Will be sent upon request. • .1••,. 0... ~ til :l I:: til ..., THE EURO PEANS WI LL BE BACK FORAN BELIEVES M PEOPLE IC FAVOR COMPULSORY HELMET~ ASSEMBL Y CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE JOHN FRANCIS FORAN Membe r of Assembly, Twent y-thir d District District Office 141 Battery Street, Room 662 San F r ancisco, Calif. 94111 Tel.: 981-7938 Sacramento Address Room 5175, state Cap it ol Sacrame nto, Calif. 95814 Com mittee s Chai r man, Transporatlon & Commerce Judiciary Finance and Insurance Dear Mr . Clay ton: Now that the extrao rdinary s ession is over in Sacra men to , I a m abl e to ca tch up on s ome back cor r espondence. I would like to tak e this oppor tuntty to thank you for your kind le tter of Dece mber 4th an d for taking the time to outli ne the gener al posltlon--as you se e it-of the cycle r iders and industry. ,To co me r ight to the poin t, I mus t a dmit that I have often conside r ed introduc ing two s epara te bllls pe r taining to motorcycle safety regulation, but have come to the co nclusion that a " total package" approach Is a nec es s ity In the coming s e ssion. Needl ess to say, I would much rather have you r good effor tsdi rec· te d in s upport of my le gislation than against it. F rom many conversations that I have had, I find that, in fact, many moto r cycle people are in favor of a strong helmet r equir e me nt; although, I a m not unaware of the general controver s ial nature of the subject. Once again, my sincere tha nks for tak ing the time to s hare you r views with me . •• Sincerely, JOHN FRANCIS FORA:-I san F rancisco, Calif. ( ~ We ar e not ' motorcy cl e peo pl e' John, Just people peopl e. 1I0w many of us ha ve you co nsulted la te ly? " ) DESERT M.C.. riOT DUSTERS The DESERT M,C. club is sponsoring their first race on January 21st. In your last week ' s editlon in the event section, the Information on our r un was not included although it had been in the previous week's paper. As noted in the A.M .A, Dis tr tc t 37, 1968 Calendar Of Events, a copy enclos ed, a mistake was made and the " DUster s" club was named as the sponsoring cl ub of the Har e Scr a mbles fo r the date of Jan uary 21st. Naturally urts doe s not he lp us in an y way. ' lIiasmuch as our club is new an d this is the fi r s t r aces we have sponsored, we would ap pr ecIate an y a nd all the help we can ge t in 0 r d e r to let the p ubli c (racers) know abou t our Hare Scra mble s . Our club realize s that omi ttiug our even t in your last week ' s iss ue was apparently an oversight, however , we would appreciate it if you could make sure that it will be included in the next issue and those following edi tions that include Januar y 21s t events. We wis h to thank you for your help and your prompt attention to this above matter . DESERT M .C, La Mir a da, Calif. Inte rn a ti onal Moto- Cross has sched uled three I n t er n a ti 0 n a 1 Moto- Cross events for the followi ng dates: Los Ange les area _ July 4, 1968 San Diego area - J uly 7, 1968 Los Angeles area - J uly 14, 1968 A team of five European riders will parti cipate, Including Torsten Hallman an d one other top star depending on riding s chedules . Three les s er r iders will appear with the m . P romo tor s or cl ubs wis hing to s chedule a race are ask adto get tn touch with Inte r na tional MotoCross as soon as Possible . These events are being held in order to he lp keep alive the now growing interest in this sport. Inter es ted parties may con ta c t Med-Internationa l, P,O. Box 3571 , Sa n Diego, Calif. 92103, or call (714) 460- 4289 . MAKES IT ALL WORTHWHILE Kind Si rs, and Dea r , Sweet, Bea utiful Girls, Congra tulatio ns on a wonderful year's work completed. Your s is the be s t motorcycle r a cing coverage ava ilable an ywhere. I often wonder how you can pos sibly accomplis h so much before each publishing date. I especially liked the Holiday Special issue. Thanks for the photos of the staff. It is good to know wha t the peop le look li ke , who bring so much reading pleasure to me every week , Could you please publish some closeup pictures of the riders, without hel mets so we can see their faces ? Some good pic tures li ke thos e of the s laff In the Holiday Special iss ue . Maybe you co uld bring you Calendar of Events up a li ttle more curren t. (Dec. 28 issue says the re will be a r ace on Dec. 21.) The very best compliment goes to Carol Stms for her poe m " If." It is the best poem In my collection, and no apologies to Rudyard Kipling or to an yone els e . Thanks again for a wonde rful paper, and good luc k through the :-lew Year. ALAN O. ABERCRO MBIE Boron, Calif. (~u r thank s 10 YOU for all the kind words. You can be s ure they a re appr eciated b)' the entire s taff. Your suagestions a re well tak en, 100, and de sp i te occasio nal discrepancies in Ca le nda r race da te s due 10 pos t offi ce handlin g of s e condcl ass mail , e very e ffort "i ll be e xtended by Cycle News 10 mak e even more progress in '6 8. " ) DID YOU K OW? ...That " Mi ke Hallwoo d, moto rcyclist," was li sted on the latest Roll of Honor Is s ued each year by Britain's Queen Elizabeth , al ong with other notables in the fie l ds of poli tic s, a r t ' literature medicine , and like endeavor~? ( Last yea.: The Bea Ues ma de It , remember?) * ** * ** * * *• • • * *• • * • * ...That a 250cc Gr eeves Moto-Cros s Spe cial scrambler is be ing pre sented to the Monlagu Motor Museum of Beaulieu Hampshire, England? This ma chi ne is ~ replica of the mode l with which Dave Bickers won the European Moto-Cross Cham pi ons hips in both 1960 and '6 1. *• **••*••••••*••**• FLUB STUB DEPARTMENT A Cycle Ne ws nub s tub goes to Howard Bare of Downey, Califor nia . In our r ece nt r epor t of the Riverside Road Races we e r ronious ly cr edited Norm Reeve s with tuning the BSA 650cc that Rod Goul d rode to victory . It was really tuned by Howar d. • WRITE FOR YOUR RIGHTS SAN DI EGO, ANYONE? Please print the na me and address of the person assigning Dis trict 38 (san DIego-Imperial Valley) desert trall bike numbers . Thanks . RICH WALDEN 381 Meado wlark Lane Banning , Cal. 92220 ("Doe s an)'body know? Pl ea s e tell us, 100." ) DEHESA COURSE COMMENT I would li ke to ta ke exception to Mr. Shedd' s commen ts abou t the course a t Dehe sa Speed way for the Inte r na tional Moto-cross . His view s of the co ur se of not bei ng as good as othe r courses was not shared by the Eur opean r iders . They rate d the cou rse a s the best they have ridden in the United States. Ake Johns'iO of the Husqvarna Te am, n, laid out the course. The Hi Boots Motorcycle Club felt that Ake Johns so n was better qualified to lay out an a uthenti c moto -cros s . Mr . Shedd co mmented tha t the track was like a T ,T , course , Well, I've ridden a lot of T ,T . courses an d if that was a T,T., I'd hate to r ide a motocr oss ! P .S. We are s orry abo ut the pa r king proble m due to the unexpec ted large crowd. Next yea r we won' t have that problem . GRANT BROWN san Diego, Calif. YOU MEET THE G REAT BEHIND A NUMBER PLATE Some several years have ,pas sed since tha t Labo r Day weeke nd which come s now to my mind. I was attending the annual Tobacco Trail Classic Road Rac e at Marlbo r o, Maryland, and , a s was us ual the weather gods wer e smlllng on the event. Clear blue s kies, warm but not humtd, a beau tiful track and so me of the fin est r i ders in the wor ld combined to mak e the day a Road Rac e fan ' s dellght . I anticipated a good r a ce , and ( to unders ta te) was not dis appoi nted. The smoking herd of Class C machines got off to a very good s tart, and if an yone wants my definltlon of excitement, its wat ching some forty-odd of the world's best heading for that first "S" turn and into the hairpin . George Roeder , Harleymoun ted, immedia tely domi nated thi s particular s how, but was hav ing a helluva time trying to break a way from a Triumph rider, who a t times headed him . Back a nd forth they diced on the tig ht and twisting course untrl, on the seco nd or third lap , the Trtumph went out from under i ts r ider tn the pr oce s s of negotiating a 180- degr ee turn at the boftom of Marlboro' s "boot" section. I breathed a s igh of r elief when I saw him s crambling to his fe et, disdainfully wave off proffered assistance, and ve r y Intent on ge tti ng his machine r ighted Meanwhi le , the pack had all passed and peace an d qul et retgne d mo men tar ily. "Don' t feel too ba d, fella," I thought . .. Anyone who can give the fabulous Roede r the ti me you did, de serves a lot of cr edi t. And there will be other r aces ." Even while thesesympatheti c tho ughts r an through my mind, this kid had the mac hine upright, and was now de te rmined to get tt goi ng; head down, back arched eve ry muscle and sinew in hi s straining, he ran and pus he d. 1 noticed that practically every specator tn my s ec ti on of the s tands was tnt nUy wat chIng not the race - but this one rider who now leaped onto the ma chine in th~ class ic Isle of Man style. At this point, you could dam n near have heard a pin dr op . With bated breath and lower lip clamped firm ly between my teeth I li ste ned - the megaphones co ughed once then roared! Simultaneously the machin~ leape d forward, the r evs built up and he was ba ck in biz! As the ever-faithful thirty- incher s creame d out is renewed challenge I noticed s m il es all around txxJY This is an appeal to all mot or cycle r iders who feel that a law requIr ing the wearing of a helmet and goggles a t all times is a violati on of the indiVidual' s r ight to make a judgme nt r egarding his own safety. P lease write to your state assemblyman and senator ' as soon as possible. The r es tricti ve hel met bill will be re- introduced to the state legislature by Assemblyman Foran of san Francisco again soon, an d the most effective way to ge t It defeated is by nooding our lawmakers with pr otes ts. I a m writing a letter a day in order to get my ide as a cross to a minimum of 20 assemblymen and senators . Most of us agree that it is sensible to wear a hel met in traffic , but r ather than r estrictive legislati on - which will become increa singly res tricti ve once the fi r st blll is passed, l et us pr ess for bette r training of ride rs and for an a cknowledgement by the motoring public that a motorcycle has a r ight to the road, and that this right mus t be r e cogni zed. Too man y rtde rs are killed or inj ur e d by i r r e s p 0 n s t b le automobile drivers! Le tt er s should be poli te, sh ort, or tgt -, nal , and firm . Send clippings fr om magazines and papers to illustrate your points . CLIFF BOSWELL Ar royo Gr an de , Calif. (· You ca n lind out your senator and ass emhlyman's name and address by call(ngyour loc al dai b ne wsp a pero r Ubrary." me, tender,ed by of all people, a group of n o t o r Lo u s Iy cha uvi nis ti c Harley r iders , yet! Well , he was back in th e running , but al most a full la p be hind the last place man! Fo r a while he was in a race all by himself, and brother, he got it rode! Seve r al laps later he caught the tal l end of the pack. then s te a dily, determinedly, ... , e , " .. he pr oceeded to eat them UP. Each lap saw hi s pos ition advance, a s rider after rider dropped behi nd hi m . The Harleymounted Roeder was securely in ftrst place, but the time gap was closing, a s ec ond or two a lap, bu t clos ing. The cl ocks ticked on and Inexo rably on. The determi ned ll ttle fe llow had now taken over second place , but with three laps to go, Roeder still held an ele ven second lead, an insurmountable time barrier . At thi s point, en te r Lady Luclt, or Father Fa te(depending on your brand). Comtng through the oval in fr ont of the grandstand, the chain let go on Roeder' s machine, and the second place Triumph rtder , still r iding a grueling, hard contest, never relaxing for e ven a moment, won the race a ful l 25 seco nds ahead of the r unner - uP. Smiling to myself , I though; With that kind of co urage and determination that fellow ought to r eally go p laces ~ the racing wor ld. I looked at the number on his bike, then checked the program which I ha d cu r l ed up in my hand. It r ead, simply: GARY NIXON- HYATTSVILLE MQ ..' J , • ' And, now for the only time tn my llfe I can s it back and say: I told you JOSEPH McFA DDEN Ha waitan Gardens, Calil . so: •

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