Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

SexySachs rider made II throu&h In good shape. Some rode while others walked. Heavy rai ns jusl prior to the Enduro made gumbo 01 the course. Below: some com petitors decided to sit tills one out and walt lor drier weather. Those who packed double, like this Shamrock team, lound the going easier with extra body to help push. SOLD THROUGH ~o~~~ r.~~c.,", ~~S~ and deve lop men t co . .1:69 ORANGE .AV E . • GOLETA , C A l-IF • • 9301 7 P H. 805-967-e91 9 Di s trib ute d by 181 6 Ge orga 51. L o s An gele s. C ali f. 9 00 15 (213 ) 7 49-5 153 (D eale r Inqu irie s ONL Y) By Robe rt O. Fee 'The new offi cers of the Southern California Road Riders Committ ee took their chai r s an d Chairman J.M . Jones gavelled the meeting to order at 8:09 p.rn , Monday, Fe bruary 4th . In his opening remarks, J .M. thanked the former officers for their effo rts and predicted a good yea r for the RRC. He said be hoped that ali would work together for greater accompli shments in 1968. With the minu tes approved Treasurer Sherman Ame s s pelled out the de tai ls of the financial loss incur r ed on the dance. Howar d Eble r epor ted on the Com petition Congress where the RRC was denie d a vote. Howard stated that the Great White Father of Worthingto n eviden ced a very low opinion of r oad r iders an d couldn't be bothe r ed with the ir pr oble ms . The Highway Kings withdrew their motion to delete the Supplemental Rules as the first order of old Busi nes s . In January Sherman Ames of the Cen taurs, moved to de lete the power of the Chai r man to levy penalties and specified Sec tion F - l of Arti cle III (Suppl em ental Rules) which r eads; " Repr i mand or su s pension for cor r upt pr actices s ha ll be :nfli cted by the Executive Board, but for a first offe nse•.•There s hall be no a ppeal fr om the suspension or reprimand in flicted by the chairman as punishment for cor r upt practices ." The motion was brought to the floor and a cc epted by the RRC Body. No mention was made about nor a ny action taken on Section F - 4 of Ar ticle III whic h r eads: "For ma jor offenses, corrupt practices and for violation of the pr in ted r ules, the Chai r man of the Exec utiv e Board may fine a rider up to $50 .00 for each offe nse , or s us pend him for any per iod up to pe rmanent disqualification." The Refe ree sh ort- ci rcuited the rules for protest and under old business introduce d a moti on· to 'for give the six-point •• ::::: ~ : . : •• • ~ ./I' ~, • " .. pe nalty ass es s ed by '67 Cha ir ma n, Bob Adsi t against 5 member clubs for viola tion of the priJ\ted rules . Ads i t, at the Janua r y meeting ha d r efus ed to reverse his pe nalty a nd pointed out that the rules cle ar ly s ta ted the next s tep of the protest was an appeal to the AMA Compe ti tio n Committee. Ames of the Centau r s (o ne of the penali ze d clubs) explained tha t the new E- Board felt that the prote st was invalid because it was not filed withi n 5 days of when the offens es were committed. This reasoning, accepted by the body, seems to pretty well establish a precedent; Le , Violations of the printed ru les (Constitution, By-laws , or s upple mentary r ules) mus t be protested within 5 days after the offense occurs. Dar rol Steen, representing some 300 outrider s thr ough the seat of the Pacific Coasters M.C. queried Chair ma n Jones if the entry form causing all of the problems would be dropped? The answer was yes, the entry forms had been dropped from the Supplementary Rules an d no, the promoting cl ubs would probably not drop the offending clause and the proper for m to use now is a s r equired by the AMA Rules . A quick check of the AMA Sportsmen Rules on page 67 revealed tha t the AMA does not include the clause that Is objected to by so many riders; I agree to hold blameles s the AMA. ..and any prope r ty owner or owner s, for a ny loss or injury to myself or property•••. ! Any proper ty owne r is deemed by so me to be much too br oad an d includes too many, for a prudent person to pre- release . Many of the r iders had protec ted themselves by li ning out tha t clause before signing the release . The Supplementary Rules had elim inated the "and any pr operty owner or owne r s" and ma de provisions for r e leasing specific persons or firms a ctually needing the pr otec tion . The RRC body concu r red with the Centaur's ob jec tion to sp ecifical ly releasing only those r e quiring it and deleted the entr y f or m from the Supple men ta ry Rule s . Following seven months of s il ence in r es ponse to ' 67 Chai r man Ads i t' s request for volunteers to plan the Spri ng Tour , the refere e a dmitted that the tour plans were .j months late and called for an immedia te appointment of a comm itt ee hea d. Bob Decker of the Topper' s l\I.C . voluntee r ed to plan and coordinate the City of Hope Benefit with the assistance of Hal Brown . Twelve clubs im mediately vol unteer ed for work assignments . Howard Eble of the Highway Kings suggested that pla nning for the Pine Cone Rall y s houl d start an d he vol unteered to begin the work. A su ggestion to go e lsewhere than Ca r s on City was made, specifically Morro Bay. Eble said he would inves ti gate alternat e destina tion seriously s ugge sted but all advise must be in by June as he didn' t intend to be caught sh ort by tim e as happe ne d in 1967. As soo n as New Business opened, Mi ke Evans of the Highway Kings introduce d a resolntion that was seconded by Arr ant of the Ace of Clubs and Carm icheal of the Golden Sta te r s . Whereas, there a r e wicked and misguided persons seeking to r estrain and deny the rights, liberty , an d pe r so nal en joyment of motorcyclists through unnecessary restrictive legis la tion, an d Whereas, lt is in the best in terests of the members of this organization to be informed of, and if nec essary, oppose thos e ene mies of mot or cycli ng , a nd, Wher eas , It Is within the purposes and means of this organiza tion to do so, be it the refore Resolved; That the Southern Ca li for nia Road Ride r ' s Committee su pports the printing and postage costs of the Co mmittee for Better l\Iotorcycling In their effo rts to combat such r es tricti ve legls- latl on a nd info rm the RRC of legislative assault s on our rights , liberty and person a l enjoy me nt of motorcyclcing by said wicked a nd misguided persons . The motion to adopt the resolution carried with only the Knights a nd one other club dissenting. Costs of the pr inting and mailing was dete rm ined not to exce ed an average of $7 .50 pe r month for the 1e g i s 1a t i v e session which sh ouldn't extend past Augus t . Ken Harrison' s r es ignation fr om the Rules Com mittee was a ccepted by the body. Ken a nd his wife , Lee, ha d devote d the past few ye a rs to the sp ort a nd the RRC. Ken was a ctive in developi ng the Supplemental Rules and their recent r evis ion. Both the referee and Tom Orc utt of ihe Spinning Spokes, who worked with Ken on the r ule s revisi on, volu ntee red for the job as Rules Commi ttee Chai r man. Twenty-four of the twenty- seve n mem ber clu bs .ans we r ed .the r oll call in r e- spo nse to a letter to all representatives ur ging their attendance as a s ub ject of vital Importance was i mpending, The A. M.A. had refused to re- charter the RRC, main tai ning that as the RRC was a cl ub of clubs rather than a club of indi viduals, the RRC is a spo rts Committ ee and not eligible for AMA charter or sanc tion s . Treas ur er Sherman Ames had placed a long distance tel ephone call to W.T. Ber ry in Worthi ngton trying to fi nd out why the sudden change in policy after 14 years and if poss ible settle the question. Barr y evid ently reinforced Eble's repor t on his attitude towar d Road Ride rs because Ames stated that it was a waste of 15 minutes as fa r as the coope r a ti on he r ecei ved. After the r iders learned that there was no satisfa ctory answers available , the discuss ion turned to possible alternative actions. The prime que s ti ons to arise were: 1. What ad vantage does membership in the AMA offer? 2. Wha t would be los t if the RRC did not rejoin ? 3. What is involved for the RRC to tak e over AMA functions (?) in the Road Ridi ng Field. Positive Actions decided on was : 1. Organize a subsidiary club of indi vidual s (same offi ce r s as RRC) to obtai n sanctions for RRC events . 2. Conta ct Bill Adams for further information and pos s ible a ction. 3. Conta ct Distric t 37 Sports Com mittee for pos s ible joint action . None of the RRC reps have bee n pa rticularly overjoyed with the service from the AMA and thi s last ac tion may be the one to break the r elations hip. On a motion by Ames, the body voted to promote the Ci ty of Hope Spring Tour whether AMA sanc tion the event or not. Another moti on to secure tour awards to be awarded in addition to AMA awards (if they come) was passed . An articl e appearing in a r ec ent issue of Cycle News was r ead al oud word for wor d by Treas ur er Sherman Ames and reference made to another article in a diffe r en t issue. Ames informed the riders that he was very much offended that anyone would wri te and publi s h su ch s tatements . He proceeded to r ead a r ebuttal letter whic h most of the clubs . also slgned; .

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