Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

ATTN: SI. Calif. Desert Racers VOICE VOICE AND MORE VOICE ATTENTI ON ROXY ROCKWOOD In the fut ure please don' t me nti on that you are a me mber of the MRI . J ust becaus e you pald a few doll ars for membershtp does n' t make you a spokesman for the group. Only the Board of Directors, acting upon the decis ions r ea ched by true-blue members, are authorized to speak for Motorcycle Racers , Inc. JA CK 0' BRIE N SONNY NUTTER CHUCK J ONES GARY WALDO JIM NICHOLSON ELLIOTT SCHULTZ APOLOGIA I entered your " Win the Motorcycle of Your Dreams" contest, and was for- tunate enou gh to win a tee shirt. I sent in many entries, and all, except one, were Inteded as a jo ke . Two of these were Japanese haiku, I never expected to see them published. While scanning your April Fool Issue I found the haiku, I realize that the y were " Cycle News' " pr ope r ty , and that you had the right to pr int them, but couldn't you have added that, In line with the rest oC the publtcauon, the y weren't intended as a sample of my best wrl ling? I meant for them to be pretentious, because I C igured a majori ty of the other entries would eXhibit the same quality. My crystal ego Is at stake, Mr. Clayton. My friends don't believe I was kidding. If, in the future, you intend to print any more of my "poetry", would you please note that I tried my best to make them as bad as was possible? RONNIE PEET North Hollywood, CallCornla IT'S THE GAS, MAN I have just visited Perris race track Cor the Clrst time and enjoyed It very much , However , I saw something I never saw before In the two years and several different tracks my husband has race at every weekend. ellow rider" IC I saw a man ask a " C he could borrow some two-stroke gas . The fellow rider made such a fass about lending thi s poo r guy some gas I thought he was going to have a fit. He worked himseU up Into such a s tate of an ge r It was really sad, all over helping another r ider . Being very poli te an d mo re than willing to pa y for the gas he was charge d $1.00 for one gallon. I have rarely seen s uch rudeness an ywher e . We a re all Involved In this grea t spo rt of cyc le racing an d want to see It blossom. But unless we help each other, who will? This kind of a ction Is just not the way. NAME WITHHELD (At Re ques t oCHusband) Th ousand Oa ks, Calif. IC you are accustomed to riding In sand, sagebrush, desert roads and trails In a speedy manner, please use extreme caution before entering the ·100- Mile " Bonan za" Hare and Hound at Reno, Neva da April 7th. The Reno area has the s ame s a nd, sagebrush, desert roads and tr a il s as you have In the South, but the r e will be lots oC " go-fas ter s " out of th e mudd y hill s oC Nor thern Calif. who plan on kicki ng up a little dus t for yo ul N.I.F. (North Is Faster) Orangevale, canr, DAIL Y PAPERS, TOO H- D dealer Joe Walker of Santa Ana, Calif. cli pped the foll owing letter from the " Dear Ed" col umn oChi s l ocal dally newspa pe r to show the wides pread cover age being gi ve n to thoughts on antlhel met le gislati on not only by the mo tor cyc l e pr es s but by the gener al news media a s well . " PROTECTION" Our politicians are at It again, Th ey Insist on prot ecting me from mys elf. This tim e a bill is being considered which would make It a crime for me to rid e my motorcycle unles s I wear a helmet. If one believes in Individual re s pons lbil i t.v , there are no rational arguments for this law. They are tl)'ln g to treat th e s ymptoms , not the disease. s ta tisti cs will bear me out when I say tha t mos t motorcycle accidents occur durin g the first few months {If a rider' s expe rie nce. Lack of skill Is generally the ca use . If the legislators are really Interested In prevenunz motorcycle accidents and making the streets safer for e ve ryo ne . the Jozical course would be to require a special license in onler to operate a twowheeled vehicle. This would at le ast make sure people had a minimum oC skill beCore the )' are allowed to venture onto the streets. There are numerous arguments altllinst this law. A cyclist wearing a helm et might be more IIkeb to take more chances than If he were not wearing one. Furth e/'" more, a he lmet can cut down on vision, freedom QC movement, and hearing, s lowing reaction to emergencies. Th e law could actually ca use an Increase In cycle accidents. Rut the II10St Importa nt argum ent Is that a cycllsl doe s not violate anyone' s rights by reCus mg to wea r a helmet. I urge all cyclists and others Interested In freedom to write your congressman and oppose this la w. A similar bill was deCeated last year by a flood o f letters, but polllicians never seem to lea rn. If It Is pa sse d It will be too late to co mplai n. For thos e of y&U who think this law doe sn 't aerect you, don't kid yourself! An encroachment "" the Creedom oC a mlnorlt.v ts a thr ea t to all. Maybe you will be In the next persec uted mlnoriw (or majority). \\lLLIMI J. W EBER 1623 S. Walnut, Anah e im CONSTRUCTIVE CRI TICISM The Southern Califor nia deser t Run on the 24th was the wor st I have attended. It was bad en ougb to travel five mil es to the pits on tbe Oregon tr a il an d Clnd out that th e starti ng area was three and a half miles fr om there. But what really griped the r i ders I talked to was the lack of ma r ke r s on the course . This cost a young Grt>eves r ider a broken leg. It s eems someone had neglected to put danger mar ks bef ore an a br upt Cour foo t DROPI It' s not that ( mind s topping to help a guy who's hurt , but how woul d you like to be on your melo n for elght -weeks readin g Cyc le News an d wishing you were out there ? GARY FOR TH Rosemead, Calif. "!l ow abo ut everyone who has a grip e abuut the way some cl ub throws a race actually volunteering to help put on a better run ne xt ti me? Entries at club-run events have more tha n double d at the same time tha t club members hip Is decllntng , Docs any rea der ha ve a suggestion as to how cl ubs can put on better races with fe wer working me mbers or how they can get more help?" HARLEV- DAVIDSON 0' J Long Special We Have Many New 1968 XLCH & XLH's In Stoe' Now 3654 No. LOIIJ Ie.e' II'd. 426-nOI TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN mnntesa And I hope It concerns every motorcycle racer and member of the AMA. At a recent cl ub-s pons or ed race at Per ris , Ca li for nia , the Novice class had 3 laps oC practice, the Amateurs had 2 laps of a ction. BUT the Experts had 4 laps of practice . When I asked the referee how co me the Expe r ts had more practi ce time he told me that mo re people paid a dollar to s ee them race then any other class. I told hi m I pald the same to enter the race an d the same to Join the AMA as th ey did a nd his r e mark was, " But who ROGER STANLEY of BURIEN MO NTESA, who is both rider and mechanic backs Montesa because he i s National #2 pro Novice and ri di ng Montesa has always been a winner for him. are you ?" I consider th is an Insult to all racers under Expert . We are all tryin g to become Exper ts some day. I hav e been racing 3 yr s, I am an Ama teu r now but I did n' t know that anythi ng unde r an Exp er t was nothing. I would appreciate If yo u woul d pr int a few words on this s ubjec t In Cyc le News so that all other clubs woul d take heed an d not have the sa me attitude. "AL WA YS TRYING" P uente, Calif . "WIU, such a fine app reci ation of ju stice, you might make a good reC e yourself, ere sir. .. re you no w a member of a c lub \ which puts on rac e s ?" ROGER STAtiLEY BURIErl MONTESA BAD GUYS CHASE SHEEP, SHOOT DOWN TRAILBLAZERS Our club would like to apol ogize to the r iders an d fan s who dr ove to Bakersfi eld Cor our Moto- X only to find It had been can cell ed. We sent out about 300 notices but unfor tuna tely a Cew were missed. We had a beautiful r ace plann ed . The s it e was Ide ally s ltua te d on r ol1lng grass cove r ed terrain, wild n ower s jus t beginning to bloom and large cotton wood trees to shade the s pectators. But Sunday, Ma rch 24th, approximately 25 unknown riders went unde r, around an d through the Cence around the proper ty, compl etely dis regardi ng the " .·0 TRESPASS" s igns, and had gr ea t s port chasing another tenant' s 1500 head oC sheep. F~ ..ed with an Injuncti on an d pos s ible law suits the land owne r had no other alternative than to cancel our lease. We found this out Monday night and tried to notIfY everyone but with s uch noti ce a few couldn't be reach ed. We spent a lot of time a nd money to make this race a lot of C for rider and un spectator alike only to Clnd t t a waste because oC a Cew Irres ponslbles who spoiled a lot of fun for the majortty, At any rate the club wlll continue to negotiate and we may be able to use this site next fall. Hope to see you then, J ACK OGLE Ker n Co unty Tr ai lblazer s . Shaf ter, CaliC 145 Southwest 152 Seattle. Wash in gton 98166 ~\VA MON TESA MOTORS , INC . S ole U.S . Distributor 3657 Bever ly Bou lev" Lo.s Anve les . Ca liforn ia 90004 BULTACO' GREEYES Fiberglass Tanks ' 40. lV/Cap PL US a co..l. . II.. 01 fl lIer, la.. part. lor BoUaco MaO Orde r to: VEGAS CYCLE CENTER 1020 Freno"t, La" Veil'''' ' Nev . 89101 ••••••••••••••••••• Filtmn At r Filters, .Iuds on Prods. .. .. .. .. • Francisco Castoroi}, IJri'slide, FI- .. ala ss ta nks & scats, .Iohn .Cooper & .. IIi g John lIoo ts. All Avail abl e From .. .. SIMPSON MOTORS .. • • 4210 San Fernando Rei. Glendale. Calli_ 91204 • .. • (213\ 247-3068 .. '" ••• * • • .• '" * * * '" ••• '" ... HELPFUL HOW-TO INFO All rea de rs who care enoug h to wr ite to thei r California legislators should a sk for these two free pubhcation, which will prove Invaluable: 1) List of Members, 1968 Ca lifor nia Legislature and State an d Congr es s ional OCflcer s. 2) Assembly & Senat e Standing Committees. Numbe r 2 Isn' t much good without Number I , as com m I It e e members' names are usually Ilsted by last name only: the "List" gi ves home office addresses, as well as party affiliation, both good to know . Doubtless ot he r states provide similar ai ds , for the a s king. As f this writing the futu re of the Foran Bill Is uncer tain; equipped with these booklets, Im mediate a ction on any Issue will be grea tly fa cilitated. ER NEST L. KRUMM, JR. Kerman, Calif. N.Y. MAYOR SPEAl

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