Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

MEET THE AND HIS RACER TUNER CAL RAYBORN Story and Photos by Bill Hann er On a typical r esidential street in the " Diego suburb of Spring ValleY,.stands a modest but modern California style home. It l ooks very much like the other houses in the neighborhood and the only thiDg that hints of the type of man who lives here, is the blue delivery van in the double driveway . On the rear doors of the truck i s a si gn painter's rendition of a road racing C motorcycle and the number plates on this painting are white with a black #25. It is the home of Cal Rayborn, winner of th e 1968 Daytona 200- Mile National Cha mpi onship Motorcycle Race. A light tap on the front door is answered by Jacqueline, his l ovel y wife of nine years, who graciously i nvited us to enter . Cal and their two sons are ju st finishing their evening me al as we are seated on the divan i n the spac ious living r oom , and th eir two dachshunds raise a canine clamor at the patio door fo r admittance . Cal Rayborn i s a slender, soft spoken 28-year-old youth, with a constantsmUe on his lips and a twinkle i n his eyes . His handshake i s firm and friendly. His two sons , Jack, four y ears old, and Buddy, ei ght years old, with childish vigor and curiosity wanted to know all about th e photo and recording equipment tha t we were carrying. One spo ken word from , their father , however, sent them scurryi ng to their bedroom while the " gr ownups talked." Cal knows motorcycle racing pr etty well as he starte d when he was 14 y ears old. In th e l ocal san Diego TT races and scrambles he lear¥d to ~ pr ofici en t . He speaks of cycle r acing matter-offactly , as a master craftsman who knows his own limitations, but with no false modesty abou t his success . in talking with him about racing you get the feeling that he realizes a person has to be good to win over the field of Expert riders and machinery at Daytona. That on any given Sunday anyone of the contenders could win, but on the day of the race he and his machine beat the top riders of the country which automatically makes him the best. He doesn't say one boastful word of his accomplishments, but you know without a doubt that here is a man confident of his ability. This is his fourth year to compete at DIIytona and his best previous finish was lastyear when he rode the Andres H-D to fifth position. Cal remembers the 1968 race vividly. He recounts that he took the lead from his second row pole position on the second lap and led laps three and four. On the fifth lap he spUled momentarily, recovered witho ut leaving his bike, but lost the lead. wllich he recovered on the sixth lap and held to the finish. By the f ortieth lap, Cal says, he realized that, barring trouble, he had the race won.He was asked if any r ider i n particular gave him trouble. "Nobody crowded me," he stated. san • Cal Rayborn poses proudly wlth "h ls Daytona 200-Mlle Nationa l Champ ionship victory trophy. The rules require at least one pit stop and that's all he took. He was i n such good shape that he didn't even require a sip of wat er . The pit cr ew was ready to cl ean his windshield and fac e mask, but they were as clean as when he started and he didn't need anything. When asked about physical conditioning to prepare for the Qlytona 200 mUer he said that he did nothing spec ial in way of training. He neither smokes nor drinks, however , and j ust naturally likes to go to bed early. His wife v ol unte ered that he got out and trotted about a mlle a day to keep up his stam ina and then Cal admitted he takes daily vitam i n p1lls. When reminded tha t he has a reputation of being proficient in all types of races and as ked if be had any prefe rence, he said he had the strongest inclination towards r oad racing. I n discussing the va rious road racing course s throughout the country he seemed to think tha t he preferred Laconia to the rest. Cal' s plans for the t u t u r e i nclude entering every National Championship point event that he can get to . He i s a workilllr plumber by trade and has ' to make arrangements with his boss totlike off from work. His boss George Admire is pretty much of a motorcycle enthusIast himself and although on the shady side of 40, still actively rides in the 250cc and Open Expert sportsman events on Southern California tracks . He has even been known to close up shop and go to OLytona with Cal, to work on his pit crew. " I have to make the m all," explains Cal, "if I am going to have a chance at the big Number One." He has enough at a lead now on the men tha t he considers serious contenders, that with a moderate to good season he has a chance to win the top position. Cal estimates that on several of his trips down the backstretch at I:aytona, he reached speeds in excess of 155 mph. The motorcycle world can be proud of Calvin Rayborn. He is an athlete with high moral and physical standards. His lovely wife and children renect his int egri ty as a family man , and his skill on a two-wheeled machine speaks for i ts elf. At home with the Rayborn family: Cal and wife Jac ki e wi th sons Jack (Iell) and Buddy. LEON,ARD ANDRES Story and Pho tos IlY B11I Hanne r Leonard Andres is a Jovial, ouigoing man with graying hair . His hand has a steady grip and his ready smUe conveys that here is a man who enjo ys life to the f ullest . Leonard is the man who prepared the Harley- Davidson r acing machine that Cal Rayborn rode to Victory at the OLytona 1968 2oo- mUe Championship races. He has been an H- D dealer for mor e than 30 y ears and obviousl y enjoys hi s chosen vocation. ' Motorcycling i s fo rtunnate that he has been ac tive in the trade, as his con tributions to the spor t are myri ad. F rom i ts inception i n 1937, Leonard An dres has been a vital part of the Day tona National Championship races. He r ecalls the o ri gi n al old beac h-road cour se which consisted of a 1- 1/2 mUe straight over a macadam road, for the back stretch, and a 1-1/2 -mile straight on the beach, for the f ront stretch. The two straights were connected by highbanked turns at either end resulting in a 3.l-mUe course. He recalls a little later that the straights were lengthened to 2 mUes , making it a 4.l-mUe co urse. He was there In 1961 when the AMA moved the Championship race to the Qlytona International Speedway because it would enable them to schedule races at their convenience instead of the dictates of the ocean's tide. It remained a two-mUe course until 1964. Tha t year it was changed to the full track road co urse at 3.81 mUes. He reca1ls the early days and the r iders of those times with nosta1g1a , as he singles out inter esting and memorable in c id e n t s of the various races. Leonard An dres i s a " dyed in the wool" san Di egan and speaks of his home to wn llke a Chamber of Com mer ce advertisement. So it is with mani fest pr i de that he discloses that on eight occasions the winning r ider of the bi g ,race called san Di ego home. The fir st san Diegan to win th e classic was F l oy d Emde on an Indian back in 1948. F loyd i s now the Suzuki-BSA dealer in san Diego, and has a l7- year-old son, Don, who shows a lot of pr omise i n cy cl e racing under his f a m 0 u s f ath er ' s tutelage . I n fact he was l eadi ng i n his Novi ce race at Day tona this y ear when his machine failed. But ,tha t' s ano ther story for another tim e. In 1955 L eonard Andres ' was doubly proud as he stood in the winner's ci r cle wi th his arm around his son, Brad, who had won on the Harley- Davidson pr epared by him. This scene was r epea ted two more times; i n 1959 and 1960. In 1957 when Brad Andres was laid up and could not compete , three- tim e Grand National Cham pion Joe Leonard, who hails from san Di ego, r ode Brad's bike to victory. L eonard did a repeat i n 1958 on a Harley prepared by Charlie Wes t of san Jose and this was the oniy time, with th e exce ption of E mde's win on th e Indian, that a San Di ego winner was not r i ding out of Andres' shop . In 1960, son Br ad retir ed f r om racing to giv e full-time attention to the agency, which Leonard had turned over to him, so he could devote m ore time to building racing machines. In 1963, Ralph Whi te , another san Diegan, riding for Andres ' Harley- OLvidson won the National 200 , and this year, 1968, the fastest year so far, Cal Rayborn, also a native of san Diego, wore the Harley-OLvidson colors to victory r iding f or Leonard Andres. 00 se In describing the winning engine, Mr . Andres recounts that it i s basically the same motor that you see every day in the three-wheelers used by police departments across the country, It i s a 45 cu. In. fiathead side- valves . wllich has seen no radical change si nce 1952 . The ~ only signifi can t ditference between the !.:l 1929 model and the modern versi on was <: the i ntroduction of unit cons truc tion of !.:l th e crankcase and transmission i n 1952. -.J It doesn ' t seem to make any d1ffer - ~ ence about the age of the engine as the U serial number on the alternate engine which was used for practice this y ear i s 52KR 1498 making it 16 years old. It i s the sam e engi ne that was i n the winning bi ke at 'DaYtona in 1955, ' 5'7, ' 59, ' 60, and ' 63. This year's engine had a crankcas e number 65KR 2200 which makes i t a young ster of 3 years. The older engine was available f or i nspection and photo s and is the one shown in tJie accompanyi ng photo, The dual manifol ds fo r th e carbur eto r s in this ins tall ation wer e developed by An dr es in his shop and although slightly different than the ones cr eated by Dick 0' Brien of the Harley- OLvidson ra c to r y, whi ch graced the winning machine, were no less proficient and posted consiste ntly equal speeds in practice. The i nstal1a tion of the duel carburetors ts similar to the adaption attempted by many young fellows to increase the performance of their fiatheads without success . Leonard Andr es says that he doesn 't employ any so-called tuning secrets that anyone else hasn ' t already tri ed wi th the possibl e ex ception of a transparent plastic cylinder head wllich he bolts onto the cylinder. Then with the use of a now meter and som e fine powd er he turns the motor ov er electri cally and i s able to study the now of air i n and out of the co mbustion chamber and by corrections of the contours i s able to get the most efficient breathing possibl e. He did mention one additive that in his opinion, is necessary to build a winning racer. They call it "TLC" and it doesn 't come in a can. It i s Tender Loving Carel When Andres says that he puts love in his machi ne, you can readily perceive that his i s si nc er e. " Along with love goes a l ot of hard work," explains Andres, "and the ones who work the hardest and longest are going ,to win the race." When asked about the future, he expressed the opinion that there would be nothing drastically new from MilwaUkee, but to have no fear, Harley-Davidson would not discontinue their racing program. " But right now", he Said , " It appears that we're going to have to work real hard to even stay with the boys - ... '" • next year." Asked where he expected the stiffest future competition to come from he stated unhesitatin gl y, " F r om the twosaokes." Then he added , " We' r e not gning to give up without a figbtl " Dual carb setup D older Andres' enclne n (shown) differs sll&htlylrom fac:tcwyode..loptd ' 63 winn er, but post ed equai practice times. 4 • • Ho" Cufrer atr • ~!~ ~~§A ~ 4t2l St".,• • 391-6211 U5fIJ PART5 ALL MAKES 40% TO 60% OFF 0 .. YAMAHA DElLER • SCRAMBLER MOTORCYCLES ••1 W . . . .k 8•.,." ..rt.Il, Callt. . 14HH7 or 14$01731 Ed..7 -

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