Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

fImWI\._. You'll II.IYI.., . . . . . 1ft II - America's Only Weekly Motorcycle Newspaper" Publish~r•••• • Charles C. Clayton Editorial s tories , cartoons , photos . Business Mana !:~r• • Sharon Clayton d e. arewe lcomed and will be paid e.i reulalion M!:r•.• Gay ~ Thomason for upon publica tion (e xcept nress Edi tor••••. • • ••• •• Carol Sims rel ea se s and - Voice" let ters.) AdAdv~rtisin!: M/::r•••••• Tom Culp dres sed, stamped envelope as sures Photo Editor••••• Il..nnis Greene return. 6411 N. Long Beach Blvd. Lab Te chni,nan• • • •RiII pe Uigr..... Sin/::l p ro py price ••• • • ••- •• 25¢ Re ceptioni st•••••Louise Marshall Long Beach, Calif. 90805 Subsc ription: One year 2nd class Or. Box 498, LODg Beach, Calif. Mail •• • • • • •• • • • •• • •• $7.50 Published weekly except the firs t and last week of the cal endar year Phone: 423-0431 (SUbs cribers ptease allow tI...-e by C&S Publis hing Co., Post Office (Area Code 213) .......ks lor addrPss change, ) Box 498, Long Beach, California . Adv..rtis ing rates and ci rculation Second Class posta ge paid at Long From LA. Phones: 636-8844 information will be se nt upon reques t. Beach , Cali f. FI~$T • • • • MORE LEGISLATIVE FUEL REBUTTAL TO -ALWAYSTRYING· LET' SSTICK TO GETHER "Dear Legislator: " Mr s . Ehrhardt and I approach you In hopes that you wlIl give strong cons ideration before ac ting on Assembly Bills 56, 289 and 366, recogniZing that there are thousands of Callfor nia motor cycllsts, who as we, oppose this legislation. " Motorcycllng Is our only hobby and sport. I am a char ter member « 37) of the Lodl Motorcy cle Club (Incorp or ated with highway safety as our aim), a llfe member of the American Motorcycle Asso ciation and a former Dlst. 36 Referee of the same. Retiring from the Cal ifor nia Highway Patr ol as of J uly 1, 1967 after 23- 1/2 years, I served as the fir s t Officer of that enforcement agency to work as a " r O ing ambassador" from V < through '56 with motorcycle and hot 48 rod clubs to Improve their highway habIts . Using both auto and motorcycle I attended their meetings and events presenting safety lectures, movies and applying enforcement, the latter at sports events. ThIs approach soon becam e so popular that within six months a second officer was added followed by a third within 2 years and finally one for each of the six zones doing " publlc relations" assignment. With the aforementioned experience and knowledge I fir mly belleve we need more firm and falr enforcement of existing laws rather than more legislation such as CVC 22502 (CUb parking) and the aforementioned. I found this bellef true as I spent the next 11 years as School Bus Officer for San Joaquin County where enforcement of safety regulations really pays off. "We wear our crash helmets when deemed necessary but we r esent being told to adorn jus t to go up town for the mall. We are not a differ ent gr oup of roadway users, many, as I, are afflllated with such as the largest fraternal organlzations of the world. I am a past pr esident of the Lodl District Safety Councll and current secretary of the sam e, a member of the Board of Dire ctors and Executive Staff of the San Joaq uin County Safety Councll, the current Chairman of the Highway and Transportation Committee of the Lodl District Chamber of Commer ce and sin ce retirement, Supervisor of Transportation of Lodl Unified School Dis tr ic t where I direct the oper ation of 70 vehi cles Including 40 sch ool busses. At age 55 I have never r eceive d a traffic citation (excluding par king me tors) and now my ablllty to judge my own safety Is ques tioned. I belleve I serve my .communlty and our society well as an upright citizen. Pleas e do not legislate against me because I and my family ride motor cycles . Give all roadwa y use r s the s ame la ws , and think of the other motorcycllsts , as well qualifi ed as I to judge our welfar e, so we will not be penalized by la ws that per haps are needed for only a few. Very truly and sincerely yours, EZRA M. EHRHARDT Lodl, Calif." Because our daughter and granddaughter were there to watch "Daddy" perform, we endured the " Endur o" sponsored by the Shamrock M,C. In the Red Rock Canyon area on Sunday, Aprll 7th. We were very favor ably Impr es s ed by the contestants and the spectators. It was a famlly affalr, and ever ybody camped out In what Is gener ally called primitive camps: no water, no cooking places, no trash or garbage cans , and only two portable " Johns" for po s sib It 500 people , They all seemed to be wonderful people, a few dirty flngernalls maybe , but nne, friendly persons. But, probably because everybody was doing It, the bike riders In and around camp took short cuts continuously, and left the path or road whenever they met another bike or a car or truck. Belleve me, the shrubs, bushes and wildflowers took a beating. Some one remarked that an outing llke that could set back the vegetation five years . A few more of them and the campsite could end up In sand dunes. If the bike clubs do not dlsclpl1ne themselves, there soon will be legislation to forbid such bike riding. The other thing we did not I1ke was the lltterlng. It must be admitted that the pla ce was badly llttered before the Enduro contestants arrived, and a llttered pla ce Invites lltterlng. Nearly ever yone there added to Ihe litter, although mos t of the combustibles were burned. It Is a fa ct that the last ones there often get the blame for all of the lltter. Here are my suggestions: 1. The cl ubs should encourage all bike riders to refraln from damaging the vegetation, and to ride only on establlshed tralls and roads . Short cuts should be frowned upon. 2. Every .ca mper , traller, truck or auto should take an extra box or carton to camp, espectally to primitive camps, and take away all of their own non burn able rubbish, and maybe a I1ttle more, If there are no trash cans at the camp, or instead of burning up the carton the food was packed In, fll! It with your own and othe r rubbish and carry It to the first litter can, or take It home If necessary. I would hate to see su ch fine and enthusiastic groups lose any more places in which to hold their trials, but lose them they will unless they change their ways. EARL V. KOONS SR, Los Angeles, Calli. (Member of the nearly Incorporated Califo rni a Outdoor ,Recr eation League, for med to sponsor legislation to permit full, but reasonable, use of the outdoors by all the residents of, and visitors to the State of Callfornia .) I am "To Whom ", and as Refer ee for the sportsmen M/C I feel that I owe " Always Trying" an apology. As for the "Always" I don't know, but I as to the "Trying" he sure was. He was uP In the check stand during a race bothering the checkers. He was told to see the referee. He bothe red our r ace steward, causing him to make an error In setting up a semi. Fortunately the error was noticed and corrected before the Semi was run. Again he was told to see the Referee. Now at a race I am really not too hard to find. I am big and fat, I wear a black and white striped shirt and white pants. It was during the third Expert moto that he finally came up to me and asked why the Experts got four laps. Now I did not Intend to "Insult ALL racers under an expert," just him . In the race were.Hunter, Rice, Posey, Harlow, Nichols , Jackson, and Kouns. What I sald was that I was sure I could find fifty persons who would be glad to pay one dollar to see THEM ride, and then (and for this I do apologize) I said that I doubted that I could find anyone who would pay ten cents to watch him ride. Really. there must be someone who would pay a dime . I might myself. Now I shouldn't have let that bother me . I got my first bike In 1928 and except for a few years while I was paying for two boys and a girl I have always had a bike . I tried to ride competition but never even made a semi. I also would have llked to have ridden more laps, but I can still enjoy watching the Experts. First - " Always " should keep track of what. Is goIng on. The big bikes, Novice, Amateur, and Expert did not practice separately. They all had the same to practice periods. About the two laps he Is par tially cor r ect. Since It was after 4:00 p.m, when the second motos ran, all classes were given only two laps . When the MaIns and third moto came up time per mitted three laps for each class except the Expert 500 which was given four laps. Instead of bemoaning his Injustice and misfortune he could have en joyed the most exciting and fantastic race thathas been r un in many a year. Since " Always Trying" REALLY DID NO T get his money's worth and because I do not know his name or address, If you wlli accept It, the Spor tsmen M/C will be glad to send you his $2.00 entry fee and $1. 25 gate fee which you can for ward to him. As to our attitude: we always give This is a sample of the letter sent each rider all the practice and r iding that by Ezra M. Ehrhardt of Ehrhardt M imeotime will permit. We also try to r un a M Servic e in Lodi, Cal if. to 40 se naall progr am that moves along and Is of tors, 80 Assemblymen and (for their ininterest to the spectator who pays $1.25 formation also) to 987 motorcycle clubs, dealers, official s and magazines in to watch our r aces. Time permitting we California: will continue to let the Experts s how us why they ARE Experts. Sincer ely yours, HE WASN 'T EVErl THERE LYMAN HAM A Dumb Referee In regard to the results of the Lost Riverside, Callf. Coyotes M.C. Hare Scr ambles of March (- We s uggest that" Always Trying" con31, 1968, I would like to make a cor rectac t Referee Lyman Ham, c/o Sportsmen tion In the results. . M.e . , 10067 Mission Blvd., Rivers ide , My name appeared In the finishing I1st Cal . 92509, if he wishes his entry and as tenth place. Act ually I was unable to gate fees retu rned.") attend the Los t Coyotes r un due to my work. I am sorry I could not r ide It as I EVEL BOOSTER hear that It was a very good race. I feel that the r esults should be reEvel Knlevel they s ay, checked so that the trallbike r ider who Wlll jump the Grand Canyon one day. ac tuall y finished tenth will r eceive his I am his fan, well- earned points . As Is my 01' man. Much thanks for a fine paper. And we know he will have his own way. FRANK W, MORGAN ROBERT J , WELSH (age 13) Torrance, Calff', Duarte, Callf. GEORGE HAY'S GETS AN ANSWER Dear Mr . Hays: Our office has recei ved your letter In which you Indica te your strong oppos ition to Assembly BlI! 289. As semblyman Burke is in Sacramento at this time and has as ked that I thank youfor your letter. ThIs bll! poses some very unique pr oblems . Our federal Congr ess and state Legislatures have bee n able to Impose certain manda tes for the use of safety equipment such as safety belts In a utomobiles , safety goggles In machine s hops and safety gear in welding shops . On the other hand, as you so accurately put It , while riding a motor bike or motor cycle for pleasur e, It would seem to be an Infringement on one's personal rights as to whether he or she should wear goggles or a hel met. This appears to be a trend thes e days , that government knows best, and I am quite s ur e they will be tell1ng you what to wear In the ba thtub If It goes much fur ther . .-' Please be assured that Ass emblyman Burke will consider your views befor e making any deci sio n conce r ning this blll. Thank you for writing to.us . Please feel fr ee to do so again. " MATT WEYUKER Administrative Assistant for Assemblyman Robert H. Burke AN O PEN LETTE R FROM UNITED ' M OTORCY CLE ENTH USI ASTS CALIFORNIA LO BBYIST It Is time for motorcycle enthusiasts to speak uP... not with the roar of the megaphone but with a legislative voice. We are a significant part of the community and we have a right - even a duty - to be heard. The United Motor cycle Enthusiasts of Callfornia was or ganized with just this In mind. The UME of C If devoted to the legislative protection of your Interests as a Callfornla motorcycle rider or enthusiast. Our primary concern Is representation In the state capital for all cycle riders. We follow, advi se and Influence legislation concerning motorcycles. In other words, we lobby for you. U.M.E, provides a forum for your complai nts and desires . We collect and malntain this Information for use in formulating, supporting and resisting legislation according to your opinions . We must stress that lobbying Is far more than appearing before a committee or visiting a legislator . We must sift through nearly 10,000 legislative bllls annually and follow the progress of those which concern us through an average of five committees and two floor votes. When legislators ask us what motorcycle owners want, and they frequently do, we must know and be able to provide accurate Information as to the feaslblllty of your desires and how they may best be accompllshed . It has been our experience that the legislator, In Callfornia at least, is not at war with the motorcycle. \ he Is simply In need of much Information about the motorcycle and Its role In the overall picture. It Is our job to provide this Information. To do this job we must have your cooperation . We need your Ideas and opinions. We also need your money . The cos t of a voice In your governmentls not small. But the returns are many times worth the Investment. And spread among all those Involved, the investment Is very slight for the Individual motorcycle enthusiast. The Immediate emergency Is the battle to prevent the mandatory use of helmets at all times from becoming law. We won this battle last year. We have made good progress so far this year. But, even when we have won this fight it is only the beginning. At each session there will be new legislation to fight and legislation to support. The United Motorcycle Enthusiasts of Callfornia is providing this voice. We want It to be the voice of all motorcycle riders In the State. Weinvite you to Join us . We Invited your club or your business to Join us. We Invite you, even If you don't r ide but jus t love the freedom of motorcycles, to Join us. Let us be Unlted and give the Motor cycle the status It deserves •.•the status we can never have without unity . Sincerely, BARBARA ADAMS DAHMS Legislative AdVocate THE CONCERNED M.R.I. RIDERS Concerning the letter written by a few rider s of the M.R.I . deall ng with Mr. Rockwood and his column: It Is true he mentioned he was a member of the MRI but he did not say in anyway he was a spokesm an for the MRI. He only told the facts of the situation between Mr . J .C. Agajanlan and the MRI. It seems all you so-called r iders want Is publtcity and that' s what Mr. Rockwood gave you so why gripe . You who wrote the letter (and by the .way the author didn' t even si gn his name) are not any kind of spokes men for the MRI so why tell Mr . Rockwood how to write his column. Thank you. RACE FAN Gardena , Callf. (" The riders you mention weren' t acting a s MRI spokesman, only pointin g out who was authorized to speak for the group. And Qy the way, you didn't even s i gn your name .-)

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