Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

• DRAG RACING • Well, it's nice to see that one of my predictions has come to pass . DeWayne Keeter and his Dick Kelm-tuned BSA not only snatched the Main Event at Ascot last Friday nlgbt but managed to set a DeW Maln Event record. DeWaynecutthe record by nearly two seconds to make the new record now stand at 5:47.93. I imagine D:ln Haaby,now on tour back east, will come back with the idea of stopping Keeter's charge. It's going to be Interestingl One otber note about DeWayne's ride was the engine that he managed to launch in practice. only to have the bike dismantled and back together for his money-snatching ride. Nice work. Riverside Plans Les Richter, president of Riverside International Raceway in Riverside. Cal. has announced a new 3.6-mllllon dollar master plan to make the Raceway tbe No.1 sports facUity In tbe world.lncluded In tbe plans are a high speed mlle and ball tri-oval. Richter hopes to have tbe total seating UP to 100,000 and a club type lounge to lacUitate the new crowds expected. Completion of the new beautification project are hoped to be completed by Sept. 1. Approximately two to three tbousand spectators along with such movie celebrities as Diane McBain, James Garner, Dean Jones. and Van Wllliams showed UP at the Viewfinders Grand Prix at Westlake Village (formerly Albertson's Movie Ranch) on May 25 and 26. 'The Viewfinders and Stuntman's Assoc. put BAILEY FAMI LY TEA S UP FOR M THE STARDUST 1-ll! Story by Elaine Bailey Photo by Cindy Batley Bob Balley, Sr. (forecround) shakes hands with raclnl sons Gary (left) and Bob, as lIIe1 prepare Yamaha 250ec slnlle for Sbr~st 7-11 En~lO. on one of the finest organized events this reporter has ever witnessed. A total of no less than twenty Ventura police officers were there to keep things in order around the three-mile track. Great run, congratulations • New Racing Attractions Attention, two southland race tracks are about to announce their new attractions In tbe form of speedway cinder track type of racing to be held in tbe near future. Botb Orange County and tbe one at Whiteman Air Paik will be operation soon. Whiteman will be offering a 3,000 dollar professional purse. Look for their ad in Cycle News. By Bob Ebel ing Ph o tos h)' Doyl e Gra)' A first real hot day of the Spring Season led Three Star Sport Cycle and their team combination of S0mmers and a 500cc Suzuki to a new A. H.R.A. record of 12.98 seconds and 98,69 miles per hour. cover a total of 711 mUes through the Nevada desert. The 7-11 Enduro consists of two 355-1/2- ml!le loops over a torturous, unpaved course. Stardust Internati Raceway in Las Vegas will be the stil.tting, ball-way and finish lIne. The event will consist of all types of vehicles: Motorcycles; Passenger cars; Dune Buggies and 4-wheel Drive Units. The type of motorcycle the Bailey brothers will ride is a 1968 Yamaha OTl, 250cc two-stroke si~le cylinder model - bike donated by Bill Krause Enterprlses, ~lnglewood, Callf. Other contributors and sponsors of the project are: Yamaha International, Inc.; Wixom Brothers; Filtron; Bell Toptex, Webeo, Inc, and Steens, Inc, The Baileys' pit crews consist of two follow-up trucks which will carry several extra gallons of gas and many spare parts. The famUiar number .. 33" appears on all their equipment, ThIs type of event takes months of preparation. Riders must prepare themselves physically as well as tbe vehicles mechanically. This Is a test of men and machinery against the rugged desert. The Stardust 7-11 gets underway Tuesday, June 11, with Technlcallnspection and impounding of competing vehicles at Stardust International Raceway. The race will start at 6 a.m.; Wednesday. June 12. Vehicles take off one minute apart, aDd are to be timed individually. Twentyfour hours of gI-ue1Ing competition must be compEted before the end of the grind. were gone in a single volume of s mo ke .:; and flame, not to mention the frosting put on tbe cake by C02 fire extingulshers. CI) Fickle Fingers Columnist Ebellnllets off the li ne with his rapid. recorclobreaklnl Triumph. Irwindale Triumph s tops the win string of Harley Davidson in lrwindales top bike elimi nation . Ebeling'S 40 Inch Sta-Lube Triumph fueler went through three rounds of top bike eliminations to receive honors at 10.47 seconds and 136.51 miles per hour . Qualifying Suzuki dragster beet ns quarter-mlle tour. Lions Much to the surprise of compett tors and correspondents alike, Lions Dl'ali Strip was host to an A.H .R.A . district#! record meet and in return machines complied by upping many an old existIng mark. Sommers not oniy secured the record for Suzuki in the race for top Stock. All of the street contenders were turning quarter-mile sprints in the 14-second realm, which gave Sommers a good onesecond a dvan tag e that he used in the best way possible, to winl The closest competition was a 650c c BSA ' entered by Williams, that secured a class win turning 14.11- 94.63 . Modified Top marks in elapsed time and miles per hour were set by Joe Smith and his Lal dla w sponsored Harley-Davidson. The big 95-lnch machine letlts rider slip the clutch for an elapsed time run of 9.78 seconds and new all time high speed for "Knuckle Heads" of 153.84 miles per hour . oy~ Bob Braverman, YamahaandMcEv Martinez, Triumph, were botb qualified for top bike elimination rounds in tbe high ten second realm. Jonovich-Norton and Mill er- Harley-Davidson filled a field of six with eleven second runs. Round Racing The fir st round of eliminations found Joe Smitb putting tbe twin engine McEvoy-Martinez Triumph out of contention witb little trouble, and Braverman's Yamaha whee led well ahead of tbe Mlller- Brackett Sportster. Ebeling' s Sta- Lube Tri umph put In a good lead over Jonovich's twin engine Norton for first round victory. Joe Smith drew a standby thanks to his top elapsed time of tbe day and Ebeling was matched against Braver man' s twin engi ne Yamaha. It was an even race for the first few yards and tben the for ty Inches pumped out en ough power to pull ahead for tbe winners lights in 10.63 seconds a t 134 miles pe r hour . As soon as Ebeling ha d the 011 changed and fuel tanks topped off, he and Smith wer e towi ng down the fire~ uP road for a final r oun d In top fuel. Both staged and the countdown was on, but as the second yellow light was shining In Smitb's lane, it jumped to red. He had moved just enough to forfeit the last race for top bike an d rather than waste an engine, he s hut it off right tbere on the spot. Ebeling's Triumph made a single run of 10.64 seconds and 136.51 miles per hour and received top 'bike honors. Lone Pine, Callfornla, Chamber of Commerce headed by Wil Sowell, president, and Bob Hamblin vice president announce the 13tb Annual High Sierra Tour on June 8 and 9. Motorcycles from allover the southwest will converge on Lone Pine Park for a weekend of events including a parade, a , barbecue and field meets where trophies will be awarded. A dance will be held In the evening at Town Hall featuring the music of Johnny Campbell's Western Band. The High Sierra Tour, directed by Red Butler and AI Bonnefin, of Lone Ploe, and sanctioned by the AMA, is a Southern Callfornla Road Riders Com mittee Point Run and is sponsored by the Ace of Clubs M.C. headed by Edward Alford and Bob Meyers, of El Monte (phone 213-442-5800). Alford stated that "All motorcycltsts and those wanting to see what organized clubs are doi~ to encourage the sport, In addition to view1~ a panorama of the fine st motorcycles are welcome to this event ... Further information may be 0btained by calling Alford a t (2l 3) 444-5675 . Gas and Fuel Contingencies Disaster struck In both of these top bike divisions. American Speed Cyc le fielded two gas dragsters, one a twin engine Norton and second a new 750cc Triumph. Everything went well as the double Norton cranked out a run of 11.40 seconds . and 126 mlles per hour during early morning time trials. Event tbe overbored Triumph was laying down some good rubber patches that helped stop tbe clocks in 12.13 seconds and revealed a top end speed of 110 mph. Later however , George Jonovlch was to bring tbe twin engine Norton down the return road at a casual 30 mUes per hour and SU ddenly his world turned upside down. The big twin engine machine had hit a r ock, 011 s lick or some otber unseen obstacle and turned t urti e . As the machine went down, Jonovich was thrown clear an d a fuel lIne that had severed fed fuel onto hot engine parts that had never seen heat like tbe y were going to be inflicte d by In a matter of seconds, • It seems the pillars of smoke and flame were only In bloom for a mi nute until fire extinguishers were brought to Next Sunday this columnist loads UP the truck witb contingency awards and treks for Bristol, Tennessee, tbe site of three days' racing at the 1968 A.H.R .A. spring National Championships. Here's tbe cargo manifest for winners at tbe big event: $500 .00 dollars divided for top Fuel, Gas and Competition eliminator, by Bristol drag strip management. A Grant Van Tech frame from Grant Industries of Los Angeles; a set of custom leatbers by ABC Leathers of Soutb Gate. Calif; a Bonanza Mini-Bike from Bonanaza industries of San Jose, Callf; Chain Kl and Chain Life from P etroch e m of Santa F e springs; Electroni c Tachs from Ryde x Inc; Alloy Rims fr om Nortb American Impor ts, Garden Grove. Calif .; Helme ts from safetech Helmets, Paramount, Calif.; Twenty-five dollars to each top eliminator from Cycle World Magazine; Kawasaki and Yamaha are botb supportIng tbeir winning r iders witb ten dollars in gift certificates for a class win 'and jackets If records are set. (Results on page 16) Tatlormade for each machine, Webeo, Inc . now has available ezpansfca chambers that provide noticeable performance increase for desert, TT, scramhies, etc. The chambers for Bultaco Bandido and Pur5ang, and Yamaha OT1 si~le list at $54 .95. Price of the units for Hodaka 90-100cc, Sachs 8Occ, Yamaha 80cc and Yamaha l OOCc YL2-C single is $39.95. See your dealer or contact Webco at 218 Main St ., Venice, Cal. 90293 Phone (213) 399-7726. = ~ Or how to preserve soft hands and t.J destroy finger nail polish. Ken Kotalac ...::l trailered his big Vincent fuel bike Into U the Lions pit area and prepared for a day's running with adequate pit help. Helene, often known only as the wife of the guy with a Vincent fueler, was seen doing more oil changes and tuning chores than any average team member . She solves tbe dishpan hand problem from crankca se lubricants but hasn't found a clear varnish tha t will stop the nitro contents from doing an excellent paint r em oval job fr om her finger nails. Any suggestions? Ken'S Vince nt made some ex cellent r uns down tbe quarter mile with a best tim e of 10. 86 seconds and a s peed of 127.0 miles per hour. HIGH SIERRA TOUR COMING UP NEW WEBCO CHAMBERS £€ was de stroyed; hours , days, wee ks , of -. labor and God oniy knows what expenses ~ Bruce B1ller an d his sponsor Mr . Mrackett (or is It Miller and Brackett?) have some sneaky tric ks going for the m• . Traction at the Beach wasn't exactly prime, and yet B1ller stopped tbe clocks in 11. 74 s econds and tbe mph de vi ces read 117.84. A full second behind the lead mar k s et by M1ller was Charli e Cash's E modified Suzuki. Yet, don 't belittle the elaps ed time of 12.83 seconds and s peed of 102.89 that Cash turned In, for r emember the SUZuki is some 40 inches smalle r than tbe Brackett & M1ller HarleyDavidson. If inch for Inch the same power and rpm could be extracted fr om the Harley, we would see a cycl e finish the quartermlle before a time cloc k co uld ge t off a single tick. The motorcycle raeing Bailey brothers (Bob, 26, and Gary, 24, of Carson) will team uP for The Stardust 7-11 Enduro, witb lather Bob Sr. (47, of Torrance, Cal.) head1~ UP the pit crews. ThIs NO.R.R .A. (National Off Road RacIng Association) sanctioned event, scheduled for June 11 through 14, will . .. G Evel Knievells Back On Tour Starting a National tour of tbe country, Evel Knlevel stopped In Mesa, Arizona at the Beeline Drag Strip, drawing a record crowd on Sunday. May 26, of 9,000 spectators. However, Jack Strohe made the Jump for Evel as he was slightly Injured on saturday making a practice jump causing slight damage to his foot. Evel states that It not bad enough to stop the tour, with the next stop beif.€ In El Paso, Texas and tben on to Houston. Knlevel will continue with a wheelie demonstration while Jack makes the jumps. ThIs crowd-pleasing exhihition is drawing large numbers of people who have never seen a two- wheeled thrill show before. Be sure and watch for him In your area. play. Yet, in that short time everything .

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