Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

r----------------------------------------- - - - ~ Story & Phot os by Robert O. Fee While the desert dwellers swel t ered, 342 road riding motorcycli sts wheeled to the high country over the Labor Day Weekend and enj oyed mild mid-70 degree t emperatnres that prevailed around A rizona' s famous Grand Canyon. T he cyclists rode in from as far away as Denton, Texas and Nati onal City, California with the majority of out-of-staters coming from New Mexico, Nevada, and Southern California. On the road In the hi gh country between Wi l· IIams Junction and the Grand Canyon, a few of the 342 entered Tour riders . Depending on the direction f r om home, the rider s fo und entry points atAshfork, P r escott , and Flagstaff, Arizona where their mall-In credentials were checked, The Valley VagabondS of Phoenix, sponsors of the Grand Canyon Gypsy Tour, did not establish a post entry for the Ninth A nnual Event, but accepted maIlIns only. This resulted In turning away about 75 r iders who rode on to the can yon and attended although not actually entered. MALE SOL O: 1. Tom Yarborough, 2. Rober t Baeighkley, 3. Rl cbard Siegrist. GAL SOLO: 1. Sharon Schiey, 2. Dana Hodge; 3. Mary Weddie. Several trophies were awarded fo r firsts: 1st mall-I n entry: Loran Short (male class) . 1st mall-In entry: Carol Wing (Gal class) . 1st mall- In entry under 16 years old: Mike Shepard (13). 1st entry through the checkpoi nt was C.H . Lucklnblll of Norwalk and the first fam Uy through the checkpolnt••.the seven Clarks from Ri ver side. Sunday morning a parade took the riders from the campground, by the cafeteria and store, through the NPS residential area, to the Grand Canyon High School recreation yard. Here the judges held forth, deciding the most beautiful, oldest, . youngest, shortest, tallest and farthest away. Th e Riding Roulettes out of Las Vegas took the Best Dressed award with their flam ing orange uniforms. This club had preceded your reporter through Ashfork and the lady proprietor of the Texaco Caf e was overheard telling one of her per sonal friends how beautiful their unif orms were and ci ted their exemplary behavio r . Unaware that it was a Cycle News Reporter s wigging her brew (coff ee), she highly praised the organization ' and manners of the Valley Vagabonds to her friend. Ji m Welserihunt rod e a 1947 Indian from Phoenix and quallfied for the oldest motorcycle on th e run. The oldest rider was Per cy Markowski. Theyoungestwas Mike Smith ( 15) of Al buquerque. Beca use Nevada riders are generally llcensed muc h y ounger than other states, the Vagabonds created a special class. The youngest rider from Nevada was 17 years old. Youugest AMA passenger was Clayton Less er (age 4) from Sierra Vista., Alrz. and y oungest entry was Stephanie Leslie, born two weeks earlier, w was 14 days no old when she ebecked In as part of the Nomads M. C. pickup crew. Her attractiv e mother, Pam, was 1967 Grand Canyon Tour Queen. Petite Dixie Barron f r om Sierra Vista was chosen queen of the 1968 Gyps y Tour from a large bevy of attractive young entrants. Also on the distaff winners list was one of those litt l e gals that make a hIg Impr ess i on with a bright smile, a twinkle In her eye , and a r eal pleasant mann er. Garnett Tobias oJ! the Jack Rabbits M.C. took a full load of trophies back to Me sa (Ari z.) . Al ong with the oldest Gal r ider award, she stood 5 feet one Inches as the shortest r ider on the tour and her m otorcyc le was j udged to be the best looking foreign stock macblne. Don Brown of L ong Beach had the best looking foreign stock machIn e f or the Men' s class and Jim Thomas with the Ajo (AH-Ho) Throttle Twisters took the best looking American stock machine, ' Cycl e News contri butor Bi ll Harmer pauses to take In the sl ghts .at the rim of the Canyon. male class. Zeda Hathaway, a Canyon State rider f rom Phoenix won the gold for the bes t looking A merican stock (gal class) with her Harley Electra-glide. The Shepards, Harold, Ruby , ' and Mike took the bes t looking famUy award and Ruby was the long distance gal rider coming from Albuiluerque, New Mexico. A Long Haul Allen Donaldson rode 1200 mUes from Denton, Texas for the long distance award. His feat was almost equaled by Lee Dawson who rode from Carson City, Nevada and was awarded gold for his 736 mUe trip on a motorcycle under 25OCc. The Aztecs M.C. from National Ci ty , Cal1f. took the club class by l ogging 562 mUes. The Mesa Jack Rabbits had the largest cl ub present ( 17 members). Tallest rider, L eo Treiber fr om Phoenix, st ood six foot, nine Inches and tipped the scales at 330 pounds , also the heavIest rider on the r un. Martin Janssen of Phoeni x was j udged to have the best l ooklng male l eg. With much feeling of the matt er, Art Powell judged Vlvl Flatt , also f r om Phoenix, to have the best looking leg (f emale class) . 0 "" IR'DGESTOIIE AT .... co SUZUKI CITY "" c, Q> 115 RACER· $599. 1125 so. LA BREA, INGLEWOOD (213) 674-1431 SAVE $200. " SUZUKI" Dale Brown Motors 2441 Long Beach B\ yd. Long Bench, Cal i f. . Q> - .Q C ORANGE CO. CYClf Youngest Rider- 2 Weeks Old Clown s Keep Out! Some riders not familiar with the National Park sy stem were dismayed to flnd that it required another dollar to get Into the Park. SaId Lucky Beauche sne of the Burbank SUver Eagles, " The flyer should have mentioned the admission cbarged at the gate." There were many riders who f ound ,they couldn 't buy their way Into the park at any price. App r oximately 60 clowns of the serape and sissy bar set were encamped at vari ous spots outside the south entrance gate. Their presence outside the park caused no problems other than the cancellation of the Saturday evening dance that had been planned at Tusayan Lodge, located ~ outside the park's boundaries. The Vall ey Vagabonds didn't feel that the outlaws should be given any f or um on which to perform and as the Rangers had denied them entrance to the park, the Gypsy Tour r i ders could stay insi de the park. The Coconino County Sheriff' s OffIce assi gned 18 deputies to patrol the campgrounds occup ied by the outlaws. Outstanding cooperation between the promoting club and th e Sheriff and the Rangers was evident at every turn during the three day rally. Saturday, the Vagabonds fed their guests and then a w a r d e d several trophies. Winners of the dr aw trophies were: In other best dressed categor i es: Del Beauchesne ( Burbank), male sol o; Patty Crittenden from Las Vegas , gal solo; and Bill and Joyce Starling out of Ajoe (AriZona), couples. The customized motorcycle trophies were won by Ray SPezze(Gl endale , Callf or nla) male class, Ameri can make; Zeds Hathaway, gal class, A m erican mak e; Dene Cromier , gal class, f or eign make, and Wayne Flatt (all of Phoenix) male class, foreign make . The best looking sidecar trophy was hauled home to Phoenix by Donald and Helen Bolden. Don estimated he had over 200 hours Invested In the modification of ' his Watsonlan sidecar which he pulls with his BMW. An Interesting sidelight developed durIng the couples Judging when Master of Ceremonies, Vagabond Hank Harden announced that the couples trophy had been contrl buted by an individual rider rather than a business concern. When queried by Cycle News as to why, Jim Thomas from Ajo replied, .. Pili (his wife) and 1 feel that It's a way of contributing to the betterment of the sport." The young couple have contributed six trophies to various ralli es during 1968. SUZUKI MAKES IT ... SO MAKE IT SUZUKI ntnntesa Why sbouldDonW l iams of Idaho il Electr ic Co. put. hi s reputation on the line?Dott SAYS "Mo ntesa m akes one of the fi nest bikes I know of for fun and serious competition. DON WILLI AMS IDAHO ELECTRIC CO. 31 8 S. Lin coln Jerome, Idaho 83338 MONTESA M O TO RS, IN C . Sol" U.S. Distributo r 3657 Bev er ly Boulevard Los Ang e les . California 90004 ..,J o ;:... u -

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