Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

E ..ertai••••' ••~ ,.for•• ';01 fr. A ••rk.'s 8.,.s' U.liscorer." .o'or Sport .. ., ,. y ...· 11 ;~~ • America's Weekly Motorcycle Newspaper" •.•. 6471 N. Long Beach Blvd. Long Beach, Calif. 90805 Or: Box 498, Long Beach, Calif. Phone: 423-0431 (Area Code 2131 From LA. Phones: 636"8844 VOICES OF THE WEST S1DEHACKERS LIKE T-TOWN Due to the excellent hospitality, the free beer in wooden kegs (ever see a wooden beer keg?), and the good track, the Sidebaclt Assn. has voted to participate in the OCt. 20 TT at Ti juana. This letter is to notlty one and all of the classes the Assn. w1ll participate in. We w1ll enter the wheelle contest, beer drlnlt1Dg contest, of course the regular motos, and the special " Wrong- Way COlT1gaD" event. Tbe last event will be started 1>Y the Assn's own starter. Due to the importance of the event he w1ll be brougllt out of his cage, where he has been since the last T. T ., to become accustomed to the fresh air and light of the sun. It Is hoped by the Assn. that all participants w1ll view this as an invitation to come south of the border and drink beer from a wooden keg. (Ever see a wooden keg?) VINCENT DAVID SON Stdeback Assn. Cooper HATS OFF TO PAUL WILDE Well it took 12 weeks for someone to beat Gary Bailey but facts are facts. Guess I'd better ebange the spark plug and scratch around in the ports a little bit, before the next race. Oh! Just for the record (no offense) Mr. Capallte, i t' s a Van Tech Hodlika power ed . E.C. BIRT Tuner Lawndale, Calif. ANOTHER VERSION I jus t r ead the letter wr itten by Mrs. Larry Verdoorn ti tled " Look Mommie. Cr unc hl" in the oct. 31 paper. I wonde r If perhaps she was the same woman who turned her two small children loose unattended. They got ' Into our purses and the only tim e she seemed to noti ce the m was when she saw a motorcycle be ing pus hed or ridden at a slow pace on the spectators ' side. Our little gi rl remains with a s itter or in her playpen at the r ace track, because we believe motorcycles are for the races, not una tt ended children. P erhaps If she wants to really do as s he says , " watch and enjoy .the race ," s he should emply a sitter. FORA GLOVER Thousand oaks, Cali!. P .S. We enjoyed the r ace at Huntington Bea ch. LEAVE IT UKE,IT IS Regarding traUblkes, we agree with Froelich. Let's leave it the way it isseparate start and shorter courses. BROOKS FAMll..Y 1442 Nov. 11296m Nov. 11295m Nov. Torrance, Calif. SPRAYBERRY PROTEST Knowtng your reputation of fairness we felt sure you would want to be informed of an error, made by the Four Aces M.C. on the Huntington Beach 100ec Amateur race of Sept. 29, 1968, to your paper. Enclosed Is a copy of the letter written to the club. We were somewhat upset to read the Yamaha ad claiming the 1st place victory especially since we are sponsored by Kawasaki in Bakersfield. We looked sUly co ming home saying we won then reading Cycle News, We would like to have a retraction printed in the results s ection to clear It with the r iders. We know you try to be accurate in your reporting. if you would look at the results we weren't even listed in the results at all. This seems a shame since we won the race. We have filed an official protest and have contacted Mr. Adams and Mr. Crook. Thank you. DAVID SPRAYBERRY #21B Dist. 35 R .L. SPRAYBERRY Bakersfield, CalU. 93306. I DIDN'T CHEAT To Lanny Lehigh: IC you are talking about the guy in the Checkers M.C ., you're right. Except thlLt after the race, I went up to the Shamrocks and disqualified myseif.lhOPethis will show that Che ckers don't cheat! BOBBY EWING JR . 1/ 80 "Checker" 8 Northridge, Calif. OPEN LETTER TO DELEGATES The fo1l6wing is an open le tter to the District 37 Spor ts Committee and Delegates to the National Convention: Dear Sir s: You' r e to be congratulated for stepping up and ac c epting what is most pr obably a thankless job. for giving your time without monetary allowance and placing yourselves in a position to receive constant criticism. I wish this letter was only to convey thanks for a job well done, but like all representatives you'll probably r eceive few If any of that type no MORE ON TRAILBIKES matter how good a job you do. Mine is I think 40 or 50 mUes is long enough no exception; it is to voice the following for a traUbike to go. With two traUblke complaints in regard to desert compe ti riders in our family it seems the longer tion : the race the more it costs to keep them 1. The present point system leaves much running. Besides. who can compete with too much to be destred. The numbers tuned bikes that may cost as much as issued the first of the year do not neces$1,000. sarily depict the abll1ty of the recipient. LEE ADAMS An Amateur or Expert can finish after Long Beach, Calif. a Novice. 'Ibe Nerice may not receive any points while the EJrpert and Amateur receive as many as 40 or more POints. HOW ABOUT HALF AND HALF? Very seldom If ever w1ll an Expert or This note is to voice a "no" to trail Amateur not receive points if be flnlsbes, bikes going the full distance in desert even last overalll events. I would recommend continuation of the To the few who want to go all the way I present system for European scrambles can understand their point, but to the and a new chart for hare and hound or many who really make the class It's hare scrambles. A chart with larger too fa r . columns, and points issued by finishing Let the Experts go the distance and the position in division (ltwt., hvywt.), withAma te urs and Novices halfway. All may out regard to classification (Novice, be happy this way. Amate ur , Expert). MARVl N.LE BLANC 2. Experts and Amateurs are constan tly Red Dots M.C . grumbling about the large number of Los Ange les, Calif. trophies that are given to Novices, and the few to them . Yet, recently, transfer ' (- Desert Correspondent ' Dick Wright reports that he. ton. has received seven • points have been increased twice to high er levels. IC we lowered the number back Ie tters, all re garding trail bike even ts reto where it was, 21 for Novices, we maini ng a fun class limi ted to a 5O-mile maximum distance. oJ would have more Amateurs and more Publisher ••••Charles C. Clay ton Rusines s Mana /:er • oSharon Cla,v ton National A dv , Dire ctor ••Tom Cui p Photo Edi tor • •• ••• Dennis Green e Lab Technician • • • •Bill Pettigrew Bookkeeper • • • • • •SUsan Whitelaw Circula tion Dep t •• .J enny McDonald Edi toria l& Adv , (\sst. Sandra Purdy Pu bl i s hed w ee kly exce pt the firs t a nd last week of the calenda r vear by C&S P ubli s hi ng Co.• P ost Ohicp Box 498. L on g Beach . Ca lltornj a , 8 § c Second Class postage paid at Long Beac h, Cali f. E dit or ia l s to ries . ca rtoo ns , phot os , etc. ar e w e l c omed and wi ll be paid for upon publicati on (e xce pt pres s rel eas e s a nd - Voi ce" ieuers .i Addres s ed, stamped envelope assu res re turn. Sin gle copy pric e•••• , • • ••• 254' Subscription: One ye a r 2nd class M • ••• • •••••• .••• •• ~7 . 50 all Adve rtising rates and ci rcula li on i nforma tion wi 11 be se nt upon requ es t. I trophies in that class (same Is true for Expert class). 3. Let's keep "sportsman" events just thatl No professionals, No money prizes. JACK L . ROBEL 120 Borromeo Placentia, Calif, 92803, COOLEY'S COLUltN By We s Cooley The views expressed in lIis colwm are 1I0se of lie columnist and are Dot necessarily the opinions of Ills newspaper. Equal space will he provided to those who wish to take issue with any or all of th e statements in Cooley's column. -The Publishers. It looks as though we are beginning to get a few comments, good and bad, con cerning our di s c us s ion of the Dirt Digger' s annual grand prix. IC we keep this up long enough, Don Kemp, Public Relations Director for the Dirt Diggers, will have achieved much more adverti sing than he has paid for. But, it makes for good copy, and since I have been Involved with Don Kemp on other promotions, he'll try to keep this up for another two or three weeks, It's a funny thing, but neither the ACA nor MlCUS has had any dealings with the Dirt Diggers s ince last year when they ran their 9th Grand Pr ix which was their last Inte r na ti onal moto-cross eve n t , The com me nt in our column concerning this event was made primarlly to inform some of the riders that they did not need an international license to compe te , since we had had many inqulrles trom r iders wishing to ride the international events. We are not making any further com ments, other than the fact that It is not an International and they do not have an international sanction. Nor do we make any de r oga tory r emarks concerning the Dir t Digger s Motorcycle Club, We hav e been to man y of their events and we think they are as finely run as any other event in this area and they have fine members. We've only had a differ ence of opini on with some of the ir electe d or selfap pointed officlals . They have brought one of the largest motorcycling events to Southern California and we think it helps out motorcycling a great deal, but we also believe r ide rs and sp ectators s hould be inf or med of the true facts - it Is not an international even t. To an swer some of Mr. Kemp'S r emarks in last week' s publi cation, there had be en some di s c ussion between Mr. Edi s on Dye and the Dir t Diggers concer nin g parti cipation of the international riders at Hopetown , but as far as we know this was only talk, At no time in the discussions was any official of the FIM or press or anyone else in any official capacity present, so commen ts made either by Mr, Dye or Don Kemp certainly cannot be substantiated, espeelally not after this period of time and all that has transpired. With regard to the Dirt Diggers applying for an FIM sanction, DO off1cial application was ever made to any of the MlCUS atfUjate clubs. Last year, the Dirt Diggers were a member of the ACA, but you will notice on their entry forms this year they had the AFM listed as an acceptable license and therefore we assume they are members of the AFM. Mr. Kemp is very much aware of the process used In order to obtaln an FI M sanction . If they wanted an international sanction for 1968 they could have applied through the AFM who would have, i n turn , applied to MICUS. MICUS does not Issue s anctions to individual clubs but only to the four member associa ti ons. So, these letters which are available upon request (any one can type a carbon and da te It) certainly were neve r r eceived by MlCUS or, as far as we know, anyo ne else. To clarify another point, regarding the inter national events to ' be held in this country between October 20th and December 8th, all promoters signed the same contract and all promoters paid exactly the same fee; no discrimination was mad e between an y of the promoters, This contract would also have been available to the Dirt Diggers If they had wanted it when It was made available . We understand, and this is also rumor, that the Dirt Diggers did ask Mr. Dye for an International event after their fourth of July weekend event. We understand it was an excellent event and all of the hundreds of riders who participated had a wonderful time, except there were DO spectators to speak of; so it must have been obvious even to the Dtrt Diggers that the Europeans did bring a few spectators to Hopetown, to witness not only the Europeans but a lot of good American competitors as well. I'm sure that past efforts of the Dirt Diggers have helped a great deal in fur ther ing international moto-cross racing in thi s country, but so di d a lot of other people all the way from Massachusetts to California. As far as any par tt allty being shown either to promoters or sporting clubs Is con cerned - none has been nor w1ll be. Mr. Dye has put out a great deal of money to bring the Eur opeans to this country and it is only natural that he would try to recoup some of the expenses, With regard to the poor Dtrt Diggers being a non-profit organization, I'll bet their annual gr os s income from the Hopetown event would make any organization. profit or non -profit, jump with glee• . With regard to Mr, Kemp beinglgnorant of the FIM rules an d regulations, tills is certainly a humbleness on his part. Last year, when controversy came uP about seoring, Mr. Kemp was more than wlillng to vocally expound his knowledge of the International rules and regulations, in fact so much so that he violated the regulations by awarding the prize money not to the winner, but to the individual finishing In second place over the protest of the official scorer and the FIM representative. : Now that this has been thoroughiy hashed and r ehashed and the sleeping dog has been awakened and, possibly, has di ed again. and you have as much lineage, ad ver ti s ing- wis e , as you can ge t out of It, Don, let's forget it unti l we can go at it again nex t year. In the me an time, let's look at the legallty of your ad vertising this even t as an inte rna ti onal; maybe one of us will get some satisfaction that way. This coming wee kend, OCtober 20th , will s ee the 5th Annual USGP run a t Willow Springs. There have been some outstanding entries received. Mike Duff, living in Southern Cali!or nia and working at Cycle World, was , at one time, the Canadian national champion and will be competing in the 350cc class on a Yamaha . Also competing will be Art Baumann and Ron Grant, two fellows who did very well in the AMA national road race ctrcult this year. The whole thing gets underway at 10:30 a.m., with the tropby presentation and awards Immediately following the last event at the Player's Club in Rosamond. For any of you who would like to attend, the practice session w1ll be on Saturday trom 12:00 until 4:00 p.m , and there w1ll be overnight camping at the raceway. We have also received a request from the AFM for an international road race to be held on November 24th at Orange County International Raceway, So far, the international classes will be 250ec and 350ec and we are awaiting conftrmation of the third class. We also hear rumors that there will be an International speedway star In the Los Angeles area some time the latter part of this month and ther e Is the possibll1ty that an international sanction will be r equ ested to allow hi m to compete In one of the speedway events Saturday night at Whiteman Stadi um . If the sanction Is appli ed for, we will give you the information as soon as possible.

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