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Wheelie Does it Again Nixon' 5 Pa,h '0 Grand Na'ional Champion Crown -Down The Length of Baja in a YaIllaha-powered Canoe ..... C\> .., .Q By Wayne F lemington Whenever you ge t a c ouple of weeks to spare why not pull-pull the 1200 miles from the mo uth of the Col or ado River to La Paz, Mexico in a ca noe power ed by a 3-1/2 hp Yamah a outboa rd ? F uns ies, eh? Aod look , don' t worry about how good a swim mer you are. u \\1leelie" Wheeler can hardly make the len gth of hi s pool but that didn' t stop hi m. Mind you, you' ll pr obab ly nev er be more than fo ur miles from shor e. If thi s all sounds unreal maybe you need to be fille d in on some of 14 'Wheeli e ' s " other adventu res . He keeps doi ng thi ngs like r unni ng down the length of Baja Ca li for nia and back on a Yamaha 80 in 76 hours . Or how about Los Angeles to the equator in Ecuador on a lOOcc Moto- Beta, 5000 ' miles in one week. Or Athe na, Or egon to Anchorage, Alaska, 7000 miles, on a Hodaka, in one week, In January , and then back again. There was a lot to be said about this canoe idea. F i rst, he'd never been in a canoe . Second, It would be dangerously under powered. Thi r d, he co uldn' t swim worth a damn. And fourth, there'd be no one a r ound for miles. A real na tural. Now " Wheeli e ," whose other name is Frank , looks as s a ne as can be . He even . has a regular Job. lie's a firefighte r . So we're wonde ring why he does thes e strange things. Well, firs t of all, whatever time it takes to ge t to La P az will be a wor ld's r ecord. Secondly, there's the money. (I knew It. Under nea th that cavalier ve neer he ' S the same a s a ll of us.) Wrong, probably. His fa the r Is rich. Getting techni cal for a moment, the boa t was fi berglass , 24' . He and Wixom Bros. built it. With all hi s gear and the 35 lb. Ya maha outboard, It works out to 250 lb . per hp. F or the record, he left the mo uth of the Colorad o on September 29 an d arr ived in La Paz, older but wiser as they say , 13 day s , 10 hours, 42 minutes later. That's about li ke goi ng from L .A. to Fr isco an d bac k again, an d then up again . In his spare moments he scribbled a 41-page diary fo r hi s wife. Here Is an excerp t from his first night out: San Felipe, Saturday evening, 7:30: " Moon drops below horizon . I keep wandering around under anchor . Completely dark. Head for s hor e . Low tide. Am stranded on beach. "Am completely wet, co ld & hungry. Goin g to have c offee while s i tt ing in boat. Start coffee going and everything fine. Big breaker rocks boat. Stove falls ove r, s pil ls fue l over bott om of boat. On fi re . F lames li cking towards 20 gallons of gas in plastic cans . Spare engi ne in bo ttom of boat goes up in fl a mes , Its gas ta nk on fire . " I r oll out of boat. The whole sky is lit up from the flame s . I take three big leaps and Jump into the next breaker to dowse the flames . Am not burned too bad . Boat is af i re an d ever ythi ng in it. "R us h ove r an d throw cold s ea water into boat. This hel ps some but gas floats on water and is s pr ea ding . Fire deeper into the hull . Rip off jacket soaked in water a nd smother flame. What excitement. Li cking my wound and waiting for daylight. Is a long night." Some guys do fun ny things to pr ove who they are. /l ac/ak a \ 1 (} 1 (}r< ·~' ('I .. " Greeves Montesa Ka wasa ki Trium ph-mounted Gary Nixon in repeati ng his vi ctory of last s eason to r etaln his AMA Grand Na tional Cha mpion status, earned a total of 622 Na ti onal Cha mpi ons hip poin ts ove r the •68 race season. Starting with the poin t lead for his win at the As trodome Short Track Na ti onal In F ebr uary. Nixon gave UP the point lead to Cal Rayborn after compl etion of the 200-mlle Road Ra ce National (2nd for the season) at Daytona Bea ch, Flor ida . Gary found hims elf listed in 12th position on the Nati onal point tally sheet after the Daytona International Speedway event In March. Seve n race s later, Nixon won the 10-mile Na tional In Col umbus , Ohio to once again r egain the point lead on June 30. Nixon swapped the lead to Rayborn for 2nd place August 25th - r egained it the foll owing weekend only to gi ve it up again in Septe mbe r to F r ed Nix after a sensational win by Nix a t the Oklahoma Ci ty 9- mlle race. With only one poi nt- earning even t to go on October 12 at Gardena, Cal. , Nixon out raced unfavorabl e odds to capture the 1968 Grand Na tio nal Champion crown an d the number one plate with a s-polnt edge ove r second finishing F red Nix (H-D). ' Westminister Sport Cycle qualil~' ) 50-Lap TT, Gardena . Gal . (7) Ill-Mil e (mil e track), San ta Rosa, Ca l. (9) Ull-Mile R.R., Indi anapolis, In d. (9) 25-Lap TT, Li ncol n. :'\iehr. (4) 20-Lap TT, Peoria. III . (6) Short Track , Hins dal e . III. (6) S PECTATO R L1 ABILIlY AND PARTI· CI PAN T INSURANCE FOR TRACK WN S, O OTERS AND CLUBS O ER PR M BUSINESS PACKA GES- MO-:-ORCYCLE & AU TOMOBI LE - LIFE & ACCIDENT. s. HARR IS,P INSKY " OF MI CHAEL BENDER & ASSOCIAT ES, INC. 5225 WI LSHIRE BO ULEVARD, Su11e 717 L.A., Calif. 90036 (213) 937-2011 BROKER INQUIRIES INVITED. (714) 893-7057 7574 W inister Ave. W 1linstet, Cal. estm estl ... Selection Of New &.. Motorcycles Large Used ~ '~ 9000 SEPULVEDA BLVD. WARREN WILSON MOTORS South 01 Nordoll in Sepulveda, Ca li!. "IN THE HEART Of THE VALLEY " CU L V ER CI TY CY CL E CEN T ER BULTACO*MAICO} M/B * PENTON ~ - - (2J 894-92J8 LAR~:t~,fl~~KN °kR~~:~AV:~::f 3) - - - GREEV NIXON'S 1968 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS Indoor Short Track , Ilo uston, Tex.(lst) 20ll-Mile I{.R. , Daytona Beach, F la .(l9) 13-Mile (!6 mile track) , Richmond , Va.(6) 12-Mile (!6 mil e tra ck ), Readin g, P a, (3) Hlile (!6 mil e tra ck ) Livon ia , Mich.( 3) I5-Mile (!6 mile tra cki , Louisvill e, K,y.(7 ) 100-Mile R.R. , L oudon, N. Il. (2) Miniature R.R., Heidelberg, Pol. (2) I ll-M ile M mile tra ck ), Columbus , O. (1) 20·Mil e (mile tra ck ), P ortland, Ore . (4) ash. (did not 3ll-Lap TT. Ca stle Rock , W Guy R. L oui s I MAMMOTH MOTO-CROSS -- WINS EVERYWHERE PACIfIC COAST C AMPIO S IP H CARLSBAD 500cc Expert Class 5 cc Expert Class on all 4 heals Also G rand Prix i er On Sa t. 250cc Jr. JIM WILSON 360 GREEVES Ji. WilsDn 360ee GREEVES Die. JagDw 360ee GREEVES On Sunday 500cc Jr. 2nd J.N, Roberts-Husq. ,",UST ARRIVED 250 and 360 MD'D-CrDss a' ,Dur Dealer's nDW Shells - Lv nwood • Hockies-Torrance • Krause's-Ingleood • L aw's-A nahei m ' Hurd' s-Mont ebellu • Mason Mtrs .- Pasa dena • Rob erts I mport s ' Santa Monica· Or Call N ic k N ichol son Moto rs i n No . Ho llywood 764 -8674 for your c losest Dea ler - - Save SSS D 1968 Clearance Sale Now. - - - -- e: ~ e ~ CI) :it t.:I ~ t.:I c:3 :>.. U