Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

•. OOOO '~OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOO00000 " Entertainment and Information from America's Biggest Undiscorered Motor Sport ,t1V¥ . ,"8 . ~& ,~ ~ V . 'V; o gf ::: ~ ~ ~ ~ CI) ~ 0 8 g K ' .O 8 Motorcycle NewspaperAmenca s Weekly I I ~ 0 ... 6417 N Long Beach Blvd. . 0 Long Bea ch , Calif, 9 805 Or: Bo x 498 , Long Beach, Calif, Phone: 423-0431 ( d 213) Area Co e From L.A, Phones: 636-8844 Publ ish er •• ••Charles C. Clayton Business Mana l1;er ••Shamn Cla.\·lon As s'!. Edilor• ••1I'a.\'ne Fh'll1inglon :Il ational Adv, Direclor • •Tom Culp Pholo Edilor• •••••Dennis (; re ene Lab Te chnicia n•• •• lIi1l P e ttiarcw lIookkeeper ••••••SUsan II'hitel a\\ Circ ula tion Dept•• •J enn~· McDonald Edi loria l &; M\'. Asst. Sandra Purd~ Published weekly exce pt the first and last week of the ca le nda r year by css Publishin g Co.• Post ornce Box ~98 . Long Beach, California. ~ I 0 0 0 0 Second Clas s posta ge paid at LOn g . 0 Beach. Ca li f. 0 Editorial s tories. ca rtoons , photos , 0 etc . a re we lco me d and will § be pa id 0 for upon publicati on (exce pt 0 0 Pll'SS re lea s es aud · Voice" lelle rs.) Addres sed . stam ped en velope assures re turn. Sinl1;1e rop~' price••• ••• •• •• 2:;C ~IU b;"'riPtion: One vea r 2nd c l7a~s O ' a i • ••• • • • • • • • • • • • • • ..) Adve rtisin g rat es and ci rculation information will be s ent upon reque st. c 8 ., § § 8 ~ 0 g ~ 800000000000000000000000000OOOOOOOOO000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0 t.J ...:l U ;)., U UP. There are ge nuine revol utions (not revolutionary wars) all about us. VOICES OF THE WEST AN APOLOGY I belleve an apology Is In order af ter an event that I was directly Involved In this past weekend . Our c 1u b , the Southern California Trials Association, was puttIn g on an exhIbition of proper bIke ridIng technI ques at Escalana Elementary School In La MIrada, for the PTA. We had an obstacle course set up consIsting of stairs, tetter-boards , tel ephone poles , wheelles, etc. There wer e a good many spectators on hand, perhaps as many as 200, and I believe we were doing a good job of givIng motorcyclin g a good Image. . As the day was com ing to an end we were making a few final exhibition r Ides. As I proceeded to r Ide across the 35-40 foot telephone pole , which I had already done several times that day, the rear wheel slipped off and, need I say It, I broke my leg In two places. All the good we had probably done dur Ing the day was wiped out In one fell swoop. For tunately, my leg ".. 11 heal 1 faster than my pride. But by maki ng thIs apol ogy to my cl ub, the S.C.T.A., as well as motorcycling In general, It almost makes my leg feel a little better. GARY BARTON, La Habra, Cal. I'm wrIting to report an error In the results of the Side Hack Association' s Huntington Beach race In the November 21 edItion of Cycle News. In the 100 NovIce Main, Dan White rIdIng a Suzuki Van Tech placed second Instead of Burt Severy. TOM WHITE Huntington Beach, Calif. Potenti all y Explosive FOR THE RECORD THANKS TO ALL By Barbara Adam s Dahms ON CROWDED HOPETOWN My conflict is with the DIrt DIggers M.C. and their Grand PrIx Nov. 9th & 10th. They set a fi nal date for entries and my entry was postmarked two days before that date . My entry was returned In the mail with a polite note saying " Sorry, your class Is full, see you next year' t • This wouldn't bother me so much If It weren't for the fact that DIstrIct 37 Desert and Scrambles points are to be awarded for the race. I' m In close contenti on for the #2 trail bike number with about three other guys who are e ntered In the race, which gives me a distinct disadvantage. Next year my entry will be in on the fi r st day for this classic event, points or no points . ERIC L. JENSEN (Trail BIke #7) A QUESTION OF LAW AND ORDER (Part m "Law and Ord er" cann ot mean bashing people on theIr skulls with billy clubs, shooting first and Investigating later, or spraying city blocks of people with tear gas or mace. It cannot mean the application of deadly or near-deadly for ce by authorIties who are as emotionally Involved as those agai ns t whom it is applied. Nor can these acts, when they occur, be excused with the argument that the people shouldn't be there In the first place. Law and Order does not mean the suppression of protest. Just as law Is the founda tion upon which our democr acy stands, and order is essential for Its functioning, SO Is protest an Integral part of our democratic Idea. Change Is the mood of " now" . There Is a tendency for mass communication to spread an idea quickly but the protests of recent months are not jus t a fad. Demonstrators are not on the street just because they have nothing else to do. There Is change in the offIng all over the world. The old ways have simply come to the end of the li ne. Extraordinary developments In scIence and technology, communIcation and transportation are demandIng that laws and customs ca tch J I want to extend my thanks publi cly to the Greater Seattle Motorcycle Club and all partictpattng racers and spectators for the benefit s crambles put on for me and my family. Not only did I en joy s Itting out a r ace but the profits were mos t welcome. My racing career may have ended abruptl y beca use of my broken legs but motorcycli ng will always be part of my Ilfe . JOE DAHNERS, 57v Renton, Washington DON 'T BLAME DONAHER I am prompted to write this letter after s eeIng the tragtc accident at Ascot on OCt. 25 which cau sed the death of Steve Pederson. Many are blamIng Terry Danaher, but why In the world did the starter give the yellow f1ag1 A rIder was down In the groove with his bike and not moving . This al one should be enough reason for a black flag . The s tarter had 1/2 lap to make a decIs Ion. The flag had been out for less er accidents . With the yellow flag out, Danaher chos e a high groove, where it Is difficult to s low down upon seeing the red flags in the corner . It was too late for him to do anything. Perhaps It wasn ' t the starter's fa ult, but the fa ult of the poor lighting in the backs tretch. The lights were shinIng on the 1/2 mile; the racing was on the 1/4 mile. At the time of the accident I saw Aggie's reaction. Perhaps now he will get better lighting and better starters. JAMES N. JEFFERY Long Beach, Cal. CLUB DONATES Construction of the Mojave Community MedIcal Center Is In final stages. Funds have been raised through the generai Interested public through the purchase of shares as well as outrIght donations In cash. Such a recent generous donation has been rece Ived fr om the " Los t Coyotes Motorcycle Club" of Lancaster, Califor nia , In the amount of $1001 We gratefully acknowl edge this club's particIpati on in our communIty effort. CARL STONE Chairman , Mojave Community Medical Center By C huck Clay ton A meri can mot or cycle competi tion will e nter a ne w era in 1969 whe n th e libe ralizing ru les enacted by the fi rst Compe ti ti on Co ngress la s t wee k ta ke e ffe c t. The rnee ting on Oc tober 28. 29 a nd 30 in Columbus, Ohio was described by one AMA e xe c u ti ve as ·by fa r the s moothestmeetingofthe2 7 I 'v e be e n at." KO ne of the Great Inequalities Has Been Swept Aside' F i rs t t he Con gre s s e liminated the lon g-en dured " d is pl a c emen t ga p" fo r flattrack and spe ed wa y motorcyc les . Th e o ld rule re q uired SOOcc ove rhead valve engines to ra ce against 7S0 c c s ide va lve designs. T his was c hanged to allow a maximum displacement of 7S0 cc fo r a ll , re gar d le s s of design . Now dirt track fa ns will thrill to Ihe roar of Tri umph Bo nne ville s . Ka wasaki Avengers and Norton At la s e s (as well as the yet-unnamed Yamaha 40in cher) in the mil e a nd ~mile speedw ay contesls . T un e rs a nd s ponsors wi ll fi nd their role s a little easie r a nd le s s ex pe ns ive now tha t curre ntly- availa ble motorcyc les can be ra c ed o n an inch-forinch ba s i s , in what is still the numb er one U.S . cyc le in te re s t - d irt track competition. Th e old rule still applie s to road rac in g. ho we ver. 7S0c c sidevalve (Ha rley-Davidson ) ve rs us SOOcc OHV or z- stroke (everybody e lse) . One Brake OK On Dirt Tracker s T o q uie t the buz z in g horne t' s nes t ki cke d by the unp opular re cen t ban on 2- Stroke com pre s s ion re leases , the Con gre s s deci ded to a ll ow o ne b ra king device on all dirt track ma c h ines . Only front brakes a re disa llowed . fo r obviou s reas on s . This se nsi ble ruli n g will on ce again pe rmit 2-s tr oke bi kes to compet e eq ually wi th + s t rok es. a nd .It deserves the a pplau se of e very ra c e r a nd speedw ay fa n . Pro fess i onal Moto-C ross Established Pr obably the most i mportan t s in gle a ction of th e Congre s s wa s es ta b li s hing a Professional Mota-Cros s categ ory in AMA racing. Doin g th is required so me c leve r parliamentary man euvering, since th e AMA-appointed Chairman , B ill Berry, wan ted his own s et of rules to be adopted for moto-cros s. Berry ha s never e ve n. s e en a professional moto-cross . His rule s we re me re ly the .AMA' s old 'IT rules , with moto-cro s s sc ori ng. B u t int elligent delegates in t he e lecte d Congress voted inst ead to adopt the rules drafted by an ex pe rie nc ed. s -man delegate committ e e, which closely re s e mbl e the be tter in ternation al moto-cros s rul es . Sportsmen, Road Riders Get a Break Ad ditionally, the Congress e d ited a nd updated the e n tire rule bo o k for s po rt sman racing and roa d rid e rs' c ontes ts . E ve ryb ody got to ma ke hi s v ie ws known. an d club members have goo d re a son to be proud of th e men that th ey elected to repre sent the m. The high calibe r of d e le gates and the way they cooperated for the benefit of the sport was tr uly inspiring. ,A compl ete text of the rule revisions will be published in this newspaper as soon as th e official minutes of the Congress are available . Meantim e . ra c er s , road rid ers. 's tart getting your new e qui pme n t ready. and ra c e fa ns , polish up your binoculars for a new s eason of mot orcycle e xcite men t, starting January I! To attempt to stamp out this chan ge would be explosIve . There are many among us who would prefer to stay with the status quo. WIth all its problems they see it as s tability and securIty. There are others among us who want rapid, intense change. With all its hazards they see it as opportunity and progress. Most of us would like It both ways. And some sort of compromIse is the likely answer. But compromise requires first an honest appraisal of the question. When we look at the appeals for " Law and Order" (and almost everyone is making one) they seem to cover three or four separate Ideas. There's the cry of Cr ime- in- the- Streets . Yet, when people speak of Cr ime- In- the- Streets to Negroes -In-the-Streets as though they were somehow synonymous. Or this becomes H ip pIe s - In- the- Streets or Teenagers" in-tne-s t r e e t s or Demonstrators-inthe-Streets. ObvIously these are different situations and to equate them is to preclude any adequate solution. lt is still open to question as to whether crIme In Its accepted sense has abated appreciably as a result of stiffer penalties. Statistically It has increased by ever more numerous laws which defi ne as crime, acts which were not crimes a few years ago - the narcotic laws for example. Crime, when considered as attacks upon person or property (asIde from rIots), seems to have fluctuated over the last hal! century , r elatively independent of laws and enforcement, gradually increasIng as urban living has Increased. It hasn't been poll ee action that has kept matters under control. it's been the natural restraint fostered by the weight of custom. Mur der Is still an exceptional act. Most murders are ca used by prIvate ctrcum stan ces . Most people do not want to kill. They believe that killing is not a proper ac t. Even If they could be certain of not beIng di scover ed they still would not kill. Most human behavIor Is governed by this rule . People foUow their ownbeliefs and when they do not they must answer to theIr own conscIe nces . The big pr oblem Is that public and prIvate patte rns do not ma tch. This has pr obably always been so, to som e exten t, but the impo r tant thing about " now" is that so many people have decIded they will no longer tolerate thi s hypocr isy . No Meaning There is one reason for People-Inthe-Streets. They believe that killing is not a proper Ole t, that It does not become so just because Government wills It. For years private killing has been dondemned and state killing (In the for m of war) rewarded. For many conscIences this conflict has become unbearable. Throughout the range of human acti vity we have long condoned this sort of cynicism concerning our public and prIvate consciences. Even as we speak of "law and order" we use a phrase that has no meaning, There Is la w and ther e Is order but "law and or der " Isn't eIther • Law Is n't just the fine line of word s . Take for exa mple , al cohol and marijuana•••one is legal, one Isn' t. One makes a party, the other a bus t. Yet who a mong US can say that one Is more less harmful than the other? Law Isn' t just the ImposItion of the s tandards of s ome upon the rest. Law Is a pr otection against such things . Law Is a concept designed to eliminate . the arbItrarY and capricIous use of power by one man against another. Law Is the one and only safeguard of our liberty and our r igbts ...incl udlng the r ight to prote s t. Law Is the structure within which we can examine our d1tferences, and experIment with change s and reach co mpr omi s es. Law, order and liberty. WIthout the thIr d, the fi rst two are mean ingless. .<

• Cover