Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

BACKSTAGE AT THE ASTRODOME round in relationship to the straightaways. It is difficult to gear a machine properly and it is difficult to give a real good race show because of the shape of the track. It happens tbat it has to be elliptical and of certain proportions for a very definite reason, so that you can have a course which is proportional to the speed you can get on the straigbtaway. All race tracks are shaped like that, and every now and then you find a track where somebody thinks a new s!ll\pe may be better, but it isn't. GARY NIXON, National NlIlIber One A eaule of Amateur Class IT-ers makes It Over th. hump, 11n Gordon Dusenbery is from Wichita, Kansas. Astrodome Interviews Interviews by J. Lacey MIKE JABLINSKI - Photographer This is Jay Lacey at Houston's Astrodome - Mike, teU me what do you think of litis track'? It is a nice dirt track, but in the second tum there are some prettY bad holes that they said they were going to take out but haven't. Are you taking pictures for yourself? Yes, I am doing mostly some free lance photography . RONNIE HALL Ronnie, are you still living in Mansfield, Ohio? Yes. StiU farming? Yep. What have you done over the winter? Just milk cows. Come on, what else? That's it. Have you done any indoor riding during the winter? No, not much I just ride in the hills to keep in practice. What are your plans for '69? Oh, I'll just stay around home in Ohio and ride the dirt tracks. Are you going 10 make many of the Nationals? A few. Daytona? Oh,yea. MARK BRELSFORD, the New Nati ona I N IIIIIber 81 How did lItey decide on lhat number, did you have a choice? No, I just recei ved it in the mail. Were you surprised at all? Well yes, kind of. Did you lItink you might not get lite National Number? Well, I had -doubts. And you're happy? Oh, yes, very happy. What are your plans for 1969? To ride Harley all season- and do the best I -possibly can. Do you plan to eet lhat National Number One plate? I have dreams for it. DALLAS BAKER, 50x Give me some information about lite bille you are riding Ionight Dallas. It is an Ossa 250 and the frame is a special frame designed by Dick Mann and was made by a Yankee corporation. Today is the first time I have seen or ridden it, and it has a lot of power and performs real good. Can anybody buy these frames. or do lItey come willt Che biIle all complete like lhls one? No, not yet, this is abOut the third frame made so far. SQUIRE TOMASI E, Fastest Amateur Qualifier SQuire, did you find a groove out there lItatwasbetterthan anybody else's? No, just the superior handling of a good Bultaco. Strictly lIIat? Yes. This is your first trip 10 lite Astrodome, right? Yes. What are your plans for 1969, your amateur year? To win I hope! EDDIE WIRTH Eddie, you Iold me already you had nothing of further interest to say, so tell me what are you riding Ionight? A Sprint for tonight, but for the rest of the season a BSA at all the Nationals. Are you going to try Chis mainly because of lIIe rule change? Ii has a lot to do with it. I am better off now with the bigger en' gines and mOre horse power. FREDDIE NIX You won your heat race, and Semi, and you had lite short track title in lite hag. What happened? Well my tire got into my front fork where I had a piece of rod sticking down for the fork damper thatI usually cut off, and it hangs about an l'n inches down. When I hit that big hole the tire got in to it and momentarily locked UP the wheel and down I went. JIMMY ODOM Jimmy, I notice you are wearing glasses lIIis year, how come? You didn't have them lastyear. They certainly help me a great deal when riding, but most people develop a complex about glasses. They really don't bother me any more. Can you tell us what your plans are for this 1969 season? Whose rigs will you be riding? My own and mostly in the West. and ride a Harley for the half miles and a Tri for the IT. Maybe a Sportster, but I am not sure yet. Gary, you ha ve been eliminated via the Semi - are you disappointed? No, tbat is just racing luck. What happened? Well, Barry Boggs ran in to me and broke the brake lever. whicb was just One of tbose things. Did your lrake stick? No, it broke the lever and the lever napped around and hit the kill button to make it sbort out. It took me about four or five laps to figure out wbat was happening. I see. How does the rest of lIIe season look for you, stricUy all lIIe Nationals and are you going to try that Number One again? Ob, yeah witb the new rules we bave a pretty good chance on the dirt track now with the 650. You are siricUy in favor of that? Yes, it makes it a lot mOre even. Were you one of the representatives at the AMA meeting this year? I didn't get elected. .pAVE AlDANA You have just wOn your first National Amateur race, how does it feel? All Dick, you have been a good sport throughout the years and have been a National champion - do you have aa:r good words for us? No. What are yom plans for the rest of 1969? Well: at the rate I am going I'll starve to death. SKIP VAN LEEUWEN AND SONNY BURRES Both ofyou have wonyour beat races. Skip, you had the fastest heat race so give us a good word on what you thiDIl of lIIe track. Ii is a little slippery than I like to see it, but you just have to gas' em. Mr. Burres? We II like Skip said it is slippery. Both of you fellows ba we your gearing like you want it? ·Yes." 1 (Skip) sure don't want to cbange it any more. It looks like a Northwest TT_ JIM RICE a_ We are speaking with Jim Rice, ber SOy. Jim, this is your first TT after becoming an expert. Do you have any good words, sad words or what do you have to say for yourself? Well, !tbink it is going to be a rough year. It always is when you are going from amateur 10 expert. Bruce Anderson, what do you think? Well, I think I bave a lot to learn; all you can do is do the best you can and learn from the guys who are the best. It takes time, and you have to keep plugging away at it. Jim,You made it to the Semi and now you are eliminated, what -was your trouble out lItere? Just before I went out to tbe Semi, I looked at my rear wheel and it was nat. This was the only new Pirelli I had, so I had to put On a K-70 which didn't work too well. EDDIE MULDER I see you are on a Montesa Ionigllt and are in the Main e vent. Where were you last night? I was setting on the line waiting to qualify and burned a hole in the piston. What did you do over the winter? I did some stunts for the movies and it pays real good. What are your plans for 1969? Just to have a lot of fun and enjoy life. Do you plan -10 go to Daytona? I don't think so. Are you plannin g to make any of lite Nationals this year? Only the close Ones. If yo..- hOllle still in Burbank? Yes. NEIL KEEN, National NlIlIber 10 NeiI, you crashed out there when you hit the gate, just what did you do to your machine? Well, somebody fell down and I tried to go around and there was a steel gate that had a 4 inch piece of steel angle iron welded on it that had not been covered. When I saw it coming, I had to get off to keep from hitting it with my face; my machine skidded into it and bent the frame. And this is a Sonic Weld Frame? Yes it is. This lrake on the rear. is this your invention? No. this was made by Howard Barnes who makes the wheels for us. It is a kit you can get that is interchangeable and reverses. What dol's that sell for? Oh, about $49.50, well about $50. Did you find yourself using lhat lrake out there? No, I simply put it on because the rules had been modified to allow you to use brakes and I didn't know whether the other fellows would be using them or not. I put the brake On and, of course, it makes for much safer riding around the pits but for as it being an advantage while you are actually racing, I don't say that it was. There are some race tracks where it would be a definite advantagein case of an accident. Is lilts a Standard DT-l? Basically. yes. I made a couple of small modifications, it is basically a standard ignition system. Aren't you selling lItese flames? Yes, I am a Mid-West distributor for Sonic Weld and the Track Master COl1JOration who make racing frames. The two men who were running the Sonic Weld have recently split up but Kenney Warners is still running the Sonic Weld Corporation and is still making the same products he always did. Ray Hensley has a new busi' ness and they make two different kinds of frames for Harley Sprints. What do you mainly do in your off times? Just get ready for the next racing season and I have done nothing but race for about four years now. What about the 7~Occ limit, what do you think? I have a different opinion than what I had at first. Of course, all the riders on the AMA Board of Directors and the Competition Congress were against any displacement change and any formula change because of the fact that oilr primary interest is to look out for the riders welfare and we did not feel it would be the best thing for the riders to obsolete a bunch of equipment they already had. However, we were abOut to the end of the road with the 500cc machines. The trend in retail sales, of course, to the larger rather than to the smaller machine, and it is a mOre logical procedure to go to the 40 cubic inch machine rather than the30.50. Were you here last year, Neil? Yes I was. Do you feel the track is in better shape or worse? For the races it is better-, however, for the trials it was worse I would say than last year. I n~ tice lItey don't have the five turns as they did have last year. A track shou.ld be symmetrical as far as the race is concerned, but for some reason or another they still insist on having a point in the race track on the other end and the track at this end of the arena is too DICK MANN DUSTY COPPAGE, National N....er 32 Dnsty, how do you tille lite track tonight? Better than last night. Does it remind you of a Northwest TT? Well sort of. It looks like we have a good crowd tonight. How do you feel physically? Pretty good I guess, and loose. MARK BRELSFORD 4-nme world spe.dway champion Barry Bri us more lIIan mad. up for the bad Imp re sslon on. of his road racine countrym.nm-ad. at Daytona lasl year. He was tl.d for 12th fast qualifier In short track trials, "I tearned a 101," said Ihe likeable London.r. right. This was your first National ride as an amateur. Yes it was. How do you feel? Really excited! When did you know you had it won? When I got a checkered flag. Would you have liked to have seen Mashburn dicing it up with you? Yes, it makes it a better race for everybody. Mark,You are really hauling lbat Ha... ley around tonight, how is it doing? Fantastic, just fantastically! You are really looking good out lhere - are you up mentally and physically for this Main event? Yes, as long as Mert Lawwill keeps pumping things into my head. What has he been telling you? Just to make the Main. I thinll you have a froot row start. I sure think so. KEITH MASHBURN This is lIIe first time as an allllltear you ha ve been in the winner's circle at a National - bow does it feel? Better than last time. Did you have any plaus for lIIe race tonight, other Ihan just &0ing out there and ge.tting it OIl? No, I just wanted to go fast because it is a pretty hard track and tough to pass. and I thought if I got the scratch I could hold it. William Ev.s won his TT heat In spectaCUlar fashion. Where did all that pow.r c.... from?

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