Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

"America'. #1. wHlllr motorcrcla new.....r. You'll Alur' ..a It FIRST In Crela New.'" PubU er Cbartes CllQOlon General Manager. _ ••••Tom Culp Fealnre Edllor Terry PraU AsstlltaDt Ecllor Gael Buchanan Bullioess Manager 91aroa ClIQOIDD Advertlstnl MlUIacer••••Paul COl!lller Circulation MlUIacer...Bruce Eastf1Y Production Asst•• Dean Cunningham "America's Weeklv Motorc.vele Newspaper' 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 Bookkeeper•..••• Susan \llIltelaw Lab Technician ••••.• LIIi Lulch RecepUonlst. • • • • • SU:riJee Evans Published weekly except the first and last week of the calendar year by C)'cie News, Inc .• Post Office Box 498, Long Beach, California, also publishers of Cycle News Easl. Second Class Postage paid at Lon II: Beach. Calif. Editorial stories, cartoons, photos. etc. are welcome. Write for informa' tion. Addressed, stamped envelope assures return of editorial matter. Reprinting in whole or in part only by permission of the publishers. Advertising rates and circulation information will be sent upon request. 7 HATS OFF TO BEACH RACERS 'FREEDOM· IN ARIZONA AND THE WINNER IS... On Sept. 24, '68 I bougbt a motor scooter from the State of Arizona. I bave pald the fees for auction and title. I bave pald for a 1968 license. I bave pald for a 1969 license. I bave pald for a Motorcycle Operator's license on Mar. 15, 1969. On Mar. 18, 1969, after extenslve, and expensive repalrs to the scootez' I rode from my bome to the Driver'S Ucense bureau for tlleir road test, Refused Operator's license because my helmet bas no name 10 It, I returned uezt day witb three (3) other helmets. NONE ACCEPTABLE. I bave tried to comply witb the law compeWng motorcycl1sts to wear belmets even tho tbe law 15 clearly unconstitutional and I DO NOT WISH TO WEAR A HELMET. The round trip of D1De (9) mlles is all that I bave been permUted to ride tb1s vehicle 10 more than a year of ownership, 10 spite of all the fees the STATE OF ARIZONA bas collected from me. Bear 10 mlod when our guns bave been cooftscated, when we live under a city housing code, an auto 1Dspecttonlaw,are forced to ride behiDd gas bags In our cars, and forced to wear belmets In our cars, that our present legislators are doing these tbtngs. There are many tbtngs that can be done to reduce the higbway toll of lives. THEY WILL NOT BE DONE. This message Is not for MOTORCYCLISTS only: It Is for everyone who rides In, or drives an auto. , I bave been unable to have tbls message publlsbed by any newspeper or magaztne. THINK ABOUT THISl D,H, KINTNER Phoenix, Az. At the season's firSt San Jose lodoor race tbe riders worked their way through qua11tying, heats and sem1-f1Dals (wbtch I believe determloes starting positions according to the AMA rules) and tben drew starting positions from a bat. Why bave heats at all? Why sbould a rider qualify his best when 10 tbeendltdoeso't even matter? On top of this we learn that as tbe season'progresses and poiDt totals evolve all MaIn events w1ll bave tnverted starts witb tbe 111gb polot men to the rear. This is like puttlng Mert Lawwtll at tbe rear of every natiooa J race he enters because be 15 National number 1. ThIs letter 15 to Worm you of tile situation 10 hopes that some one can improve it before tbe professions completely disappears. JOHN AND BUTCH MARTIN Falrf1e1d, Cal. EDITOR'S COMMENT: The above is an excerpt of Mr. Martin·s letter sent to Tom Clark, the AMA's Director of Protessional Racine. PEACE OF MIND GenerallY when someone writes to a newspaper It is to register a gripe about some terrible lojust1ce that bas been dOOe tbem, but I am writing to compUment Rescue 3. 'They .are one of the fiDest groups of good samaritans I bave ever seen. I bad tbe opportuntty to see them 10 action at Carlsbad Raceway on Nogember 16th. Their sk111 and etl1c1ent actions sure give me a lot of peace of miDd when I am on a race track. JERRY MATHEL EI Cajon. Cal. YOU CAN NEVER GO HOME AGAIN I bave been out of tbe country for the past two montbs. On my return I was Wormed I bad won a trophy In an enduro the Valley Tra1l Riders put on some time before I left. I bave tried every waY I know of to get In touch witb them and no SOBP. I even tried to contact your paper and I was informed by recording that tbe phone number was no longer 10 service. The address you list for the club 15 no good either. The letter came back saying no such address. So - do you bave an up-to-date address for the Valley TratI Riders and would you ldndly pass It on to me? I would aPPreciate It. , R.L. COLLINS Oxnard, Calif. DESERT GREMLINS We of tbe So Cal Club would like to exteod apologies to all riders who found tbemseIves In the dead eod canyon at our recent Red Rock Hare and Hound. After 1Dspecttng the course marktngs It was found that some unknown persons bad removed tbe or1g1nal ribbon and replaced it leading away from tile actual trail. Arrow markers were also changed. DICK CAMP So Cal Referee Nortll Hollywood, Cal. 7 7 7 HUNTINGTON During a TT race Nov. 9tb at Huntington Beacb, I was iDvolved 10 a three bike pUe up off the starting line. I would like to extend my thanks to the people of Huntington Beacb Cycle Park, and especla11y to tbe off duty nurse whose son SOD was racing. I would also like to express my gratitude to the people who offered their van to get me to tbe boSPital, and give a spectal thanks to Jimmy Raymood for his assistance. TbaDks also to the doctors and nurses at Huntlngton Beach Inter-CommUD1ty Hospital for their immediate and excellent care. TOM JOHNSTON JR. Las Vegas. Nev. YANKS FOR YANKEE I would like to congratulate Dick Mann and Bob Thompson, our fellow American motocross riders, who led us to an outstanding Victory 10 tbe 250 class at tile Inter-Am 10 Pepperell. Both of tIIese men are factory riders for Yankee Motor Company and they both deserve recognition. I'm sure by now everyone knows that DIck and Bob rtde Ossa's not Greaves. CHRIS ORTEGA Santa Monica, Cal. u.s. MCINDUSTRY COMES TOGETHER Joins Honda, H-D Etc. for 1st LOS ANGELES, CALIF, Tburs., Nov. 20 - All the major American motorcycle distributors and manufacturers agreed to work together for tbe first time in history to create an ettective industry association last week. Harley-Davidson shook bands witb Honda, BSAITriumpb beamed allover the place, and the moribund old Motorcycle, 'Scooter & Allied Trades Association breathed its last as it merged with the Motorcycle Safety Council to create a new industry working body named Motorcycle Industry CounCil, Inc. Outgoing president of the MS&ATA, editor Ivan Wagar grinned bappily, 'I'm out of a job!- Wagar was cbiefly credited for engineering tbe merger whicb, at long last, gives motorcycling an industry association representing 99% of all motorcycles sold in the U,S. Officers of M.l.C., Inc. elected were: Josepb Hope, President; Frank Heacox, Vice President; Matt Matsuoka, Secretary; Paul McCrillis, Asst. Secretary and Jobn Harley, Treasurer. Otticers for the new association will be establisbed in Washington D.C. and ,Southern California, A dealer participation plan will be announced sbort· ly. Tbe only dissenting vote on the merger was cast by Mr. Micbael Bondy. 1&·YEAR-OLD RULE RANKLES We bad great bopes for the future of motorcycling with the progress of tbe competition congress. Now they bave digressed. We bave the feeling that tbe exclusion of 16-year- olds from our race scene w1ll eventually destroy professional raclng. A good portion of the desert tratI class and many scramblers are under 16 and these are some of the pros of tomorrow. Now, many w1ll fiDd other loterests and' tbe ones that continue racing, w1ll do so under other sanctions. The purpose of tbls rule escapes us because we can't concelve of a 15-yearold racing witbout his parents' knowledge and consent and tbls would relieve AMA of responslb11lty. Once again, the AMA bas cut off Its nose, despite Its face. We used to brag about the sport we love, but now we're almost ashamed to admit that we are associated witb an organization with sucb medieval ways. Those of us under 16 now bave no reason to join the AMA, everl and tber' of us over 16 are considering cance11lng our AMA membersblps J!.IId jo1n1ngafatr organization. We're sure tbereare many other people with the &a!Jle feelings. Hopefully, there w1ll be enougb discord over tbls rule that the AMA will see tbe light and resclod tbls ridiculous ruling. Also, the way we get the story, tb1s ruling was made under questionable circumstances, after rruiny competition congress members had gone home. That's democratic? Age 26 DAVE BROWN 1452x Age 14 MARK CAIN ACA 1646 , Age 14 TONY ROGERS 1470 Age 16 GREG BELOIT CYCLE NEWS £OMMENTS: Ye s Dave, Mark. Tony and Greg. A wily congressman will sometimes wait lllltil all but a bare qIIOl'IIIII leaves before introducing a conlrnversial proposal, as in this case. It's perfectly good democracy...\nynne could have called for adjournment. A concress rule can be veloed by the AMA ExecuUve Board, j( dJey see fit 10 do so. NatnraIly they are very cbary or usinl this power. Single copy prtce. , •••• , . , . 2~c Subsc:rtpUon: one year 2nd class mail . . • . • • . . . • , •. , ••. 57.50 Cycle News (West), P.O, Box 49B. Lona: Beach, Calif. SIIOI ell3) 421-1433 L.A. &36..B44 Crc" Naw. East and National Advart· 1.lnl Information: Tboala. CUlp•.Natlonal Advartiline Dlr. 2499 Cerritos Ava. Lone Iluch, ca IIf. 90106 (213) 427·7433 or 636-1144 Talex No. 67·3474 7 7 7 LEl'S PUT ELSINORE ON THE MAP! 10 your November 11 issue,you bad a map of all tbe race tracks 10 Soutbern California, that is, all but one: Elsloore. What do you have agatnst Elsloore? .I tb1nk Elsinore bas been judged unjustly 10 the past. About 2 months ago a rider from San DIego called it a deatll trap and very un-safe. He is so used to going 10 a stralgbt line on the fast tracks 10 San DIego that when he gets on a track with a lot of·turns be tb1nks It Is unsafe. I bave raced there for over 2 years now and 10 that time I bave never seen anytb1ng worse tban a broken collar bone. I tb1nk tbe owner of tb1s track should be rewarded for such a good record. I would much ratber drive 86 mUes to race at ElsiDore tbaD I would drive the 7 m1les to Dehesa bere In San DIego. ElsiDore 15 organized and runs an average of 40 to 45 races 10 3-1/2 bours. VIC HANNON E1 Cajaon, Cal. TELL IT LIKE IT IS The recent lotercbange of letters on Ka wasaId logistic support, or the lack of It, bas been mosi loterestlng. I entIIustastica11y endorse your priDting of tbe letters from Phil Darling and A, Garolln. Why? Because I llke to find out how tblngs are, wbtch is DOt necessarlly the same as tbe way theY ougbt to be. or we'd like tbem to be, or bow somebody would llke us to believe that they are. Wh11e I tb1nk It's good to get some facts out Into tbe open, and admire Cycle News for baYing the guts to name names (or allow them to be named), It Is unfortunate that tbls - bas to bappen to a single company. Kawasaki may bave earned Its lumps, but tbey certa1Dly aren't as bad as those ever-present and ever-disappearing Importers who bring 10 a few batches of some unknown brand, then simply fold UP, leaviDg tbe hapless owner s with less bope tbaD a borse tblef at a Iynchtng. J.G. KROL Anaheim, Cal. P.R. PLAN O.K. Enjoyed very mucb your article on P,R, by AMA and would be w1ll1ng topsy a couple of dollars extra for added good publicity of our sport. DAVE BROWN Long Beach, Cal. BLEEDING THE PILGRIMS I attended HopetoWrJ on both days tb1s year and pald my $3 spectator fee on Saturday. That was a little htgh,but tbe races were excellent and well run. I returned Sunday as a competitor and brought along an adult friend and two boys aged ten and eleven. I presented my gate pass that ostensibly admitted "Bearer, one Adult and Two Children" • When I was told tbll,t the children clause dldo't apply to anyone over eight years old, I coughed uP the extra six bucks.but after checklng with District 37 commltteemen, I found that the pollc¥ was not consistent with their Information. Later I· contacted Mr. James D. Hunter, Vic!! President of Holzer/McT1gbe Advertising, who said that be was 10 charge of tbe Hopetown entourage and that gate procedure was correct. I can't blame the Dlrtd1ggers; I understand tbey don't have anytbiDg to do with tbe gate. I do find It hard to believe that a noted celebrity such as Bob Hope 15 10 such fiDanctal dlff1culttes that his hired leaches must resort to bleeding the "PUgrims" that come to what Is considered by many to be the "Fun run of the year". JOE CRAWLEY Torrance, Calif.

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