Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

"'~ " ~ ~Le ~n~~J5 "America's #1 weekly Imotorcycle newspaper. You'll always see it FIRST in Cycle News" PIT RACING TRAGEDY Publisher••••••• Charles Clayton Business Manager•••Sharon Clayton General Manager••••••• Tom Culp Advertising Manager ••• Tom Walsh Feature Edl tor••••••• Terry Pratt Assistant Editor••••••Bob Sanford Circulation Manager•• Bruce Easley Circulation Assistant •• Rheba Smith Production Manager•••• Li Ii Laklch Lab Technician. ,Greg Westmoreland Production Assistant •• Bruce Braly Bookkeeper••••••• Edna Wi Iii ams Bookkeeper•••.•••• Eleanor Duke Want Ads••••••••Jan McCullough FOR THE SPORT OF IT I want to take tIl1s moment to write tIl1s apen letter to all the \VQIlderful people that came to the aid ol my daughter at the Victors M.C. races. My daughter, Mona Joy, age 11, was wa1k1ng a few feet from the pits trail shortly after the start ol the race when an unidenttfted .. pit racer" hit her head on. She saw the bike coming and moved to the side. He must have seen her at the same moment ~d turned to avoid her; but they both moved In the same direction and coWded. So many stranger immediately came to her aid. I wish I could list the names ol all ol them, but I don't even know what clubs they were from. These people immediately put out a call for Rescue 3, tried to make has as comfortable as possible, and sent some one to flnd me. My very deepest thanks goes to all these • At the last carlsbad ACA road race I was again distressed to witness an ambulance touring the course with riders raclng by at full speed. The only evidence 01 the ambulance's presence was the starter who was holding a yellow flag. The race was completed In the absence ol the ambulance wbtch had carried an Injured rider down the entire main straight on the way to the hospital. Fortunately the rider was not seriously Injured. There was a lull before the next race whtJe everyone watted for the arrival ol another ambulance so I took the chance to tatk to the starter. A small group gathered as I questioned the occurrence. The concensus was: "The ambulance driver should have watted for the end ol the race before leaving the track" - I was amazed at the apparent lack ol con- EVER THIS KIND OF PERSON After one ol our family cycle trips In Elsinore, Cal. we had our recreational enjoyment stolen from under us. When we left for the Elsinore TT races we left our bikes inside our fenced In yard. If the thief could have seen the kid'S faces the next morning I'm sure even tIl1s kind ol person would thlnk twice about keeping them. I'll have to borrow the $500 reward I'm offering but it's worth it tor the return ol our entire famlIy's recreation. I hape nobody buys the following bikes without checking the I.D. numbers. 1964 Greaves Iron Barrel, 1969 Bultaco Matador Mk 3, 1967 CL 90 Honda, 50cc Mlnerelli. No questions asked, call Walt Ball at (213) 630-4252 or Dave Sowlns at (213) 325-3321. WALT BALL South Gate, Cal. .y Northern Off ice 1470 Broadway, Walnut Creek, Calif. (415) 93~1995 Northern Representative: Lyn Jensen Subscription: One year 2nd class mail •••• $7.50 Single copy price••••••••.. 25¢ Published weekly except the first and last week of the calendar year by Cycle News, Inc., Post Office Box 498, Long Beach, California, also publishers of Cycle News East; and Dixie Cycle News. Second Class Postage paid at Long Beach, Calif. Edi torial stories, cartoons, photos, etc. are welcome. Write for information. 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 wi 1\ be sent upon request. -GUEST EDITORIAL By prolession I teach at a university. For the racing season ol 1969 I sponsored an amateur and went with him to about twenty races as his pitman. The following is based on thts (I real1Ze somewhat limited experience) and from talking to people associated with racing, Even though I live datly with a considerable amount d. bureaucratic mismanagement and stupidity, as we all do, I was appalled at the state ol class C racing. I doubt that there are many J: rofesstons wbtcb would take such treatment withf)ut protest - Indeed motorcycle racers otten take it with a certain perverse pride. Let me cite some elllUDples. A half-mile In Sparta, Illtnois was given no discernible preparation for months. During the course ol the race meet a water truck damPened. down the track occastonally but with no lasting - effect. The dust was so bad that a rider In the pack could not see his front wheel. There being no wind, the spectators could not see mucb ol the race either. They could, however, see the women In the pits wbtcb the referee did not see ttt to remove. At a half- mtle at Urbana,llltnois there was a hole so positioned that U a rider went a ltttle wide coming out ol number cern for the lnjured rider. True, I am four turn a very bad accident could renew to road racing but tIl1s was too much. sult - and it did in the second amateur I am an Inter-pbysictan and have heat. However, the fifteen minutes neceswitnessed the results 01 far too many sary to ftl1 In the hole and put UP a tew motorcycle accidents. I thought tIl1s type hay bales was not taken nnttl Ben Breed01 racing was "for the sport ol it" and ing hit the same hole In an Expert heat should assume no needless risk to life and was very severely Injured. Wht1e and limb, I shudder to think ol a high spectators may get a thrW out ol sealng speed motorcycl~-ambu1ance colllsion, a racer slide ,out, I don't thlnk they enjoy or ol a seriously Injured rider watting watching accidents such as Breeding's. for the completion ol a race before being , Further, I don't thlnk they like to watch rushed to a hospital. beer being drunk In the pits during the If It is necessary for an ambulance to race meet as was done there. The sponattend to an Injured rider on the track soring club put a lot 01 work Into tilts sbouIdn't the race be stopped? race whtcb was marred, In my optnton, ALLAN V. ABBOTT, M.D. by the referee's fallure to act. Los Angeles, Cal. At a half-mtle in Oklahoma City I understand that a Novice died as a result ol injuries sustained when he hit a steel guard ratl that had been installed THANKYOU,TOO',TRUCK tIl1s year, presumably for automoblIe races. I want to thank all the people at the I cannot believe that it would have deMay 3 Lompoc SIo Pokes Motocross who tracted from these races to have prehelped me out when I was spending most pared the track at Sparta to keep the ol my time falltng, off my bike and trYing dust down, to have ftl1ed in the hole In to get it started agatn. Urbana, to put hay bales In the turns at I espectally want to thank Husky, rider Oklahoma City. I can't see where allownumber 3040, the starter, the guy who ing beer In the pits is going to make the pushed my bike uP the sandwash and my general public feel that motorcycle racdad. They all know I needed all the help ing is a serious prolessional sport. In I could get. the 1969 rule book (I was sent a 1969 And thanks too, to the guy with the rule book for the 1970 seasolll, Chapter water truck who made meeting all these VI, section 2 (a) and 2 (d) concerning the people pqsslble. duties ol a referee with respect to track ELAINE SMITH preparation and safety seem like good Bakersfleld, Calif. rules. I question the referees' adherence to them. I would next like to say a few words about promotion ol motorcycle eventa. On the day ol the Nattonal In Sedalta, AMA CARD GRI PE the local Sunday paper had a fairly large article on the automobile races to be held I guess it's about time somebody that day, at the end 01 wbtcb was "the holloered about club taking riders for sentence, "Motorcycle races wt11 be run mOlley. On several occastons I have been thts morning". That was the total preasked for my A.M.A. card at slgnuP. If race coverage. Our wattress at breakit has expired, I'm told to either pay an fast didn't know there was going to be extra two dollars or I can't ride, so you motorcycle races that day. I guess she pay and the slgnuP person gives you a hadn't read the morning paper. As I rereceipt, (wbtch you usually lose before call, the automoblIe races that followed the day is over). They then tell you your the NaUonal cost about 2 dollars less a current card wt11 be sent to you In the seat than the motorcycle races. What tIl1s matI. I've never gotten one yetI means to me is that the promoters feel I have belonged to A.M.A. for over ten they have a captive audience ol people years #65784, but don't feel we really who follow motorcycle racing and who need to at all. DIstrict #37 is self wt11 pay whatever is asked to see a race. sutltclent and could get along without Neither the promoters nor the AMA A.M.A. Anyway, the last time this stunt seem Interested In broadeatngtheappeal was pulled on me was at Elsinore by the ol motorcycle-racing. The rule book Gripsters. I stt1l have the receipt but says that promoters shall not do any NO card. Where is the card or the false advertising. I might also make some money, Gripsters? statement ol a positive nature about at PHIL HOLCOMB least newspaper coverage, I have driven Temple City, Calif. all night to a race because no one knew YOIC• • nameless wonderful people. Rescue 3 did a beautlful Job, and City Ambulance made that lUUdous trip to RJdgecrest Hospital bearable. Slnce the accident we have received so many, many calls from clubs allonr DIstrict 37, and apprectatton to all ol those that have been so concerned. If any ol you has a spare moment, please drop a card or a little note to my daughter. She has a very long recuperation ahead ol her; first, four to six weeks In the hospital with her left upper leg broken and In traction and'her rlghtarm broken In two places. Then she'll spend at least another six to eight weeks In a cast from her watst down. It is going to be a lonely stay for her, as we live In Barstow and she is hospitallzed In San Bernardino. Her address is: Ramona Joy Fries, Community Hospital - Rm. 604, 1500 West 17th 'Street, San Bernardino, Calif. 92405. My only hape is that thts terrible accident, whicb could have been even more tragic, wt11 never be repeated. "Pit racing" is so totally unnecessary. There's the wide open desert to ride In. Why do non-participants feel it is a "must" to race where most ol the people are gathered. Please, let's put an end to, this before the next accident may cause a death. In closing I only want to say again, "Thank you, and may God bless - ." MRS. JAMES R. MAY Barstow, Calif. Cycle News East, Dixie Cycle News, and National Advertising Information: Tom Gulp. National Advertising Dir. Cycl,e News (West), P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, California 90801 (213) 427-7433 - L.A. 636-8844 U it was a day or night race. The next item on my agenda is the running ol the race meets. I've read that Loutsvtlle was a well run race, but I didn't read about the four hour watt In a very hot parking lot watting for the sanction papers to be flown In. I didn't read about how the pollce hassled the wtves when they tried to sit in the shade In the stands until the public was let In. (In our pluralistic society we do not require motorcycle racers to take vows ol celtbacy and I see no pOint ol going out 01 one's way to make it d1ff1cult for wtves.) , I sat In the stands at the short track at St. Charles, Missouri at the beglnntng middle, and end ol their season and whtJe the races were good the program always dragged. It is stt1l a free enough country so that U motorcycle racers wish to participate in a sport wbere the people who manage it do not feel the need to see that tracks are praperly prepared and that extraordinary hazards are removed, they can. They can race for a fraction ol the money ,most prolessional athletes get because their own association fatls to promote both themselves and their events properly. They can contioue In thts way and motorcycle racing wt11 continue to draw the hard core atftctandos and the big crowdl!l wt11 go to· car races and football sames. It Is my feeling that motorcycle racers deserve better than tIl1s. In my experience motorcycle racers are lnte1ltgent, Interesting, worthwbtle men- otten more so lban participants In other sports. I thlnk they can sell Vitalls as well as Don Drysdale' and can speak on the Johnny Carson show as well as Lenny Dawson. I think they are more than a rag-tag bunch 01 daredevils racing around a condemned county fair horse track. Unfortunately, the organization that represents them doesn't seem to share my views. I real1Ze that the objects ol my criticism are not universally bad. I've only been In the pits at Ascot once, but I thonght the track was beautlfully prepared and the races well run. I thought 'the mtle National at IndIa M1l')lts was a pleasant experience. As opposed to the promotion at Sedalia, was the press and T.V. coverage ol Houston. At the two day race meet at Stockton, Kansas for the Rooks County Fatr the wboIe town shuta down for the races. I would like to give some kudos to Dick Gardner, the referee In Kansas, who I tIItn!': runs about the best races I've been to, both from the rider's and spectator's poInt ol view. But these gltmpses ol light do not do much to brighten the picture as a whole. I don't like the Idea ol men being klIled In out ol the way tracks and just disappearing. I don't ltke men getting hurt when it can easilYbe avoided. I don't like the Idea d. a racer spending a seaSOlI on the road, sleeping Inparktng lots, eating a steady' diet ol hot dogs, racing well, and ending uP with a worn out motorcycle and broke. And to add Insult to Injury no one ever knows who he Is. I don't like Invtttng my non- motorcycle frlends to go to the races and having them say they aren't Interested In watching a bunch ol lunatics try to Id11 themselves. I don't like people thtnIdng that I am perpetrating the sudden and tmmtnent demise ol the racer I sponsor. I don't race so that wbtcb everway It goes it won't make any dtfference to me personally until it is time for my sons to apply for an AMA license, seven years hence. I will sttll respect the people who race, and when it is tlnanctally possible I will again sponsor a racer. I just wicb I could be as proud ol the sport as a prolession as I am of my association with the participants In it. JEFFREY R. DAVIS Albuquerque, N.M.

• Cover