Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

M " .'" l>. .... '" N .c . ~ :;; ~ w Z W ...J U > U Boris Murray and his 1300 BSA Dragster upset the predictions. Pat Miller's 3-engine Yamaha at moment of lift-off. Twin-engined McCulloch (above) turned near 90 mph, used parachute. (Continued from Cover) Campos had put together a string of low-nine aboard his finely.tuned 77-inch Sportster and had no problem setting a new national record at 9.14 backed up with a 9.15 and 9_18. Up to the finale, Campos' slowest E.T. was 9.28. Murray, on the other hand, qualified with a 9.60 and could do no better than 9.38. In the pits preparing for the championship run Campos fiddled with the clutch and complained that it "didn't feel right_" Murray put on a new slick. Neither rider, although friendly with the ·strangers gathered about, looked confident: .•. Being the. underdog, Murray had fostered lots of crowd support throughout the day. Each one of his passes was a clean, de.cisive ride that reflected the confidence he displayed earlier when he was in troduced to the crowd. In the second round he aced top qualifier Joe Smith (9.09) who was to spend the rest of the day trying to set a • U • record with a baekup run within one percent. Murray, who qualified fifth, then took on Sonny Raslawski to make it to the finals. After a couple of burnouts in the staging area, Campos and Murray set up. Murray knows that the only place to beat him is on the line: he'll have to pull the trigger there or be runner-up. The pressure is heavy upon Campos and he must be careful not to red-light_ At the green, Murray anticipates a fraction sooner and his 1300cc four-cylinder BSA obtains a slight lead but not enough to win. But it appears as if Dave is pouring it on too much and his rear tire spends a good deal of time smoking. The La Verne frame builder scoots across the line in 9.47 sees., a mn Campos could have beat easily in any other race_ Boris Murray had committed a perfect start and had proved that, after all, the machinery is of secondary importance when the chips are down_ Sonny Routt's Triumph puts out torque that would move the quarter-mile strip back a few inches every time he popped the clutch. The bike seemed to run out of breath before the traps but by then his opposition would be no threat. In his first round against Bob Thomas, Rou tt got a bit heavy on the clutch and almost killed it. A little bit of gas and the monster went bupp-bupp, then took off like a Roman candle. The grandstands roared approval as Thomas was passed at the halfway mark like he was cruising for burgers. [n the final round, Sonny was to meet Larry Yeager. Yeager ran into some good fortune on his way up. His Harley was no match for 350 Yamaha of Ron Knapp or the ..1050 of Pat Miller. Yes, Miller's pet project carries no less than three Yamaha TR2 Roadracer engines and has a lot of potential as soon as he learns how to keep the rear tire from slipping for 75 percent of the route. Harold £ide was last year's defending champion and had consistently lower E.T.s than Yeager but he just couldn't get it lit in the staging area. Yeap;er made the finals but could not pull an upset like Murray. The race was clean. but Routt got there nearly two-tenths of a second sooner. Mike Tedder of Hawthorne took Top Street Eliminator on a Honda Four, one of dozens that showed up to race or watch. It looks as if every time there is a major cycle event, all the Four owners in a thousand-mile radius decide to have a convention. The folks at Irwindale put on an A-I show. Things were never rushed but they dido't lag. There was always some racing or record attempt taking place. The banter emerging from the lou(;hpeak'ers was always informative or at least entertaining. (A typical comment: "Will the fellow who owns the Chevelle in the staging area please remove it or it will be dismantled and thrown away ... ") The nation's b~st were on hand so it is little wonder that the show as the best. (Results on page 22)

• Cover