Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

. CD If ... r:: . '" ' N do :> 0( ~ W Z W ...J U >- U Lawwlll said "He's a human ealeuIator... ~~ont'~jrompogel) before it actually happened." We met up with his close friend, Mert Lawwill. Mert was more than happy to back up what Mann was saying. "Yeab, those newspaper l(Uys think up some good ones, don't they?" We both had plenty of things to take care of that day but we bumped into each other on several occasions to exchange words. Still, not much of an interview was taking place. Ir fmally started raining just before practice and so Bugs, Cal, and Mert hopped into the back oj the large Harley factory van to sip coffee and, for spo~, watch the mechanics tty to plug in the oil heaters without electrocuting themselves. All three riders felt good, despite the foul weather. Laughter came easy and lots of old stories were exchanged. Mert left for a moment and then came back, saying "I haven't got any oil pressure and they can't find out why." Mann boomed, "Well, tell them not to be so cheap. Tell them to put a new oil pr~ssure in!" That broke everyone up. Mann's gag was ironic, for he is t1ie compleat racer. As Lawwill says, "He's the true professional. He can do everything: road race, flat track, motocross. He's probably the best cowtrailer in the world. He's a human calculator, the most scientific of the bunch.·' The rest of the Western Nationals were dirt tracks and Mann works on these machines. He never leaves his Rickmond bome until the last minute and he leaves for home as soon as the race is over. If he isn't driving or racing, he was tuning. However, Jim Dour was tuning the road racer and Mann was free of responSIbility that evening. I tried to comer him for dinner that night but the best promise I could get was a "maybe". I left my hotel room number and crossed my flDgers, expecting to spend the rest of the evening playing pinball. He called. The hotel's restaurant was crowded so they hustled you into the bar while you waited. Bugs introduced me to several old friends. Beer, the motorcyclist's staff of life, was served but Bugs drank none. "I don't really enjoy drinking and partying as much as most of the fellows. Besides, I have a are uptight and don't know why, Neither do I, but I don't ask why. I just enjoy it. It takes a long time to get the frustration out of racing. I haven't been frustrated in the last five or six years." "Do you think most of the young racers are frustrated?" "I hope so." Again, a long pause. ''They just don't know how to control it. And I just don't get frustrated anymore. "I'm learning something new every day. You know, motorcycle racing is a paradox. Nothing seems to change - a half·mile is still a half-mile. Situations always change, but they. don't, really. Take Dick Hammer. T~y, he picked up where he had left off four years ago, and he came in third, even with all these new guys that should have beat him. race tomorrow." That's a paradox." As Mann and I wonned our way to our table in the restamant, I could hear surprised voices come from the darkened cubicles, "Look, there's Bugs!" "That's Dick Mann.", or just, "It's him I" Mann showed no emotion except for a bit of embarrassment; he never looked up. Since he always looks at ease, I asked him if he was. "I hope so." Now, I have a tendency to talk too much and Mann has a tendency not to talk at all. I figured I would have to supress the urge to blab and wait him out. "I enjoy seeing the young riders uptight about everythinp;. Most of them "Lawwill said you were the best scientist on the track." "Probably not so. There's Axtell, Vesco, O'Brien. Jim Dour, now there's a guy you should be doing an arti<:le on. I can figure frame geometries for myself, but so can Mert." "What do you think other racers think of you?" "Maybe they think I'm okay as an old racer." "Are you best as a road racer?" "Currently. If you do well in a couple of road races the newspapers call you a road racer. And if you lose a few, you're a dark horse." Mann feels a good deal of sympathy for the old·time race fan. "If you took a survey of the average fan, he would proably be a fan of at least 10 years. The whole thing absolutely relies on the fans." Like most racers, Mann was generally hush-hush about fmancial matters. He didn't like the idea of discussing how much money he makes and was particularly quiet about how much money he made in 1970 when he won Daytona for Honda. "It wouldn't prove anything I told you and it's quite hard to say how the whole thing came about without stepping on any toes. It was actually a • part of a verbal commitment from a long time ago, before I went with BSA. They.weren't upset, so it worked out all right." In his wins at Daytona in the past two years, several writers claimed that Mann "rode with his head", that is, he was able to anticipate trouble from the leaders and would nurse his machine and still gain the lead. Mann isn't ready to accept that but admits he still goes easy on his machinery. "I guess that's left over from the days when I used to buy my own parts." "Competitively, how old do. you think you are?" "Twenty-four or twenty·five. It's not bad being 38 at all. I've got to work at it a lot harder to do the same things, though. "Like everyone else, I have problems. But I keep my personal problems from Monday to Friday, racing problems Saturday and Sunday." Nest week: Part II .. EIERSTEDT STILL PENTON POINT LEADER By Eric Raits IRVINE, CAL., Aug. 15, 1971 Tradition in the form of a badly worn out motocross course was erased Sunday at SaddIeback Park as the CMC presented racing on a track which brought rider compliments all day. Nearly half of the motocross stomping grounds has been routed aero.. new high-speed swaths bulldozed out of the hills and gullies. Minor changes had been made before but the major consturction presented an excellent surface to the racers. Expert Mike Cram found the new track to his liking by taking a fIrSt in the 500 class. Cram (Mai) and Marty Tripes (CZ) figured to clash head-on as top talent in the field. Tripes had problems in the first moto, dropping back to let Cram win easily. Cram and Tripes spent the second moto wheel to wheel as the speedy Maico rider forced Tripes out of his fluid style. Tripes hounded Cram all the 'way, getting even with him several times but not fmding the way into fIrSt. With two wins Cram could relax in the last moto and did. Tripes shot out in the lead and was able to settle into his crowd·pleasing standup mode of smooth riding. Third place went to chief research and development rider and owner of Wbeelsmith Engineering, Greg Smith. Smith was testing a Maico studded with his products like a Pan-American swimmer hung with gold medals. A floating backing plate, special footpegs and Smith's upswept Maico expansion chamber were ·in easy evidence. The Santa Ana .businessman turned a good trick in placing so weU in the difficult Expert class after a long layoff. Brent Rhoades won the 250 Expert class. and increased his pain t lead toward the CMC number one plate. The Husqvarana rider took advantage of Bill Urban's vacation and beat Bill Booth (Mai) and John Fackler (Mon). The Penton Series point race stayed virtually the same as the top five riders all won theiI' races. Richard Eierstedt won the 250 Intermediate class with huge early leads giving him time to look back at the pack in the last two motos. He looked over his shoulder until the pressing Randy Rodriguez caugh t up and made Eierstedt work for hiS win. Rodriguez won the opening moto. Eierstedt has a two point lead over the nex t four riders who are tied for second place. Chuck Bower, Mike Cram, Taylor Sisco and John Vandergeest kept the pressure on the leader. Bower (Pen) won his division of the 125 Juniors, Sisco (Mai) topped the 500 Jr. Division I affair and Vandergeest (Puc) ran away from the 125 Intennediates. Tom Cook must be wondering what he has to do to get a sponsor. The Bultaco rider again won the 125 Expert division with three fIrSt place rides. Doug Sherman topped the 250 Junior's first division, no doubt spurred by his Ascot Luck a few nights before. Sherman (CZ) had a front tire come off the rim at the CMC nigh t motocross to even out his racing luck for the week. Rourke Early (Mai) won the third division of 250 Juniors in spite of a second moto tumble that sent him back to the rear. Early won the last moto by a considerable margin to beat B. Hansen (G~~). Mel Moore (Mai) ran away and hid from the fourth division hopefuls in the 250 Juniors with three strong wins. Dave Nelson came in a consisten t second with three inspried rides. It was high tough luck to have drawn Moore in his race or Nelson migh t have had a win. Dave Carlson (CZ) won the other 250 Jr. division over Chula Vista's Tom Cale (Ric·Met). CMC motocross racing moves to Carlsbad next Sunday with the Penton Series. (Results on page 28) fo#r>. J( Can-Am Series Finale By John Grout Photos by Racing Pbotos VALENCIA, CAL., Aug. 15, 1971 - Many of the fmal winners in the Can-Am Motocross series here at Indian Dunes were not settled until the running of the final motos today. Gene Cannady (DKW) and young Ken Zahrt (Bul) got locked up in a tight one which saw them tied for first overall at the end of the first two motos in the 125 Sr. class. 10 the final Cannady pulled out all the stops and chugged home with the win with Zahrt second, exactly how they finished overall. Then, in the 250 Sr., Gary Jones (Yam) picked up wins in the first two goes, but Tom Rapp (Bul) managed a pair of second and was in the finale to put the pressure on Jones overall, but the prototype Yamaha mount came through and took second to take the class anyway. Two Billys, Payne and Clements, were in almost an identical set up in the Open Sr. Clements (Hus) had won the first moto with Payne (Mai) third and in the second, Payne slipped into the lead with Clements dropping to second making for a nifty showdown. In this, Clements could only manage a third and Payne only a second, which tied them overall in points, but Payne got the nod to break the tie by virtue of his fmal moto finish. !t.] "..(~ . . ., . .. [",( 1!;.'!. 1 tIl;. l~1 :iciLil 7~ ..ioq ~r::t ~ ~!:-"/~

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