Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

N N Q> C> '" Q. ;:: '" ~ w Z W ..J ..J U > >- U CN: In a conversation earlier, you eN : ear lier, yo u m enti oned mentioned there are no half-miles in ha lf-m iles Texas. Can you elaborate? Texas . elaborate ? Lee : Lee: Right,, R igh t there's th er e's been one professional half-mile down there this h al f-m il e year. One. And dad-gum,, there's been O ne. dad -gu m only about ten Experts show up. only abou t CN: What about Oklahoma City's CN : ab o u t Oklah oma Ci ty's Mar -Ca r Mar-Car productions? Lee: It started off at the beginning of sta rt ed o ff th e of the year and it was drawing good it was d raw in g go o d crowds, but t h e crowds just stopped the cro w d s stopped coming - they had a bad case of h ad b ad of weather there. The weather w as w eather was knock ing them in the head everyway knocking h ead everywa y they looked. So they finally h ad t o go fin ally had to back to the monthly program. I won. th e w on. Dad -gu m, ca me Dad-gum, I carne in numb er-one point number-one p oint standings overall in .Oklahoma and won Oklahoma seven out o f ten half-miles and too k of took second in two of 'em and last in the in other. eN: How come you stay stationary in CN: co m e y o u st a tio nary T ex as w hen th e Texas when the type of ra ci ng you want o f racing is elsewhere ? elsewhere? Lee: I think about m o ving to Illino is. Lee : t hi nk ab o u t moving Illinois. Up there in Illinois, Indiana and th er e Illino is, Indian a a nd Michigan, man,, lik e last year you could Mic hi gan, m a n like last yo u cou ld run four times a wee k there. In A ugu st, week th ere. In August, every day w as a race, every day. I ran 22 d ay was d a y. ran rac es d ays races in 22 days.. CN : D id y ou a ny m oney ? CN: Did you make any money? O h , yeah. Lee: Oh, yeah . I've made m oney just m ad e money about every time out this year. abou t o ut th is pulled me right out of the dumps at the me righ t o u t o f th e right time, jus t when everything w as just w hen everythi ng was fall in g falling right out fro m underneath me. o u t from undernea th m e. He really b eli eves tha t we're gonna go believes that we 're go nna someplace and we're gonna get there . so meplace we 're go n na ge t there. CN: How do you compare yourself now CN : H ow comp are y o urs el f to what you were a year ago? yo u ago ? Lee:: In the way of improvements? Lee wa y improvement s? Psych ol ogicall y Psychologically I'm a lot cooler. I'm not lo t I' m no t sa y ing th at tak e saying that to brag, I mean I can take d ef ea ts my defeats a little b it calmer.. I'll say, bit calmer "Oh "Oh well, I may have only taken Hfth m ay h ave o nly ta k en fi ft h today b ut I lea rn ed something." but learned so me thing." CN: Well, what did you learn ab o ut San CN : what d id y o u lea rn about San j ose? .lose? Lee:: T h a t I needed a b etter set of Lee That I need ed b<:Jter of bra k es m y motorcycle and th at neJ't brakes on my m otorcy cle a nd that nejct ye a r year I'll h av e 'em. That 's one thing. have ' em . That's o ne th in g. Every race, like that race, too,, J have a t oo ha ve fili ng ca b ine t a nd cards a nd I out filing cabinet and file ca rds and I fill out a card with every detail: tire pressures, w it h eve ry d etail : gearing, where the holes were on that w here th at race trac k. I' ll have everything recorded ra ce track. I'll eve ry th ing record ed th at th e nex t time go t so that the next t im e I got to that race course,, I can j us t lift t hat thing out and co u rse ca n just li ft that thi ng o u t an d see what happened at that race track h ap p en ed a t th a t rac e tr ack last time. I'll have it all recorded; I've last t ime. rec o rd ed ; I'v e go t Yo u kn o w got it for every race. You got to know if th e tr ack was the track was ru tt ed, loose, and wh o tted, a nd who won it , too, so you can see why you w on it, so yo u wh y yo u won it if you won or why you placed so wo n it yo u w on wh y yo u pl aced low - you got to see w h o was there. go t who was th ere. CN : Pri or to join ing the professional CN: Prior joining pro fessional ranks, you p robabl y had your own idea yo u probably had yo ur ow n id ea PART 2: Robert E. of what some of these riders wer e like. so m e t hese rid ers were Now -that you are into the scene, have that yo u a re in to th e hav e their images changed to you? Did these th eir to Did th ese p eople people help you? y ou? Lee: No, I've been shot down too many Lee : No. I'v e d own to o ma ny times. I've had high opinions of people, tim es. hi gh o p in ions thinking that they were really great and th ey w er e grea t then I Ineet them and find out w hat th en th em an d o u t what they are really like and it shoots m e th ey re ally and sh o ots me d own. down. Before I ever really started reall y s ta r ted racing, I u se d to watch N at ion a l ra cing. used w at ch National rider. Oh, I thought there was nobody though t th ere h im Bu t, then fou nd in th e world like him.. But, th en I found the out what kind of drunk he was, parr ier, w h at he partier, and hell-raiser...!t's all fine and dandy, a nd h ell-raiser... It 's a nd d and y, but I seen him make an ass of himself at [ h im an himsel f at the race track,, dru nk , so many times th e ra ce tra c k drunk, m an y tr y ing ra ce should n't eve n trying to race - they shouldn't even h ave h im o n trac k have let him on the race track.. So, I have a big problem at talking with these b ig p ro b lem a t t alk ing th es e b ig name guys, like Dick Mann. I've big never talk ed with Mann or Bart M ar kel talked Ma nn o r Bart Markel or th ese fe llo ws d on't fe e or any of these fellows:: I don't feell on their level. I'm afraid that if I went up th eir I'm a fraid th at to 'cern and said, "Hey, how are ya?" em sai d . " Hey, ho w y a?" they'd look down their nose a nd say, lo o k d ow n th eir and "W ho ar e you ?" "Who are you?" So, I J USl stay a wa y just sta y away from that. th a t. Lee CN: Would yo u consid er yo u rsel f a Wo uld you consider yourself "lo n er " then? "Loner" Lee: Oh, no. I like p eople ; I like being Oh, people; like around people. Th e only people I shy p eople. The peop le away from are th ese "name" people in fr om a re these " na me ' peo p le racing,, b ecause I feel they're liable to raci ng because I th ey're liab le give you the cold shoulder. co ld sho ulder. C ': Have y o u found "cold shoulders" CN: Hav e you fo und " co ld sho u lders " often in motorcycle racing? m otorcycle raci ng? Lee: No, II haven't, really. I th ink there 0, have n ' t , r ea llv. think are a lot of snobs bu t. .. " lo t o f sn obs but... C N: Do y o u h ave any idols: b ooks, CN: you have id ols; books, p eople, li k e that? people, like Lee id ols, Lee:: As far as idols, I'd h ave t o say Dick far have to sav Dic k Mann and Bart l\larkel : they've heen an d Markel; th ev've" been around a long time and they've sure aro und t ime a nd su re p rov en themselves. The main th ing th a t proven th em se lves. T he ma in thing that w ha teve r Robert E. Lee h as sa id , p eople whatever Lee has said, people aren't gonoa say "Who is he?" I want aren ' t gon na h e?" th em t o " lIey, th at's th a t them to say , "Hey, that's that superstar;" I w an~a b e a superstar. supers ta r:" wan~a be sup ers ta r. I eN:: Have you ever m e t a "superstar"? e N H av e yo u eve r met "s u perstar "? Lee : Ge neRo mero Lee: Gene.Romero., CN: Is that why a lot of ri d ers, like Neil CN : t h at w hy lo t riders, Keen, stick around that area and race? a ro un d are a a nd ra ce ? Lee : Lee: You b etcha. N eil Keen can flat go betcha. ei1 fla t up there. th er e. CN: Don Castro did p re tty well out pretty out CN : th ere in Kansas. there Kansas . Lee : Oh , yeah . Donnie won all three Lee: Oh, yeah. Donni e and I took second in all three. I beat b eat him in th e he at and I beat him in th e h im the heat the Trophy Dash one ni gh t in Oklahoma Das h o ne night O kla homa City and then h e beat me in the final Cit y he b ea t after I led it for most of the race. That it m o st t he T hat just threw a p anic into "em . just panic 'em. CN : th a t CN: Was that because he rode a fac t ory h e ro de tory ma chin e machine or because he was hetter than beca use he bett er th a n y ou. you. Lee: He was better than I was . He than was. CN: Do you think a factory machine yo u mach in e CN : ma k es tha t' m uc h makes that much difference on a on hal f-m ile track ? half-mile or short track? Lee : Lee: On a shorr track anY90dy can get short' a n ybody capable equipment. On a half-mile, capab le eq uip ment. h alf-m ile , th o ugh, th e h ave though, the thing is m oney. I could have money. I jus t as good a m achine as anybody if I go od just machine had t he money had the mo ne y to spend on it. I'll h ave spen d o n have me two new half·miles next year. Th e h alf-m iles n ext The mo ney parts. Sho ot, th e man w ho money buys parts. Shoot, the m an who b uilds my stuff, h e' s got the knowledge. builds m y st u ff, he's th e We'd just like to have two new We 'd lik e h ave tw o half-milers and a spare engine - j ust a h alf-rnilers a nd en gin e just b u n ch of stu ff. bunch o f stuff. CN:: How much credit do you, yourself, CN H ow m u ch c red it d o y ou, yourse lf, take for the success you've have so far? ta k e th e su ccess y o u've h ave fa r? Lee: Well,, I'd have to credit some of it Well h ave t o cre d it of to m y wi fe , Nanc y , then the man my wife, Nancy, th en man building my BSA. He's b een a big help, H e's been help , of Worth Marvin Bell of BSA in Ft. Worth.. He We stll &S..Rt:RfD "'Alto~k.,.f! & setp~WARfI> MAlCOShete w. _" ~ •. •• AMERICAN AME RICAN ........., ORSTEN HALLMAN.~..t~. T HAL LMAN.::..,. R RACING INC:::'y :~. ACING INC.::": ;.l?;:" Newhall Saugus, - in Newhall., Saugus. Valencia nc.. a __ sales - ,V U.S. 0 ist. for Trelleborg Motocross D T relleborg Moto c ross tires Torsten Ha llm a n speciall t ir es T o rst e n Hallman specia design leathers & racing equipment. lea t h ers rac in g equ ipment. 24610 Pine St., Newhall (805)255-1335 For dealer info.. write or call:: 5345 Fo r i nfo or can 53 45 Timken St .. La Mesa. Cal. 9204 1. 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Burbank, Ca. 91502 JAWA -CZ JA WA - CZ Dealer for San Gabriel V.alley Valley & Pasadena Area Pasad ena '\rCJ E xpe rie n ced wit h BCS1 Experienced Wllh World's Best Two Stroke since 1949 T 'Wu St roke Bertu s Jawa-Cl M \ Bertus [aw a-CZ , Ie '5 .. For ISSUE No. 47 I-1{)rt1lt1fr. Dee--l ---'{ O ll sa le~ ..... 13... 0 13~O . - _.. -. . .. No. Hacic ml a Blvd. No. Hacienua Blvd . LI Puente on Hwy.. 39 La Puen te o n Hwy •• ~~ BH~()·6171 ~ ~2 Bj ·3JO ·6171 ::z 2: =- ::z CIQ CJQ

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