Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

scram6Dn' around By Maureen lee With a Ho, Ho, Ho and all that jazz, I hereby present my Christmas list. Some of my wishes Santa wouldn't accept because they weren't really in the true spirit of the season, joviality and all that, so here goes:FOR PAPA WEALEY: A visit from all his relatives for a champagne brunch at which he will have to pick up the whole tab with "Chicken", "Spokes" and "Yellow Stripe" Wealey being the main guests of honor and Great-Aunt Emma, Duchess of Wealey there to supervise the menu. FOR DON AND DEREK RICKMAN:'A pint of wallop each to toast their new association with HSA and drop a hint to them that the 250 Beezer engine would fit very nicely in the "Baby" Rickman. FOR THE GRIPSTERS M.C.: A case of champagne and ~ed roses for their ladies for giving us the pleasure of the Elsinore Grand Prix for as long as they were able. It was a monumental effort and one that grateful riders won't forget. . FOR DAVE ALDANA: An inflatible suit to give him more bounce to the ounce on his frequent 'close investigations of track surfaces. FOR "FEETS" MINERT: A new BSA T shirt and more hills to climb. FOR CAREN KOUNS: A District 37 Competition Committee jacket and roses from her husband. FOR DICK MANN: You gave him what I wished for him last year, Santy. The Grand National Championship, so tl],is year, just anything his heart desires. FOR JOHN COOPER AND OTHER MEMBERS OF FOREIGN ~ACING TEAMS: An AMA professional rule book. FOR JACK VAUGHN: A new frame for his Ossa. FOR JIM HUNTER AND ALL EX-CALIFORNIA GOPHERS AND OTHER HOTSHOES: Another Prado Park to skid on. FOR PETE COLMAN: A less worrisome year with BSA getting themselves pulled together and tuck a surprise in his stocking because he made my day at the Laugh In Trials with his outfit and conduct in making the occasion what it was supposed to be_ A heck of a lot of fun. . FOR J.N.: A nice assortment of desert daisies. FOR RON SCHNEIDERS: A bodyguard. FOR MERT LAWWILL: Trouble free equipment and no more falls. tie's had his share. FOR RUSS SANFORD: More members for M.O.R.E. • VOICES local Torrance lumber yard. P'erhaps the gentleman should have his facts straight before he puts his pen in motion. Perhaps he also owes us an apology, Desert Turtles are not thieves and litterbugs. MARY ANN CURRY Lakewood, Calif. AJS - DESERT BONUSES Earlier this year we announced that the Irrst rider of an AJS to win overall a District 37 Hare Scrambles or Hare & Hound (point runs) would qualify for a free 370 AJS Stormer. With effect from Jan. I, 1972 this offer is withdrawn. It is our intention at that time to publish a general schedule of contingency bonuses, both for Desert and Motocross and including TT's, Short Tracks and Enduros - for the benefit of riders competing on AJS Stormers. NORTON VILLIERS CORP. Paramount, Calif. CLUB OFFERING REWARD Two of our club members had their' bikes stolen while working on our recent Hare 'n Hound. The club is offering a reward of $200 per bike for the return of these machines no questions asked. An additional $300 per bike wi!! b~ paid for information leaclj.ng to conVIctIons for the thefts. The bikes are a 1970 CZ, Egnine No. 9690202286, Frame No. MC96902, and a 1969 Yamaha DTl, Engine No. DT13459. Dealers are encouraged to post these numbers in their shops. We'd like nothing better than giving a nice Christmas bonus to a ~harp eyed mechanic. Direct any information to the club secretary at 1818 N. Roosevelt, Altadena, Calif. 91001 or call 213/794-6137. BOB MITCHELL, Sec'y. S.G.V.M.C. NOT TO US In regard to Bill H. Hughes' letter about the show that Suzuki riders put on at the Trans-AMA event at Puyallup Raceway on Nov. 21. He pointed out that the Suzuki team manger Joel Robert was very rude to the fans in the pits. I, myself, attended the 12th and final round of the Trans-AMA series at SaddJeback Park. There was a record 33,500 spectators there and the Suzuki pits drew a lot of attention. Sylvian Geboers actually posed for the cameras, and I got both Roger DeCoster and J oel Robert's autographs. What's more, one of the people I went with called Geboers while he was working on something. Geboers dropped what he -- ._- ---- .. ~- Cont'd. from page 4) was doing and walked over. and signed au tographs. I was so very impressed by their performances that I think all other riders should take this as an example. BRIAN FLYNN La Mirada, Calif. DESERT FOXES: I woll'd like to thank a couple of th e Desert Foxes members. I really appreciated the hospitality that was given me after taking a fall at the Barstow to Vegas race. After getting myself as far as the Irrst gas pit and finding my own pit crew had left on another errand, this fme couple from the Desert Foxes took me in, they cleaned my leg and gave me some refreshments. While at any desert race you will find the greatest people. Many thanks. DON JONES Desert Turtles TRADE SCHOOLS I presently own a Ducati and Honda and have been getting involved with its mechanical operation. I am now a member of the United States Air Force bUl will be discharged 30 July 1972 and at that time, I would like to enroll in a school offering a diploma or certificate recognizing motorcycle mechanics. If you operate such a school or know of such a school, I would appreciate it greatly if you would send me all available information, such as duration, costs, certification and GI bill eligibility. DANVER R. HUDSON Shaw AFS, SoC. Since we are not aware of where you plan to live after you get out of the service, we can only suggest you contact the local colleges in that area to see if they do have a trade course. We are compiling a list of schools throughout the Western United States which offer mechanics courses and we will publish this list as soon as possible. If any reader knows of a mechanic's course in their area, please let the editorial staff here at Cycle News know about it. Include address and/or phone number with the school's name and location ... Ed. TRAF WILL SAVE YOU The Los Angeles Police Department will crack down on misbehaving motorists, overbearing pedestrians, motorcyclists during the holidays through TRAF, an acronym for Total Resources Against Fatalities. The TRA F team will consist of nine motorcycle policemen and a couple of traffic investigation units who will patrol areas of high accident incidence, concentrating on "jaywalkers, drunken drivers, and errant motorcycle riders." - ..'----- FOR ROD BREAKER: A mysterious night visitor who will actually sell him the plans for that mysterious German 3-stroke miracle engine for the pric!! of a trip back to the Fatherland on a cattle boat. The British Secret Service is on to it and rumors are the owner of the plans wants them to remain in America for personal reasons, like the only time England and Germany fought on the same side (the Revolution) they still lost. FOR DOUG GRANT: The recognition he deserved for his Saddleback showing. Well, I'll ask a wish for myself, my health back so I can go skidding around again and to all of you, hope you will have the happiest holidays you've ever spent with lots of new equipment arriving to be tried out when the '72 season opens. m.o.r.e. from tlle capitol' By Russ Sanford 1971 LEGISLATIVE RECAP On December 3rd, the 1971 Session of the Calfifomia Legislature drew to a close. We have all been hearing and reading in the newspapers where this Session, which has been the longest in history, has been a "do-nothing" legislature. While this may be true to the major issues of welfare, tax reform, and reapportionment, it certainly was not true with respect to legislation affecting or involving motorcycles and off-road vehicles. 1970 set an all-time high with 81 separate motorcycle Bills but that figure was up nearly 300% in 1971. There were 210 separate bills which affected motorcycles plus five which we sponsored: three of which were approved and enacted into law. Naturally, we felt that our five bills represented good laws, and many of the 210 other bills were favorable. But, many of the 210 other bills were detrimental to our sport and recreation, and several would have virtually eliminated all forms of motorcycling in California: dirt, road, and competition alike. In looking back over the past eleven months, it is difficult to say which has been our most difficult 'battle'. Early in the year, it was obtaining an amendment to exclude motorcycles and motor-driven cycles from the requirement that all motor vehicles be equipped with four emergency flares at all times. Later, our 'biggest battle' was the defeat of several bills which would have required registration and identification of all off-road vehicles with the fees to be used for enforcement of off-road vehicle laws. Fortunately, we had our own proposal for the registration and identification of all off-road vehicles with the resultant fees to be used for off-road vehicle facilities, parks, and trail systems. Although our bill (AB 2342) was not a difficult bill to 'sell' in itself, we found a great deal of difficulty in convincing some of our legislators that it was a better bill than those which would have resulted in 'enforcement' rather than 'parks'. ADDZIPS TO BLENDZALL Addzip Additives of Escalon, California, manufacturers of Blendzall Racing Castor and other lubricants, had incorporated under the name of the Blendzall Corporation. Ray Hook serves as President of the new company, Marc Van Wilson is Vice President, while Pat Hook serves as Secretary{freasurer. Don Ney is Production Manager and Don Veltkamp is Shipping/Sales "Manager. Spokesman for the new corporation stated that increasing volume of all company products, resulting from growing consumer demand, necessitated the corporate move. They stressed that the same high quality control of all lubricants will continue. It may be hard for you to believe, but there are still a large number of people who feel that the best way to take care of the off-road veh icle problem is to legislate them from existence, rather than accommodate them! Another major 'battle' involved the 22 separate bills introduced to combat motorcycle noise. Each of our legislatoJ:S had their own idea of how to combat the noise problem and they wrote their bills accordingly. This caused us to be running in 22 different directions with 22 separate answers at the same time. The outcome of these bills is not only a condition with which we can easily exist, but it will help immensely in saving our sport and improving the image of motorcycling. And then, toward the end of the year, there were several very discriminatory bills aimed at off-road vehicles which would have virtually banned the ORV's from all public lands. Fortunately, these bills were defeated. And, just so the road-rider doesn't feel left out, we had our hands full all year long defeating mandatory in.;urance laws, some of which had annual premiums far exceeding the purchase price of the motorcycles. And, of course, there was a mandatory headlight law early in the year which was defeated because of the difficulty in observing the small degree of difference in illumination between a taillight and a stoplight. M.O.R.E.'S CHRISTMAS PRESENT TO YOU The membership of M.O.R.E., and my wife, Doris, and I want you to have the best of all possible holiday seasons and a very joyous and happy 1972. We have done our best this past year to make that possible for you. All of the proposed laws which we felt were truly harmful to our form of sport and recereation, were defeated. Most of the proposed laws which we felt would help motorcycling, have been passed. We will try again ip 1972 to obtain legislation to outlaw 'unmarked neckbreakers' and to obtain legislation which will remove liability from public and private landowners who open their lands to free recreational use. We anticipate many consumer protection proposals next year and will react in your best interests. Although the u1tra-conservationists failed miserably in 1971 to drive us from the public lands, we know that they plan to move their 'battle' to Washington, D.C. in 1972. This is not to say that 'ecology' is dead in California. We expect the rabble-rousers to return hot-and-heavy, but we'll be waiting for them not only here in Sacramento, but in Washington, D.C., also. Again, a very Merry Christmas and a most Happy New Year. EDITOR'S NOTE: We understand that Russ and Doris dipped Into their own pocket for nearly $4,000 to keep M.O.R.E. and motorcycling alive in 1971. Your membership in M.O.R.E. could greatly help to offset the deficit. I f you are not already one of M.O.R.E.'s 12,000 members, send your $1 annual membership fee to M.O.R.E., P.O. Box 26062. Sacramento, CA 95826.

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