Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

HERE'S••• DIRT IN YOUR EAR by Alice Rhea On August 28, I tagged along with Mike Hinshawof AMA; our district President, Jack Hurley; and Harry Whalen of CMIC as they attended the District 38 Sports Committee Meeting to discuss the BLM meeting in Sacramento. The President of District 38 had attended that meeting, but felt Mike, Harry and Jack migh t have additional information for District 38 riders. The local BLM director was there and I must say, in spite of attack from several members of District 38, he maintained his poise. The BLM rep seemed to be a good guy who is on our side and it was my honest assesment that District 38 is lucky to have the one they have. He seemed interested in motorcycli.ng and vowed to do everything allowable within the framework of his department to see that the desert riders have a place to ride with as little hassle as possible. I sure hope he doesn't get fired for this. District 38 -is just as enthusiastic about desert racing as D-37 is and those guys are really fierce about defending their rights. I am bringing this up because those concessions from BLM are temporary and we must not feel that the battle is won. The BLM is simply retreating, as any good army would from an indefensible position and taking time to gather forces to attack from another quarter. If battle comes, let us not forget our .REVIEW failures that sometimes pu t him on his head are very clear. His loyalty to BSA and the ups and downs with both the bikes and managemen t over the years are clearly stated. Along with the d,escriptions of traveling the National circuit...the general ups and downs of it all including a period during which he tried to retire ... there is a chapter on his battles with the A.M.A. Dick Mann has fought with them over the years but only to benefit the lot of the rider, and even being Grand National Champion didn't slow him down in that respect. There are rules in the book now that he hrought about when he became a rider representative to the Congress. In the old days he admits he was "mouthy", but in ,those days no one listened much to the rider. It also got him suspended for a time. It's a record of a human being who has become one of the big sports figures of the country, even if the general news media doesn't know a Grand National Champion exists in the world of motorcycle racing. My personal opinion is_ -that . Dick Mann is the greatest all-around racer this country has ever good neighbors in D-38 who are every bit as in terested in preserving our historical racing grounds as we are. Jack Hurley, President of D-37, actually raced a 125 Yamaha in Desert Turtles, European Scrambles last weekend. Do you suppose the day will come when we see Tricky Dickie racing a motorcycle in the desert? Perhaps that is not so far fetched, after all. Spencer Grams, a friend, drove all the way down from Sausalito to race desert. Spencer races motocross in his district, but they don't have anything like desert up there. As the law of perversities decrees, , Spencer arrived at High Vista after dark and spent two futile hours searching for our camp. The last club he asked, "Where is Alice?" couldn't tell him, but they did invite him to camp with them and share their wine. Spencer arrived at our camp the next morning with a crashing hangover to announce that desert people were the greatest people iIi the world. Soon we had Spence all signed up and gave him a little pep talk (Novices need encouragemen 1.) He rode Gripsters' European Scrambles and finished about half-way in the pack, a feat which is uncommong for one's first attempt at desert racing. Spencer is now a confirmed desert addict. "This sure beats the hell out of motocross." He liked the desert so well that he is looking for a club that will allow him to be an absentee member (Cont·d. from page 4) produced, and this book shows his great career. There are a few gaps. He is a very good motocross rider but there is nothing in the book abou t riding these events on his Oreeves or Ossa. When Torsten Hallman was at his peak, it was Dick who gave him one bad time in a race in Northern California. There isn't much on the year he spent riding the Beezers, when BSA put a full team effort out (including motocross) in 1971 and the whole team went first class. But, knowing Mann, there will probanly be another book written in about three years, popping in all the bits that missed this one and not mentioning whatever he happens to be doing at that time to end up in another book! Bugs never quits. If you like motorcycles, buy the book or bug (no pun intended) your local lIbrary to get a copy. Would you believe that Richard Mann says he doesn't know where he got the nickname Buggs, which over the years has been printed as "Bug", "Buggsy" and all the spellings in betwttn? Come on, Richard, you are bugs about motorcycles. You book shows it. LESS SOUND MORE GROUND Olf Ro.d Velticle Ins,i'.'e-S,D who doesn't attend meetings, but who is determined to race at least one desert race each month. If we can hook old Spence, why not Dick? I am going to ride a race. Well, it isn't exactly a race, since I can't seem to interest any of the clubs in putting on a cream puff class, but it is a competitive event. On October 1 there is going to be a motorcycle treasure hunt. About all you have to do to enter is be able to get the bike to go more or less where you point it, and that is just about my style. They will drop 300 cans from an airplane over Soggy Dry Lake and men, women and· children will try to find and pick up not more than three cans. Inside will be a number which will correspond to a prize. The worst prize .you can get is a pair of gloves, so that pays for your en~ry fee. That really sounds like my kind of race. Here is the latest hot tip for making your tires last longer. Drive up to Lake Tahoe or a similar area where there is no smog. Let all the air out of your tires and re-fill them smogfree air. This will prevent deterioration from the inside. I swear, the guy who told me that did so with a straight face. I almost believe him. If we want to have laws favorable to motorcycles, we had better get busy right now feeling out our local political representatives, find some who are on by Maureen Lee Feel a bit dismal this column. Pretty soon a lot of the troops will be splitting for Czechoslovakia and the ISDT" including what looks like half of this papers' staff. Oh well, someone has to keep the home fires burning. Still, I hope they don't get too pessimistic when they find out the ISDT is not an Amateur Enduro thrown in California but a contest that is just about an all-out war between manufacturer's teams and the participating countries. I'd like to suggest the CIA send along a couple of agen ts to pro tect our interests! I thoroughly enjoyed the rebuttal to my first commen ts on the ISDT from Lewis Milligan and I admit there were some holes in the original comments, Lewis. Yup, I meant observed trials, not Trials, but I still stand pat on my statemen t that a good ISDT rider is a fast desert racer or motocTosser who can do his own mechanicals. Getting to check poin ts fast so you can work on your bike is the name of the game and most motocross and desert riders I know do much of their own work. Sponsors are hard to cOme by, And if you're wondering where I got a lot of the information about ISDT riders, it was a lengthly conversation with Dave Ekins. You must admit, he does rather know what he's talking about! He was the "desert rat" mentioned. Anyway, with what went on this year in the ch oosing of our American teams, including what came out in that ex c ellen t article pu t together by Schneiders interviewing Ted Lapadakis. I think the AMA will change their methods of choosing our teams in the future. They'd better, or someone might "make them an offer they can't refuse." On to the situation with the BLM and land usage of the desert. In the September issue of "Wheels Afield", a mag. about campers, motorhomes etc. there is an article on page 45 with quotes by Gor <.J

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