Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

MOVE CAESAR IS ALIVEHI OVER BEN AND JULIUS WELL IN HAUBSTADT, IND. LIONS vs. CHRISTIANS I have a question concerning H.G. Hardy's article "Suicide Splashdown". Didn~t that kind of sport go out of style with the Christian/lion games? LAKE 1 RIDER 0 KEVIN W. WHITAKER NOPE! by H.G. Hardy HAUBSTADT, IN., Aug. 25, 1972 this whole thing started a week earlier while trying to seem disinterested in the Terre Haute half-mile race. Fellow squib Russ WhitinghiIl wandered up and reintroduced me to Larry West, (now get this) "The greatest chariot racer in the world!" Now Russ i~ the type of chap who jokes with a straight face leaving you wondering whether to laugh or cry; but West whipes out this newspaper clipping and a pink poster heralding the International Motorcycle Chariot Association's sanctioned race at Tri-State Speedway. Well Sir, with Indiana's cycle sports trying to recover from that "Water Jump" trauma, I really wasn't ready for this and -was unable to restrain the cry which passed ~ <.>. o ~ w California. All Chariots raced here belong to Sid Smith and cycles beiong to the racers, but, after: so many races it is ex,pected that the racer will purchase the rig at about $400. They are also working on a street model. Some of the drivers confided there· were some stress pain ts and tire design problems which need ironing out, but when asked if they would buy a chariot they were gloriouly vague about the answer. The chariots are built by the Stahl Equipment Co. of Chandler, Ind., and 'appear to be of small trailer components. The tub is spnng-Ioaded for weight transfer maneuverability and is attached to the bike at the seat mounting positi.on using a heavy gauge pivot plate much the same as the "Fifth Wheel" trailer design adding about 125 Ibs. (less driver). Steering is done by means of aircraft cables clamped to both the handlebars; yoU' simply pull in ·the desired direction and hope for the best. Starting and getting under way is a team effort. Much of the early testing had been on the drag strip at Chandler and this was the first race ever, dirt·wise or otherwise. The handling of the motorized chariots was better than I Z W ..J U >- U , A rider's eye view of his trusty mount. my 'lips: "Oh God, they're at it again!" Having developed a cynical nature and an inquring mind over the years which will not let me pass up such an opportunity, I found myself lead-footing it down southbound S.R. 67, which snakes 125 miles from the center of the state (Indianapolis) to the southwest comer (Vincennes) as one of a kind, a super-sport two lane blacktop through the most beau tiful part of the state. But [ must warn you, beware when night falls, for therein lurks a horrible creature calJed"Thc llus" . S.R. 67 is Greyhound's scenic bus route and their drivers will do anything just to see their passengers climb the luggage rack and the stark terror in. your face when you realize the bus coming up from behind is ten mph. faster than you are thJ!.t Semi in £Iont is going on this downhill curve. Why tell you all this? Patience friend, you see, fifty miles south ·on U.S. 4 I is Haubstadt, Ind., and the only thing that separates the Tri-State Speedway track from the dual-lane U.S. 41 is the parking lot! Am I going crazy?or am I standing there in the middle of the night looking at 1 I motorized chariots all lined up in the infield ranging in power from Bridgestone to CZ bikes, all the while listening to Sid Smith, the man who conceived the idea, had them buil t and applied for the patent, telling me over the roar of the AMA sanctioned scrambles on starge now about his aspirations land plans to start this new cycle sp6rt J a'ct6s's' the courltfS. ,'lit'atn1y Nobody plays it straight anymore. Hell, Ben HUT never wore pants!. West and Suttle drove a hard night's race until the left tire on West's rig went flat and threatened to come off. On lap 4 Denny Aigner's Honda rig, the most powerful machine On the lot, made a move and shot by Suttle and a fading West, but that wasn't the end of it. Denny and Suttle raced side by side in the Wrns while Denny's brother, Jerry, went out with a flat tire after doing well in the heats and trophy dash. Mike Mefford moved up from the second wave too late to go for the leaders while West said to hell with that flat tire and kept racing fith with John Swango in a Suz rig. Dick Van Zant never really came to terms with his Kaw rig; at times he had to put his right foot up the side, of the tub to make the comers. His eockpi.t . troubles made him a rolling block because passing took a great deal of concentration on the part of the drivers. In the closing laps Denny Aigner pulled away from Jerry Suttle to WIn without a coin tossing; Mike Mefford and John Swango rounded out the top four. When it was allover everyone asked everyone else what they though t of the chariot rating, but what they really wanted to know is if it will catch. For that answer, they wi.ll need a prophet or a Madison Ave. Ad-man, for when it concerns what sports entertainment turns people on it becomes as much of a mystery as human nature. 1 do know there will be enough non-believers on the business end and of the racing establishment who will stop laughing long enough to give the presiden t of Tn ternationaJ Motorcycle Chariot Association, Mr. Sid Smith, nightmares. So that's how they do it. thought possible on' first sight, with respone to controls as slow as pregnant camels around the turns. On the straights they went like stink popping wheelies. There were two heats and a trophy dash in be tween the finals a f the scrambles which served to pump up the adrenalin of the crowd and get the drivers and crew onto SOine of the chariot's evil ways. In the ten lap feature, starting the rigs up was a hectic affair at best as crew after crew pushed chariots in five or six differen1 directions. Next came the attempt to line them up two abreast for the falling start. This ritual took a long time, but did add to the suspense. Could they race 10 laps without wiping someone out? The answer was not long in coming. One the first lap Terry Trice of Evansville bounced his CZ rig off the four foot high guardrail in tum 3 but luckily had bailed before-hand and was uninjured but out of the race. Jeff Suttle driving a Montesa rig took the lead but but not by much. Larry West (remember him' was the odds-on favorite and began showing Jeff why; but there was this problem. I t seems Larry West is a person of hefty proportions and his ch airot was bejng pulled by a 19 HP Sherpa T (an orig. Sammy Miller copy!). The Test of the competition was driving I 75's and 350's and, as if that wasn't under-dog enough, the safety harness (a kidney-belt attached to the inside of the tub by four straps)' was" pUlIingLarry's ~aliis down! ''''' .. " ET TU Honda? This could be the start of something new, but we lciuI of hope it isn't. Mi B8n Hur didn't ""ow what he Was mlssln·g.

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