Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

.. N M i' ... HERE'S DIRT IN YOUR EAR N ,... m ~. u o fJl ;;: W Z W ..J U >- U by Alice Rhea THE WINNER CHAMPION STILL & Is Check Chase to Larry Pfutzenreuter what Barstow·to·Vegas was to J.N. Roberts? Shall we just start expecting Pfutz to beJirst overall every year? The odds were against Larry this year. He has not finished first overall in a race since last year's Check Chase, and he has run up an impressive string of DNF's recently. Larry was riding a brand new Bultaco and while that might sound good to the uninitiated, experienced riders know that: I) the bike needs to be ridden for a while to get the rings to seat properly, etc. (The proper teno is "breaking in", although I hate to use that word.) 2) A racer needs some time to play with the bike and get used to the way it handles. All bikes have Lbeir won little quirks and during a race is a bad time to djscover them. In New York on business for the two weeks proceeding the race, Larry had to rely on G·D Services in Anaheim for Lbe set·up on his new But. He had a total of one hour to ride before he lined up at the start of the race. Intent on getting in a couple of hours practice Friday evening before Lbe race. Larry pu t a two-inch rip in his fron t tire. As he patched it friends teased him about going out and slinging off his chain so he would have that done with. too. During the race, Larry's goggles pressed against his glasses giving him a pounding headache. When he pulled Lbem away from his face one lens popped out and shattered. Larry rode to Rice (gas pit two) where he borrowed a pair from aChe ker. He ran out of.gas twice. He had to SlOp and wait for traffic to clear on the main highway. lie had to wait so long that he had time to' clean his glasses. Abou t twelve miles from the finish, when he knew Gene Cannady must be righ t on his tail, the stinger fell off his chamber, costing him about 10% of his power. And when he arrived at Parker, Arizona, spectactors pointed out Lhis his carburetor was hanging by its fuel lines. Larry quipped, "It finished the race, and that's alii asked of it." With all these problems, Larry was seventeen and one-half minutes ahead of second place Tom Smith. Larry Pfutzenreuter is fast, and talented, and lucky. WOE IS ME, I'VE COME UNDONE...or whatever happened to old whazzisname? Gene Cannady, leading the race for a respectable distance on a prototype Honda, got confused in a section where rain had destroyed the markings, wen t a long way out of his way trying to fmd the course again, ran out of gas and couldn't get the Honda to start when he did get gas. Finally, after what must have seemed like eternity to Gene, the Honda fired up and by gas three Gene had worked his way back into fourth place, within striking distance of the first overall position. But Gene wasn't fated to win Check Chase this year. His Honda caught on fire in gas pit Lbree and he was out. The very talented Jim Fishback tangled with a side hack and Lbe CZ ate its shift shaft. With Lbe shaft broken off inside the cases, Jim, too, dropped out of the race. A.C. Bakken was due for a first overall. He had a lot going for him, but it wasn't in the stars. The Husky lost its transmission and A.C. sat by the trail watching the people he had been leading as they streamed by. Typically, A.C. encouraged friends as they wen t by, waving, grinning and yelUng. "Peg it!" at them. Jack Knebel did a somersault off the top of a sand dune, landing hard on his back. Wben be got his breath back,Jack started again, bu t the CZ seized momentarily and Jack packed it in rather than chance destroying his engine. Fan tastic Tom Brooks, the crazy kid who is capable of taking first overall on a 125 DKW and has proved it four times, got a load of dirt in his carburetor and after stopping for the umpty-umpLb time to clean clogged fuel lines, Tom gave it up at gas two. Other very notable DNF'ers: Art Knapp (Husky) curren tly Open Expert points leader; consistent finisher Tom Muto (Husky) and Jerry Jones (Husky). Tom Center, better known to some .. • "..1.' as Dirty Old Man, couldn't urge his dinosaur past Check one, about twenty miles from tbe start. To make it worse, Tom, Jr. did fmish and Tom had to drive all the way to Parker to get his son . Another Desert Points Steward wbo DN F'd is Ron Hall. He got to Parker, but not on his motorcycle. Game little Chris Fields of the Desert Daisys said her bike broke just ten miles from the finish, and she was too tired to remember to bring in her tan k card and number plate. One consolation: Chris is such a doll-baby that one of the racers stopped for her and they came across the line riding double. Well, could you resist? Up and coming Amateur Rich Mark had somebody sew his name in letters five inches high on the front of bis riding jumper, because I called him R. Bartha in my results from one race. (No, I don't know how I managed to misspell it Lbat bad!) It didn't help, though as Rich finished 78 Lb, too far back for glory, and wiLb a split eyebrow to show for his efforts. This line of thoughtcould go on and on as there were close to LOOO people who DN F'd for one reason or another. All you not-too-experienced riders, take a look at Lbe Ust of super-stars who didn't finish and take heart; it was a hard race. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING Checkers il-1.C. has been around for a long time and you could see the experience in their course markings. (Except for the places where the rain did them under) They didn't pave the desert with lime and arrows, but just about the time you started wondering if' you were going in the right direction there would be a splash of lime. Perhaps Checkers were extra careful this year because of the visiting dignitaries who came to see what a desert race is all about. People like: BLM from Washington. D.C., Arizona BLM personnel, Riverside BLM, Barstow CHP, Riverside CIlP, Riverside County herrif, Yuma County Sheriff, Indian Tribal Police, Arizona CHP, and Parker police, to name a few, And they had nothing bu t praise for the Checkers and for desert racing in general. Whew! THE DOWNHILL Race coverage wouldn't be complete without a description of Larry Wilson (CZ) coming down the hill. About twenty miles from the fmish, when everybody was good and tired, the Checkers discovered a lovely little hill. It was about 200 feet long with a eigh ty degree angle of descent and was invisible until you were three feet from it. Here came Larry bombing across the desert, running lenth overall and first Open Amateur. He was having a fantastic ride. Then he saw two Checkers with yellow flags. He slowed. He SlOpped. His jaw sagged. "Man, you golla be kidding!" Larry moaned, "I hate downhills." And he got off and bulldogged it down. And if you think that was a neat reaction, imagine the super-novice running along about 250th overall. Their eyes got a big as sewer lids and Checkers had 10 genlly urge some of them over the edge. The hill looked horribly dangerous, but actually was so soft that racers had to keep their engines running to get the back wheel to turn. TH E LOST SOU LS Several people spen t the nigh t in the desert. Some of it was pl~n bad luck, with riders getting sligh tly off course and missing their own clean-up crews? some was due to inexperience. One racer had to leave his bike and was overheard asking Rescue 3, "Do you think my wife could get my bike with our station wagon and trailer?" I t seems Ihat motorcycle racers not only firmly believe they are immortal, they also believe they will never run out of gas or get lost or break rl0'vn. Hopefully I WlJ: vC able to get some tips on this S1rt Of.II"·lg in my column be fore the Ila,,:. \V-to-Vegas next mon th and some vl you may be saved from spending a cold lonely night out there again. THE AGED Sixty-two-year-old Dwight Avery of the Cactus Cats MC received a trophy for being oldest finisher. Dwigh t Iinished on a box-stock 125 Ilonda in a record seven hours: Dwight raced back in the twenties, gave it up for a long time and Lben decided to try last year's by Maureen Lee Last week 1 was able to say something nice about our local paper, the Press-Telegram for giving such good coverage of the Daytona race. This week, they really blew it and showed again what kind of treatmen t our sport gets from the regular news media. Monday's edition carried, as its headline "Cycle Gangs in Bloody Battle." I thought, "so what," and dido. 't glance at the story, I mean the Hessians or somebody are often bashing each other about in Lbe Orange County - LA area, but one thing led to another. I finally read it, and blew up. After they had described the two deaths and mayhem that occured when the hooligan element showed up at a road run, there • was a beautiful note about the Check Chase, how' several riders had been injured and two killed, including the names and ages of the two unfortunates. Not one bloomin' word about how rough the Check Chase is and what a feat it is just to finish it. Just the fact that two men met with fatal acciden ts. If they could come up with their names they sure as hell could have come up with Larry Pfutzenreuter's name as the winner, righ t? Not them. They had the poor taste of running the road run bust-up which is a news story and the Check Chase which is a sport story, together on the news pages, immediately causing some people to thin k we're all the same breed of cat because we ride bikes. . Husband Gene was a bit put out too, and had the luck to run into one of the spons editors in the hallowed halls and called him on it. I rather gather that there was quite a heated conversation about the paper's spons coverage in general and their lack of bike activities. The parting shots ran something like this. Editor: "Well, we don't consider that (the Check Chase) a sport. It's recreation." Gene: HIf you think that's recreation, try en tering one. You wouldn't last ten minutes!" So there you have it. Our sport is recreation. 1 don't know what you consider a sport, but I've always believed that if competition enters into it, then it becomes a sport. Fishing quietly in a trou t stream is recreation, bu t en ler a Marlin Derby and that makes fishing a sport. Cow trail with your buddies or family is recreational riding. To keep some humor in this situation I once read that Dick Butkus, one of the tou~hest linebackers in pro ball loves his job. "I like to hit people hard, ies recreational." Last week we spent a smashing day on Catalina Island attending the Yamaha press showing of their 1973 models. As usual, this was a day of pure enjoymen t of seeing all your co-horts in the business all at one place at the same tim e, enjoying a smashing lunch designed not to put too many calories on sports minded bods of game hen, wild rice, and lots of vegetables and fresh fruit (some scribes couldn't say no to the rolls and bread offered) and time to read through the neat press kits we all brought home. Yamaha's new ·'"omni-phase Balancing" in trigued mc, a device designed at a Japanese Universi ty to act as a deterent to engine vibration. It will be on their 750 street bike and also on their motocrossers. Sounds like a good idea because some motocross machines do have a tendency to vibrate: hard on the rider not to men tion what happens to engine bolts! Another poin t I caugh t was that the frames for the Yamaha (Please fum 10 page 35) THEY'RE FINALLY GIVING US A BREAK. _ by Dave Schoonmaker The major influence upon motorcycling's image in the last twenty years has naturally come from the visual media, i.e., motion pictures and t~levision. Motorcycling developed a wild, bawdy image way back with Marlon Brando and The Wild One. To the public Marlon Brando and, later on, Peter Fonda became the motorcyclist's image. I personally, and I believe it would be fair to say most motorcyclists, look up on these movies with disdain, but never considered the possibility that media migh t work the other way for us. Now, without any particular priming, motorcycling is getting a boost from visual media and not just an accidental one. Rob Jordan of Radiant Pictures, a division of Venture Productions, which is a division of Columbia Pictures, has already developed a motorcycle s~ely film and is in the process of developing. a series of four movies for television viewing about four different aspects of motorcycling. These films will encompass dirt riding, street riding, mini-bikes and an as-of-now-undecided fourth subject. The motorcycle safety film is called "Safety Rider"· and has already received fairly wide-spread acclaim as the best picture of this type to come along. The most interesting part of the film to those of us who already ride is not the particular safery measures but the a ui tude that is displayed toward motorcyclists in general. The broadest value of the film will probably be to non-riders, in the form of a deveJopmen t of consciousness of the motorcycle rider. The film displays an average street rider and through subtle influences reveals him as a warm, happy. considerate person, in the same nature as anyone taking in 18 holes of golf. The director and co-producer of the film, Rob Jordan, began the film with little knowledge, minimal interest, and maximum preconcepuons. Rob admits that he looked upon motorcycling in the low rider image. He is now very excited by what he has found. "I have me t some of the nicest people going, in a coherent group with real comrade.rie." Rob is developing the upcoming films with the intention of setting motorcycling's image straigh t. The dirt bike film will star Dennis Jorgensen (an AM A official and part of Elite Insurance) and his family. He is very excited about the street riding !jIm which will be about a San Francisco Motorcycle Club, "which has, among others, doctors, lawyers and all kinds of upstanding citizens." Rob recently joined the fraternity himself on a 350 Kawasaki, which he is learning to ride. He hopes to not only join the easy-traveling commuting set, but also hopes that he can stress the possibility of motorcycles as inner-eity t.ransit, in upcoming motorcycle features. "Safety Rider" will soon be available for distribu tion on a widespread basis. The film is great for starting people off in riding or for more widespread US~ in furthering the awareness of automobile drivers. You can get more info by writing to: Jordan Enterprise, Radiant Pictures, Columbia Burbank Studio, 4000 Warner Blvd., Burbank, Calif. 91505. or call 213/843-72 0, Hollywood Ext. 607. You may soon be seeing the film in drivers education classes too. After the recent uproar among bikers about two particular Mod Squad and Adam 12 shows, it is really refreshing to see someone in the industry getting involved and understanding motorcyclists and giving us a really square deal. B-V. He got cut off at one of the checks for going too slow, hut he redeemed himself wiLb Lbis year's Check Chase. Hey, Dwigh t, did you know that there were 62 people who finished after you and they were all younger.? Congratulations. In the same vein, congratulations to everybody who finished. It is great to be a Pfutzenreuter and finish in four hours and five minutes, even though you arc so tired you can't see straigh t. But what about the guys (and girls) on little bikes, riding a course which the Checker~ obviously laid out on a six-fifty Triumph? And they spent five, six, seven hours clawing their way across the desert. You people are real heros, too. 'Most everybody was sick and nervous on the starting line. As a matter of fact, the only calm face I saw was Kookie's. He was wagging his tail and panting like he didn't have a care in the world. His partner, John McCowan, confessed that he had told Kookie that this was a 35 mile SRA race. Kookie was a little upset with John for shining him on like that, but John did sO well in the race that Kookie forgave him. Check Chase, the Run to the River, is a fun race. Those who manage somehow to get to Parker celebrate wildly and the parties last in to the wee hours of dawn. There is swimming right in front of your camper and water skiing for those so inclined. Checkers have their results done by 2:00 Sunday afternoon and there is a trophy presen tation with free refreshments. GOD, OH GOD. I THINK I AM GOING TO THROW UP

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