Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

please tum from page 13 .. lti u " c ~ w Z W ...J o >o ... Internationals or we're going to look pretty silly to the re,st of the world and we don't look too good to 'em as it is. Still District 37, courtesy of Ron Sloan and other Board m,embers drafted a little safety valve into our s upplemen tary riJle book we call "Catch·22". We can change any rule if it is to the advantage of motorcycling. Then too, the District only allows four Grands Prix a year and sometimes we don't even get those as they're a bear to put on, so we're not overdoing the use of the name. Still, I hope that other organizations don't go using fancy terms for what isjust an ordinary racing event. Three hundred Novices scrampering across the desert shouldn't be called a Grand Prix but the Barstow·to·Vegas Gambit Continued from page 14 represen tative and quite easily. That's a mind blower. I-Jere's anolher interesting fact. It's commonly believed that motorcyclists are basically apo~tical. But we put together this effort with just two of District 37's 60 or 70 clubs. It happened that there were three of us with some political experience. John's worked with the Democratic party for a number of years. Marv was a fireman and was involved in the civil righ ts struggle within the fire depanmen t. I had managed the campaign for a candidate for District A ltorney four years ago and been involved in a few other campaigns. StatisticalJy it's impossible that our experience is unique. There must be at least 100 motorcyclists in the Los Angeles area with some political experience. Even more important, there were about 25 motorcyclists who helped in this effort. They gave several hours of time or some money and did so (or a candidate that most knew would probably lose. These guys and gals weren't apolitical. Let's shift scenes for a momen t. Back in the sprinR of this vear the AMA launched a program called Political Frontiers. They advertised it well and got a fairly good group of people to come down to the Ramada 1nn for an organizational meeting. And that was the end. The A~lA has since spent a fair amount of money (our money, incidentally) supporting President Nixon. They were probably Hare and Hound is .... Classic wd so's the Greenhorn, so it'll be interesting to see what happens. At Hopetown, we availed ourselves of the Sidehack Association's redoubtable Penguin, alias Mike Partee, who likes to explain sidehack mallers to dumkopfs like me. I was especia1ly interested in the djfferences between the European hacks and ours. The one reaUy big difference that in trued Penguin and all his cohorts was the fact the Europeans don't use a side step on the outside of the rig. They just let it a1l hang out and don't swing that leg over onto the step for certain turns. I quietly got big Jan Jansen on one side and asked him what he truthfuUy thought of our guys. '"fhey're brave," he said. How abou t the American hacks? "Some look like antiques," 'he said, with a little head shake but we explained what kind of events our hackers ride and that most of them buiJd their own rigs. It's purely an Amateur spon. I bet our visitors would have a flat fit if they saw some of our guys tearing across the desert! Television was up to giving dirt riders a black eye again last evening. In an enchan ting picture abou t gargoyles starrinR Cornel Wilde there were some instr':'mental in getting some press and industry people on a free trip to Washington, and they managed to get a bunch of signatures on petitions by cleverly disguising the inten t of the petition. But as far as geuing people motorcyclists - involved, they were so bad they made McGovern's effon look like a landslide. 1 would guess that among motorcyclists Republicans outnumber Democrats at least three to one. Yet who among you was approached by a motorcyclist and asked to vote for President Nixon? Has anyone received anything in the way of flyers, leuers, phone calls or whatever? The answer is obvious. Political Frontiers died ~ at least in Californ ia '- righ t there on the floor of the Ramada Inn. What went wrong with that effort? Well, to begin with, it was dishonest. People were bra ugh t together for a suppo&edly non·partisan meeting and then were given a strong pitch for a partisan candidate. The effect on Democrats was immedalely strongly an tagonistic, naturally, but I suspect thath 0 n est Republicans were probably turned off as well. No one ~kes a dishonest approach even on issues or people they favor. \Vhal wasn't dishonest· was condescending. There were people there with experience who could have done some effective political organizing, had u,ey been given something real to work on. But they were given a junior high school civics class lesson in idealistic electoral politics. When you walked out of that room there was nowhere to go. So u,e 'people went home and wrote it off as a wasted evening. One thing that seems obvious to me is that motorcvclists will not work for, or even vote for, a candidate stricliy on the basis of his position on motorcycles. There arc tOO manY other and more important issues. u're. the candidate's position on motorcycles is important. It's a focal point. And since there are a great number of candidates, and many of them are good people. there's nO reason La work for a guy who's an t~~onistic toward bikes, or disinterested in our problems. But he has to be a good guy, a guy au Ie to inspire others to work for him on the bigger issues first and foremost. To make the point even more emphatic, I'm sure that none of the people who worked on the i\lcGovern project with me would have worked for President Nixon if he haCl won a gold medal in the ISDT. And I'm equally certain that Ron Sloan woul.dn't have worked for McGovern if he had won the Barstow to Vegas ract:. N ow here's an in tcresting th ing: As motorcyclists it doesn't matter much whom we work for. i'\o matter which presidential candidate won in this last election he would have had a reason to be grateful to some motorcyclists. Does that mean I'm happy that Nixon was elected, or that since he was elected that 1 will suppon him? Nope. I despise the man. But I'm glad for the sake of motorcycling thal, since he was elected, the AMA did something for him. l':ow let's extend that a bit. We motorcyclists are individuals with different sets of principles and beliefs. During the months and years to come we will vote for different people. Some limes we will be winners, lovely bit in the script. I guess the media figu res it's kicked the chopper se t around for a while, now they'll pick on us. This little tale showed some scene of bikes .helping out in a search party with the mosl beautifully loud soundtrack of ringding noises we've hoard in many a moon. All this on Channel 2, which is CBS. I wonder if who ever wrote that screenplay knows that CBS was giving one of it's own companies a kick in the head. I'm speaking of course about Heyde ''''arid'' magazine. Somewhere, some time we're going to see a script wriuen that actually puts us in white hats for a change and after what we've been getting on TV lately I'm glad 1 wen t to see "On Any Sunday" again the other evening! sometimes losers. But if we help the cl1ndjdales that we believe in, no ma.tter who's elected we'll have some friends in Sacramento and Washington. And lhat's where I think the Ai\IA made their biggest mistake. If they launched Political Frontiers as a true non-partisan effort, with the idea of encouraging cyclists to gel into politics on the basis of sincere and important beliefs, we might ha"e had quite a number of people in the capitals of these stales and the COWllY offices with a reason to be grateful to us. Next week we'll take a look at whal the Political Frontiers should have been. There are more elections coming up. In the meantime, if any of you out there are friends of i\lcGovern who wish you ha!'l done a bit more in u,e campaign. ),ou might send a few bucks to Robie Clausen. lie's still about $ 150 in the hole. Make checks out to John Clausen .J r. and mail them to me care of, Cycle News. THE VERY LAST CHANCE Got a call from Duane ~Iarlin of the CEA the other day. I t seems thai after their super laugh tour through the rock piJe last year the riders this year an~ staying away in droves. "Don't be scared:' says Duane, "We've relented. This year's ~ourse is beau ti fu I. It's not a family·type enduro but it will be easy enough to be enjoyable." With all the rain, the riding in lhe desert should be beautiful for the next couple monlhs. The course will be up in the Rand Mountains where there are some very interesting trails. And it's your last chance 10 ride a I ational Championship for a long, long time. See the Calendar for infonnalion. Monkey to V e g a s - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - • by Ed Drechsler LAS VEGAS, NEV., Nov. 25. J972 For the first time in the history of the Barstow.to.vegas Hare 'N' Hound, Sidehacks finished in Las Vegas. Dave Davis and Fred Acevedo on a Honda hack came the J50 miles to gather a class win, a bottle of champagne and a rain check on a finisher pin. Sixteen hacks started the race 15 minutes after the Amateur/Expert start. They were told that as long as they left the gas pits before curfew, they could proceed. It was down to five hacks at Check Three, and all of tbem made it. In second was the Arizona Sideback Association Suzuki of Pete Wakel and Ron Jackson. Third was the 250 Ossa hack of Bill Zarenba and Craig Hampton (A recent hack rule change defines small bore as less than 500cc.) Fourth was the 360 Yamaba hack of John Monohan and his monkey Brian (Wasn't able to catch his last name). The fifth place went to Jerry Person and Pat Kelly (These guys didn't listen to Alice Rhea, and came to Vegas broke. Their pit crews were still sweeping the course and with no one to give tllem money, they had lo.actually ask for a beer). Seventeen three-wheeJ dunecycles left the starting Ijne. One actually made it to Check Two a ball' an hour after the curfew. Wonder what happened to the other 16? The DiffBrake people were there getting prepared 1.0 pay contingencies. Among lhose who were actualJy using the product were the overall winner. Tom Smith, and first Amateur, Jack Orndoff. Quite a few riders will be getting their entry fees returned because they finished with one of the units in operation on their machine. One of the helicopters flying around between the Start and Check One had "Big" AI Buck behind the lens of a camera. He was up there and everywhere else to get footage for a documentary on the sporting side of motorcycling. Politics and Money Seldom Clash by Ed Drechsler Three elements made this year's Barstow to 'Vegas llare 'N 1I0und unique. First was the absence of J.N. Robens who is stiJJ recuperating from "domesting injuries" as the British put it. Second was the absence of the bad winds that usually start the nigh t before the race. The third element was the presence of Bureau of Land Management personnel. To my knowledge, this is the first large even t held in the desert under the new rules. It very well could have been a lost weekend for 2,500 riders and their estimatea 7,500 support crew members. It was reported that the much needed pennission to hold the race was finally secured from the BLM only a week prior to the start of the race. What would have happened if the San Gabriel Valley M.C. was unable to secure the ~la~iJity insurance that /was demanded by theBLM? Some said iliat Jim Fishback closes in on Ray Alexander en route to his eighth overall, second 250 'Expert._ _ ...;.,,;;,;;,;,,;,.;.,,;,;,;;__,;;.,...;;;.;.__;;.;;;;,;;,;;,;~,;,;,;;.;.:.;;;,,;,:;:;;..:;.;::;;.::.:..:;.;=;.;..;:;;.:;.::;;;:..:.::.;;.=;;,;,;; the race would be held anyway, the start to be triggered by the accidental knocking over of the startiog banner. Others said that the race would be held with legal action against the principles 10 be taken by the BL~I at their leisure (they have been knowo to play this game). Still others said that the BLM would resort to the use of force. We were all wrong. 1t has been learned that the Higbway Patrol had contingent plans to seal the off ramps between Barstow and Las Vegas; a simple plan requiring the absolute minimum number of personal and insuring the maximum effectiveness. You can't hold a race .if nobody is allowed to get off the Freeway now can you? As it was, this plan or any other was not necessary because of one free·thinking insurance agency, the Goldware Insurance Agency, 710J i\lagnolia, Riverside, Calif. This agency was located by the Norco Little League who had talked them in to insuring their 60 mile Family Enduro at oggy Dry Lake to be held December 10, 1972. You see, the 1\'orco Little League also has to work under the same ruJes as the San Gabriel Valley M.C. To secure permission for their enduro, they presented evidence of insurance. UntJI this time, not one agency c0:-ud or would bid on the Barstow to Vegas. There was simply no data to base figures on. To make a long story short, the BLM passed this info on to the SGVMC and the race was on. OK, they got permission, but now the hassles, righ t? Wrong! The dub members reported they. they had maximum cooperation from the three agencies involved, San Bernardino County Sheriff. California Highway Patrol and the BLM. lIelp started with rerouting the race off all private lands for insurance reasons (thats why the new starting line). The field was held to 2,500 in an efforl to collect much needed data for future races. The CliP provided much needed traffic con trol to help pit crews get from pil to pit. They were observed from time to time looking the other way as a race entered bike was ridden across the freeway overpass. (They were also observed citing a pair of riders Friday nigh t for being on the paved road with no lights etc,) At no time was anyone needlessly hassled. It does appear th at the BLM indeed wan ts people to use the desert, as evidenced by their attitude this weekend. From the urgency of their help, it appears that this attitude also reflects that of the people in Sacramento. I believe I shall wait and see.

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