Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

LAYING IT DOWN SPECTATING AS A BLOOD SPORT Motorcycling is what might be called a participation spOrt, even Trans-AMA International Motocrosses. People who go to Trans-AMAs go for a vicarious pleasure which they gain by seeing people do what they do. . l\lany times a year thousands of people pay up to one hundred dollars to see prize fighters battle it out in a ring. You could more than likely count the number of people who identified with the fighting on your hands. Why they do go may have endless psychological ramifications, but the reasons it might be preferable to a six-dollars motocross aren't too hard to elucidate. Take for instance the Trans-AMA at Saddleback last week. I'm convinced that everyone presen tat Saddleback had to be a biker or taken there under serious duress from a biker. Why else would anyone want. to go? It's not the fault of the racing. Motocross would seem to be much more exciting than wau.:lilllg lWV ~uys J..u..u ..." ..a,.i'ound in a ring occasionally taking a punch at each other. To the uninitiated it must be incredible to see bike and man do the things that they do. So, why would I have stayed home if I'd had the choice? Mostly because I have no particular desire to subject myself to physical torture to see a motorcycle race. That's why five or six thousand people will go to Ascot for a weekly, non·National motorcycle race and no more than that will show for the last of International Trans-AMA races for 1972. Go to Ascot and you'll get a place to park, restroom s, available food, and a seat from which you can see the better part of the race track. You'll ge t the same thing at most AMA road races. If you tried the motocross at Saddleback you may have found those things a little lacking. You would have found all absurd traffic situation, a place where parkin~ just wasn't feasible, a couple of snack bars out of hot dogs and loaded with warm Coke, an outhouse, with a urinal which was filled up to the brim, and lots of nice dirt, but you probably just barely see a rider out there. I really can't imagine my father, let alone my mother, putting up with the conditions out there in order to pay six dollars. My dad goes pretty ticked off in traffic jams. 0 do I. The traffic jam at Saddleback started at seven in the morning and was stil I going strong at eleven. I didn't see any traffic patrolmen anywhere exc~ide the by Dave Schoonmaker m .o .. ,,.. a :I ~ WARREN = WILSON MOTORS ... , MONTESA 9000 SEPULVEDA BLVD. South of Nordoff in Sepulveda, Calif., (213) 894-9218 ,. .. Motorcycle • Sale. Service ,~. ' N .... en en ... .; " C til 3: w z W ...J U park. Granted Saddleback isn't an easy place to park cars with all its hills, but it could have been much better. The dirt surface actually had cars being pushed and lifted out. A little traffic con trol migh t have prohibited the complete jam from ensuing afterwards. Most of the cars had managed to park eacb other in. I wrote the major portion of this editorial in the two and a half hours it took me to get from the top of the hill to the pits. Things finally began· to dear out about three hours after the last race' was over. Some may have found it cause for jubilation over the attendance, but it just wasn't SQ. [ have never seen so few people cause such a large mess. A race the caliber of a Trans-AMA just has to have be tter traffic and parking provisions. it just isn't good business to run ou t of hot dogs. You can't sell what you don't have. The restrooms were just amazing. I S"t on the hill beneath the press facility and counted outhouses. From where I sat I could <:P,. six. , know there were a few more, but even twenty outhouses does not a relieved audience make. One might expect a reasonable restroom with real toilets and such, but you at least expect an outhouse. E.ventually I had to try one of the outhouses there and after waiting in line for fifteen minutes I was confronted by a shed, for the better part submerged - and not in lemonade. How nice! The one attendan t blessing of Saddleback Park is that it is almost impossible to not see some part of the race. If you had on your cleats, you could perch on the side of a hill and get a pretty unobstructed view of what was going on below. 0 f course you couldn't tell for sure if it was 26 or 28, but still, there they were. And at the beginning I wondered why people had binoculars! The best solution at the end of the day was to crash· the party on top of the bill. There you could stand about exchangl g B.S. with motorcycling's elite and watch the peons attempt· escape. There was lots of ice (rare elsewhere), Cutty Sark, Tequila and inebriated journalists. Seemingly unaffected, the sun did set, and the last of the Trans-AMA passed away. Lots of people came out to make donations to "Cycle World". Lots of racers came too and gave a good show. I hope they compensated for the rest of the shabby proceedings. I think it's sad how motorcycling uses motorcyclists. GAMBIT ---~--~------------At least one group of motorcycli~:s currently too disorganized to be much has already had a bil( part in electing a State senator (Alan Cregorio from San Mateo county). The milior objection to this approach is that it takes a lot of work and results are not visible at once. Convincing people that it's worthwhile is often difficult. Paradoxically, it's often easier to rally people to work fo, the defeat of a poor incumbent than the election of a potentially good legislator! (This in fact is what happened in the case of Gregorio. The only way motorcyclists in San Mateo could get rid of the incumbent was to elect· Gregorio.) The reason for this is that the poor incumbent has a record while the hopeful candidate only has promises and good intentions! Special interest ~olitics can be sO effective that it's frightening. Once a group discovers just how effective they can be, it can move very quickly from the inoffensive, participative democracy, general-sense, special interest politics, to the very offensive, immoral and often illegal variety which is now the most common connotation of the term. There is a very thin line between helping someone so that he will pay special i\,ttention to your interests and buying his vote on critical issues. Oil companies and other big business interests are masters of this kind of offensive politics, but smaller organizations and interest groups can also abuse this very effective tool. Two such examples are the Sierra Club and the National Rifle Association. The motorcycle industry and spor! are ... ~ of a threat, but the potential power (and money) is there. Anyone who decides to engage in organization for political purposes should, before he starts anything, make sure he understands and is able to explain tbe limits beyond which the group must not go. Getting someone elected is not a short term project. To the casual observer it seems that campaigns begin a couple of months before the election, but this is not the case at all. E.ven campaigns for very minor offices usually have, gestation period of at least a year and you can rest assured that plans are being laid this minute for the next presidential election. If you or some of your friends want to do something like this, the time to start is now. Do the research while the scene is quiet and you can study and evaluate leisurely. Then when the campaigns start to take shape you'll know who you're going to support and why. You'll have a positive and well formed plan to take to the people you are going to ask to help. These are some of the ideas that I felt should have been the basis of the AMA's Palitical Frontiers program. And weren't, for the most part. Obviously I've only skimmed the surface. Beneath is the whole nitty-gritty world of advertising, fund raising, candidate presentation, speech preparation, precinct organization and much more. If I get any response indicating that people are interested in doing this sort of work, we'll dil( a little deeper. TRAILER RENTALS NOW 213 -881-4101 714 - 839-2515 the-~ SMU"LER Sleeps 6, Canies 5 Biles MALCOLM SMITH RACING PRODUCTS 1689 la Cadena Riverside, California 92501 Ph: 714-686-8014 DEALERS WANTED The best leathers available. Made in USA from medium thICkness, 1st Quality Canadian leather. Padded hips and knees one front pocket, nylon lined. Ali seams double stitched in nylon. D i a mond wedge reinforced crotch. Guaranteed. 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