Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125828
October 2, 1973 Page 40 So you waDI 10 be a.Speedway rider ••• • .. From theory to practice. A learner sterts to hang it out. . ' Slippin~ and slidin' with Stu Morley Story by Steven Parker Photos by Dennis Greene If you are a big fan of Southern California speedway racing, the chances are that at one time or another you have ventured into the pits to take a look at the backstage world of the sport. It is all there for you to see; the men, the machines, the mechanics who keep the show running. There is one man in the pits, however, whom you have probably overlooked. Small of stature, clad in baggy white pan ts and tank top shirt, wearing a racing cap bearing the legend "Red Beard Racing Team", you'll see him running in the pits from one rider to another throughout the entire evening. Giving pointers on setting up the bikes, advice on how to ride the track that night and everything in between. Most of the kids who would like to be the future Rick Woods have never talked to this man. They should. He is a living legend. His name is Stu Morley. He runs the only speedway racing school on....the west coast,. and has taken it upon himself to give the best advice and help he can at the lowest possible cost. The school is as different from any otl1er as much as speedway is from Class C action. Not that Morley is not familiar with Class C racing. At Ascot, ho; held at one time the one, ten and 20.I~p records. He was the Pacific. Coast Dirt. Track Champion. He was the captain of the BSA Wrecking Crew, the first successful team effort any manufacturer of motorcycles had ever organized. He raced Class C for over 10 years. . In 1968 he started racing speedway. This was when the sport was just undergoing its rebirth. This was when . such current stars as Dan Becker and Jeff Sexton were still in junior high S!=hool. Morley was good, and raced in first division until an accident in 1972 made him decide to quit the action. He wanted to teach the kids, though, and set about to do it. . He had as much experience in sliding the single cylinder, 500cc bikes around the ovals as any other five riders put together, and he wanted to share it with others. Add to that a philosophy of positive thinking that had changed his . life, and you have what could be called the perfect teacher for the sport. The man who teaches the sport has to have all the power, physically and mentally, as the champs. He has to be good enough in the classroom to command attention, and skilled enough to show his students that he can compete on the course. Stu Morley has all these qualities, and the patience of a saint. He will spend hours attempting to relate that one little bit of knowledge that could mean the difference in a race. His students like him, and he knows how to make the lessons interesting. The school is informal. C1assroom sessions are held at Morley's Topanga Canyon home. The actual riding is done at EI Mirage, a lake bed near Palmdale equivalent to the salt flats at Bonneville. The charge for the first lesson is $25. For that price, students get the benefit of one riding lesson, plus the services of the professor in the pits at all the tracks for the entire speedway season. Any extra lessons after the first are $1 0 each. The price is not out of line at all . considering the source of the information. A typical Sunday session at EI Mirage can give you a good insight into the man, and the philosophy he has which affects the racing and his life. It is hot, clear and the air is fresh. About ten riders are gathered for the actual class, others straggle in to play on the lake bed on dirt bikes. Some of the students are here for their fust rides, others have been riding for a few months but feel they can only profit by the experience.. A t around 11 a.m., there is a riders meeting. It is unlike any other riders meeting you have ever been to. It is like entering Philosphy lAo He starts the day off with a warning. "If you don't want to be a speedway racer more then anything else in the world, you may as well go home, put up your boots and sell the bike. You shouldn't be here." He then proceeds to give a list of his past accomplishments, and the students are impressed. They all knew he was good, but they never expected this. By the end of the day, they will all realize he 'wasn't kidding about his past. Morley then heads into the big rap. Norman Vincent peale calls it the