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Page ,34 October 23, 1973 AMA Congress throws out Muffler Rule Fuel limitation proposal for road racing narrowly defeated By Jack Mangus COLUMBUS, OH., OCT. 8-9-10 By the time this column comes out the protest rally at the BLM office In Riverside will be over, so as I'm writing this I hope it will be - a success. ~'or the first time the people Ou~ desert should ~emain open to us. who use the desert for one thing or The BLM has no right to tell us where another have gotten together and we can go on it and Richard Nixon has decided to do something about this land no right to come out with his grab. I've often been told that I just proclamation on land that belongs to all enjoy stirring up trouble to just stir it of us, including him. There are no laws up or further the sale of this newspaper. th'!t permit him to do this legally so let Sorry about that if that's the way some him know how you feel about it while people feel, but a columnist is entitled you're also letting the BLM and J. to his own opinion on how he (or she) Russell Penny know. sees things Shaping up. It's not like It was suggested at the District 37 writing a straight news story where meeting that a letter be sent to the BLM you'd better be right or else, but even in asking for more land than they are a column I endeavour to get things willing to give us to run our events on. straigbt and have the sources to back me I'm sure you've seen a copy of the map up. of proposed riding sites and what they I think a protest in the form of a would like closed. If I were a desert rally against the BLM is a jolly good rider I'd have had a real fit when I saw it, and still did although I don't use the idea. If you just mumble to yourself about things that are going on and think desert much for riding. you can't fight City Hall, you're wrong. It was rapidly pointed out that if this Politicians and governments, especially were done it would give Mr. Penny all Republics like ours belong to the the chance he needed to be able to say people, and if you don't step on official that the ORV people would put up with toes when they go against what you his land grab if he just gave them a bit want, and you're the people who gave more land to ride on or use. If you can't them their jobs in the first place, then see the jaws. of a trap closing, have a you're not attending to your duty and little think about it. In the first place, legally he can't grab the desert but if we also giving them the opportunity to get carried away. don't infonn him we know he can't do You don't have to be a trained writer this and just say, ·'Well, a few more to drop a note to one of your elected thousand acres and some different officials or branches 01 the government. restrictions would be nice, n he can Just state what is making you unhappy come on like a howitzer and close us and keep it clean and to the point. l o u t entirely after awhile. If you want often would like to resort to profanity this done then don't take any action; (and do on other o<:casions) but just plate your desert bike and maybe swearing shows a lack of vocabularly hang it on the living room wall as an and is not ne.cessary when dealing with inte,resting conversat.ion piece. the higher ups. They'll get the point In the L.A. T~mes, last week a soon enough if you threaten them with professor from I beheve It was Cal Tech not voting for them next time around. had a bit on nuclear power plants. He Although this has nothing to do with had an idea of building some, guess bikes it's a case in point and happened where, yep, out in the desert. Old this year. We westerners all know the suspicious mind here i~mediately put coyote and how man has done on oUr thinking helmet. For quite a everything he could to stamp out this while I've wondered what they planned "varmint" who is supposedly a real for the desert when they got it. Some mean critter. Actually he has a much strip mining, cattle grazzing naturally needed place in the ecology of the but that doesn't use up too much of the balance of nature. Well, El Coyote just vast mileage and we know ecology isn't kept on multiplying against massive the main excuse. Now who was it that odds and instead of finally being showed up on that vast list of large exterminated as man moved west he contributors to the Nixon campaign suddenly ,e-appeared in New England. fund in the Watergate hearings? Power He's back in the Maine forests and departments contributed quite nicely. howling quite happily. This caused a Hmmm, makes a person think. trauma with some of the New Din riders are closed out of areas Englanders w'ho still go along with the mainly for three reasons. Noise, Puritan notion that poo, old coyote is insurance claims and land development. something as bad as a werewolf or In the use of the desert the first two vampire and immediately demanded don't apply and the last one could. As a that a bounty be put on his head. Some rather stubborn individual, I clear thinking people got together, and immediately suspect anything that gets they weren't the Sierra Club or little old closed due to noise claims or insurance ladies in tennis shoes, collected facts, problems, bu t land development is the wrote letters and told their worst, even worse than insurance. Look repreSentatives how they felt. No what the oil companies have been bounty, and no bounty was declared. allowed to get away with in oil Now these same people are thinking pollution in our oceans and how much about getting the timber wolf they give our ele€ted officials to put re·introduced to the forests he got shot them in office. As Snoppy says at times, out of. They are magnificent animals HAaaaawk". and man really has only one animal to So, if you're not a chicken liver, and fear on the American continent and that you wouldn't ride a motorcyle if you is the grizzly bear, but he stin shouldn't were, get with it and let them know be extinct. we're out here. Maureen Lee The annual meeting of the AMA Congress usualLy causes some large and small waves that eventually rock the boats of AMA members. The 1973 Congress was no exception and two large waves required roll call votes to stop the rocking of the delegates boats. The first of the two major waves concerned itself with the subject of noise. Specifically, the rule in- the AMA's professional rule books that read in part, "Effective January 1,1974: All motorcycles must have an exhaust system meeting 92dB on the "A" scale measured at 50 feet." The proposal to delete ·this rule in it's eniirety was passed by a vote of 36-24 after many delegates commented on the need to do so. Paramount reasons for it's deletion were loss of spectator interest in Professional racing and the fact that even 92dB on our present measuring equipment would not satisfy any government agency that felt motorcycle racing was a public nuisance. Also mentioned was the fact that many of the delegates were sold a bill of goods by the AMA staff at last year's meeting wben a staff member stated that both USAC and NASCAR were going to muffle their automobile racing equipment. Other considerations were the hardships that would be placed on several already burdened manufacturers who would have to go to great lengths to even come close to meeting the 92dB standard. Kawasaki road racing team manager, Bob Hansen, addressed the congress and stated that at the present time his 750cc Kawasaki road racers 1974 Grand National Championsh,jp ~chedule Feb. 1 (N) Feb. 2 IN) Mar. 10 May 5 May 19 May 26 June 2 June 8 IN) June 16 June 23 July 61N) July 14 July 201N) July 28 August 91NI August 11 August 18 August 24 IN) September 1 September 8 September 15 September 20 (NI September 22 October 6 October l3 Oct. 191N) Houston, Texas Houston, Texas Daytona. Florida Bryan, Texas San Jose, Calif. Dttnver, Colorado Gainesville, Georgia Louisville, Kentucky TT ST RR RR Mile 1/2 RR 1/2 Loudon, New Hampshire RR Columbus. Ohio Castle Rock, Washington Albany, California Gardena. California Monterey. California Hinsdale, Illinois Terr. Haute, Indiana Peoria, Illinois Indianapolis, lodiana Talladega, Alabama Atlanta, Georgia Charlotte, N.C. Rooooveh. N.Y. Taledo. Ohio Ontario, California San Jose, Cal itorni. Gardena, California 1/2 TT Mile TT RR ST 1/2 TT Mile RR MUe RR 112 1/2 RR Mile 1/2 514,000 14,000 52,000 25,000 15,000 13,000 25,000 13,000 25,000 15,000 15,000 15,000 12,000 25,000 14,000 . 14,000 15,000 25,500 15,000 25,000 15,000 13,000 .. 15,000 NATIONAl·HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP Muskegon, Michigan Aug. 4 • • ·Pu. . not lit at close of AMA Congress. ·-Tentative date, contingent upon future of Ontario Speedway. National Enduro Schedule March 3 April 21 April 28 April 21 May 5 June 16 June 19 September 1 S..,_ber15 S..,tember 22 October 6 Oetober 13 OctOber 27 November 3 November 10 November 17 November 24 December 1 Curley Fern Rod Gart8l' Little Harpeth Glass City BUrr Oak South ......., Enduro Riden Dirt Diggen Don Thava Factory Works Glass City M.C. Mid-Wast Nat'l. Enduro Riden Assoc. Michigan Trail Riders Straight Arrow Enduro Riden Rocky Mountain Enduro Assoc. Wheelsport Motorcycle of Lawrence Schuyler Cty. Motorcycle Assoc. Indiana-lllinoi,..Kentucky Enduro R idttrs Central Cycle Club Track 80 Trail Sport Riden Assoc. Checkpoint M.C. West Kentucky Trail Riden Tulsa Trail Riden Perry Mountain Motorcycle Potosi Stump Jumpers East West East East Central Central Central West Central East Central East Central Wast West' Central East Central