Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

The National Papers By Bob F. Read The flag is up and the sign says "Hurry to Houston". Unfold the AMA National calendar for another year and kick off the goaround with the two Na tionals at the Astrodome on February 1 and 2. The 6th annual running of the IT Steeplechase and the 7th running of the National Short Track is what it's all about at the only Nationals of the year where nobody is co ncern ed with the weather; the Dome guarantees there will be..no wind, no rain, not too hot and not too cold . It's the only out-door-type racing that is indoors and there is no such thing as a bad seat. Houston TT Th e big bad California Brigade will invade the Dome once again with former winners lik e Kenny Roberts, J im Rice, Mert Lawwill, John Hateley, Jimmy Odom and at least three to six dozen more Experts that can win it all. Skip Van Leeuwen, the winner o f th e first Dome IT, remains o ffi cially retired . Forner winner, Dick Mann, is recovering from a broken leg and is a maybe. The same is true of last year 's IT winner, Mike Haney, wh o mi ssed all of last season with a broken back, But both Mann and Haney are hopin g th ey ' can limp into the Dome and try again. Mark Brelsford is slated to m ake his "comeback." ride in both events after missing ·a11 but th e two Houston races last season . A t least two operations on his hand have taken place since his Daytona spill last Mar ch and the Friday night IT will be his first test. J i!"~ y The California boys have dominated th e 1"1", winning e very on e o f th e p revi o us five even ts, n ot allo wing an ybody else to ge t close t o them. In so me cas es, t hey h aven' t even allo wed a sin gle non-Californian t o qualify fo r the main event! But it eould be different this ye ar. Two Oregon riders, Randy Scott and Chuck Joyner, will be back for another crack at the big guns. Scott finished second at the Dome last year and then later ran third in the Castle Roek race, which was won by Joyner with Roberts following. A benefit for the Oregon lads is that the IT course will be completely changed from the design that has be en used in all previous races. The new course will be more "wide-open" and much faster , a ccording to the blueprints. Some say that it resembles the Castle Rock tra ck , which is home for Scott and Joyner. One rider could possibly upset the West Coast combine: Mike Kidd. Mike was running fourth last year in the late laps but then just plain run out of energy and fell off on the far tum. Of late, Mike has been seen jogging. squeezing rubber balls, and all those other things that riders do to build up muscles. He also became a married man since the last affair, which ma yor may not help, depending on who you want to listen to . One race authority claim s that any rider that gets m arried a u t o m a t ic ally lo ses a t least five horsepower. If the new co urse res embles th e Castle Rock tr a ck, th en both th e ride rs and fans are in for a thrill. An n ually , Castle Ro ck tr ack finds passing and re-passing of the type seld om seen in other IT racing. (Dave Aldana has trie d to climb the walls at Castle R ock and failed. ] The jump will be located in a different position and will be higher than before. There will also be more room to build speed heading for the jump, and more room to land before turning. Will Kenny Roberts, for the third year in a row, find a way to lose the race ? Only Roberts and serni-re tir ed Od om hav e co me close to w mmng both nights in th e same year. Odo m lost t he IT on th e last lap a few y ear s ago due to a broken rear wheel b ut Roberts has ju st plain stalled his engine two st ra ight times when it looked like he had it sacked. Houston Sho rt T rack Four out of the last six years those bad guys from California have won the Saturday night short track. They let somebody else do the winning the first two years and th en have pitched shut-outs four straight times. Now it's a new year and a new season. Mike Gerald went north again last year and won the only 0 ther National Short Track for the second year in a row with a different motorcycle. He even w homped the troops by riding and winning with a bad case o f the flu. Mike Kidd is Iiack on a differen t ma chine. Kidd and Gerald probably won more short track ra ces between them last y ear than all other Experts co m b in ed . Then there is Robert E. Lee. People have asked, "Whatever happened to th e Little General ?" Well, he's b ack and ready , at least for the short track, on ' Saturday night, February 2nd. The Gerald-Kidd-Lee trio could pull it off and become the first southwest riders to even win at the Dome. If t.hey don't d o it this time around they may never d o it as a ll three are in their so-c alled "prime ". On e thin g that may prevent their winnin g is c alled "Roberts". Good o ld Kenny is b ack and riding a short trac k win streak that dates back to th e fir st time he eve r came to the Dome as a Junior. He has never lost a main even t a t the Dome in short track competition ! Kenny is a year older and abou t Sl50,OOO richer than he was a t this time a year ago. Maybe his moneybelr will slow him down. Like Kidd, Kenny is also married and, in addition, has one off-spring. (5. 10 horsepower loss ?) Roberts would like to become the first rider in seven years to win both the Houston IT and the short track. The odds ar e all aga inst it but he has come clo se twice. If he wins t he IT on Friday night th e rest of th e t ro o ps might as well draw straws for sec o n d place on Saturday eve. If h e loses on Friday then there is hope on Saturday for anybody who has ever won a short track. The Dome Nationals have a few more new features besides the new IT track. Two of them are called Rick Hocking and John Gennai, the two best all around dirt track Juniors in A merica last year on any type of dirt track you care to men tion. The two really excel on the short track, indoors or outdoors, dirt or concrete. Between these two they have chalked up over two hundred short track wins the past two seaso ns as Novice and Junior riders. You may recall that in short track racing the lower class rider compete against the Experts. The two kids from California blew everybody off in the '72·73 in door series a year ago and ranked one-two in the final standings. Hocking lost out t o Roberts on th e final lap at Madison Square Garden a year ago. Hocking topped Gennai fo r overall top J unior honors last season by a slim margin that cam e mostly from short track points. But Gennai was head and shoulders th e better of the two on the half-mile and mile and a notch or two better on th e IT. Gennai ran so hot towards the end of the season on the half-mil e that he broke all of the Junior and Expert track re cords at Ascot Park, all of them! How many people are going to show up for the races and the show? Last year the two night to ta l ran close to 80,000. T h is year it should top the 90,000 mark. The first two Nationals of the year, over $50,000 in total purse and co n tin gen cy money, National points, the only Nationals in the southwest this yea r, new equipment, new leathers. new vans, new motorhomes - and most of al l, no chance of a rainout or bad weather: it's called the Astrodome Nat ionals, two shows that are guaran teed to please even the non-motorcyclist. Who could ask fo r anything more? _ -- - - - - - - Entry Blank-------, Who will be Our contest is on to find a the new Mail to : The New Molly Blue 1003 Manhattan Beach Blvd . Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 new Molly Bluel An d, it could be you ! Fin d an entry blank in th is MOLLY BLUE? Her e 's m y entry. I want to be the New Mo lly Blu e! or t he last issue of Cycle News, Name _ or call or write HRL at th e Ad d ress run ning out! T he winner will be crowned at \:urrm7lP£LC6.W ~ -00""r;l.~ f] ~ QQ L.rLJL{L5 ~~ ~ Zip Telephone th e A st rodome Short Track races Age _ _ _ Married _ _ Divorced _ _ Single _ Sat urday , February 2, 1974, and will be Trophy Girl there as her Read Carefully: Contest Rules and Regulations first official act! Plan now to be 1 . Enclose with completed entry blank a recent photo of yourse lf, t here! qual ifications, includ ing work history. fo r th is important position. All entries become the property of HRL Lubricants. Inc. 2 . All entries must be postmarked by January 18, 1974; winner agrees to assume title New Molly Blue on February 2nd, 1974. 3 . Completing and ma iling this for m constitutes agreement by entrant to permit HR L use of any or all photos received for publicity purposes until end of contest February 2. 1974. 4 . All entrants understand that in addition to becoming the New Molly Blue and traveling nationwide to motorcycle races and industry shows in the pe rfo rm ance of the im porta nt d ut ie s associated with t he title, winner also receives a full-time public relations and administrative position with HR L in California . Type WPM_ _ Short ha nd_ . 5. Contest open to an yone 18 years o r older, ex cept emplo yees a nd their familes of HR L Lubricants Inc., its advertising and pu b lic relations agencies. This offer is subject to all federal , state, an d local laws, a nd is vo id wherever prohib it ed or res t ricted. Ind ependen t judges will ver if y final ball o t co u nt , a nd th e ir de cisio n is fi nal. 6 . Add it io nal e ntry b lanks avai lab le fro m HRL " Cont est : ' address above, or any regio na l oHice of C ycle News. preferably 8 New Molly Blue receives: \-t..ptP - Cust o m ALOT OF RIDERS - Personalized garment bag THat SETTLE ON HRL'S MOLLYBLU£ - Dy namite MX Pants fr om re TIlE (IT//fR OOW~ City Sta t e address below. But hurry. Time is Leathers from ABC from Taylor Industries Suzuki Fun Center -and mo re. . . CONTEST CLOSES JA NUA RY 18. ENTER NOW! L x 10 and any additional i nf o rmat io n abo ut your Cut out now Mail today 1 I - JI 33

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