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/125844
Armor AII__how do you write a headline for a ct like Armor All with a t usa d and e uses to preserve iust about everything on everyth-ng._ r In five years, the Baja off-road races have achieved an almost spiritual mystique for those who have ridden them, or know about them. Now, they may be over. Will there ever be another Baja 100 0 ? t at eRectively pre ents era king, c ecking a d ardening and greatly extends the life of tire s- ew lis,leather and vinyl up Istery, apparel, -gn-" nwiri g d iust about everything else. It's impossible _ except for Armor All. By John J. Huetter For years, the brutal de manding Baja California off-road races have rank ed as one of the few remain ing existential adventures for modern man . Rid ers on tw o-wh eeled and fo ur-wheeled vehicles of fantas tic varieties have gone flat-out for ab out 500 , o r ab out 1000 , miles over so me of the m ost demanding n atural te rrain in N orth Amer ic a. In th e last fe w y ears, th e Baj a even ts have even ac hieved a kind o f p opular chic as major manufacturers be came awar e of the pr estige a nd ad ve r tising value of running thei r p ro ducts over one o f th e world's roughest n a tural testin g grounds. The th eme was "If it can su rv ive a Baja run , it can survive a ny thin g" and wasn't far from the truth for e ith e r men, women, o r h ardware. Now there is a very real possibilit y that th ere will be no more Baj a off-road races. S in ce the in cep tion o f the fi s t of th e r events , the Baja 1000 in 1968, up until this year, the races had been organized and prom o t ed by the North American O ff . R o ad Ra cing Assoc iation (NO R RA). A Mexican government w ith a co n tinually e m ergin g co n sc io usn ess o f n ationali sm, coup led with a Presiden t wh o h as m ad e development of the Baja Peninsula o ne of his p et projects, denied NO R RA permission to run any more off- roa d r a c es i n Mexico. The resp ons ib ility w as ins tead assigned to t h e n ew l y fo r me d Baja Sports Com mi ttee w it h th e su p p o r t of th e gove rn m ent Departmen t of Tourism. It all so u n de d re asonable, a Mexican race run b y a Me xican organization. In fact, the actual ru nning of the race rece ived approval from nearly all of th e Baja veteran s from th e NO R RA da ys an d th ere w ere few com plain ts abou t organiza tion o f th e eve n t. T here was just one bi g ca tc h to the BSC 's d eb u t as o ff-road race promoters : th ey d id n ' t pay th e promised p rize m one y . The purse w as intended to be distributed so th at just a bou t an y one who finis hed w ithin th e 4 8-h our time limit was supposed to re ceive so me o f th e p rize m one y . a n excellen t idea as it gives m ore p eo ple incentive to enter, with h ope of a t lea st regaining their entry fee. But, so far, o n ly o ne or tw o h igh p lacing co n testan ts from 19 73 's 1000 h ave colle cted th eir lo ot by m aking pe rsonal visits to Baj a a n d demanding th eir b re ad in p er son. T h e Baj a Sports Committee is e ff ectivel y dead. Wh a t hap pe ns n ow to o ne o f t he true clas sics in o ff-road m o torsports? Well, there is a possibility that Mickey Thompson 's rel a tively new S .C.O.R.E. may end up run ning th e Baja. But it is just a p o ssib ilit y. Mick ey has sai d , " I don 't wan t to run t he Baja eve n ts , per se, I just w an t to race in the m. " In order fo r Mickey to race his b el o ved 1000 and 5 0 0 h e m ay have to r un them as there is cu rrently n o o ther candi date stepping forw ard. NORRA w on 't be welco m ed b ack, it seems, and if th e Mexican government h as t o m a ke good on the 1973 p ri ze money, th e y are likel y to ca ncel p ennissio n fo r any more organized off-ro ad racin g in Baja. There is something like $15,0 0 0 sti ll t o be paid to las t year's fini shers. That is a very consi d erable cas h buy-in for anybody wh o thinks they ca n run the Baja 1000. T here is a lso the problem of the necessary d eli ca te dealin gs w ith th e v ari ou s l e v els of t he M ex ican govern me n t, from the En se n ada ma yor right up to t he Presid ential office it sel f. As almost any o ff-road com pe titor and virtually an y body wh o has ridden Baja can a p p reciate, organizing t hese e ven ts is n ot an easy ta sk . With the cr u nc h o n racin g a rea s in this c ou n try , it w ould b e a gia nt bummer to see the Baja eve nts di e. Whe th er Mickey Thompson 's organization, o r any other. can ge t the ap p rov al o f the Me xica n govern ment, front the cash req u ired to organize t h e eve nt an d guaran tee a purse large e n o u gh to m ak e it w o rthwhile to th e m aj or entran ts still remains to be seen. It would be n ice. T he re ar e st ill a lot of bikers wh o h av e n ot h ad the op portu n ity to race Baja. It would b e n ice to d o it. once be fore it's to o late. See your Y amaha dealer, he's in the Yellow Pages. . YAMAHA PARTS DISTRIBUTORS, INC. a subsidiary of Yamaha Internation al Corporation, 6610 Orang etharpe Avenue, Bueno Pork, California 90620 • 13347 W, Wash ington Blvd. (2 13) 390 -3406 Send $3 .00 fo r 256 co lorfu l page catalog with more than 5500 items. .., R A C IN G FO R K O I L LUBR I-TECH ~ • BET IE R /JA ND I I N lo/ IlA MI'EN IN G • PROIE CI S l a R K s (SEALS ·PA RTS OIL LOSS , E I <:'1 • WI LL N O I l O A M O R V ARN I SH • MEETS F ,\C I OR Y SPECS. • SAE 5 , 10 , 10,3 0 , 1 0, 50 & AH D I ST RI BUTED B Y Sammy Tanner Distributing 734 No . Avalon Blvd. Wilmington , Calif, 90744 Phone: (2 13) 830-4040 Lu bricat ion Throuqh Technolo qy