Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

As long as it's on the line When I first read Mr . Hazelwood's letter I started to laugh, because I thought he was kid d in g, but I guess he is as seri o us as can be. So let me tell yo u my fee lings abo ut this. .I think it is OK to do so me th in g like this as long as it is on the starting line because almost everybody kn ows you have t o pee more often when you ge t excited, and ra cing su re does get yo u e x ci ted. Also most everybody is somewhat serious about racing and surely would not like to be caught with his " Pants Down " while he watches the banner go up fo ur miles away . All because he didn't want to take a chance on getting arrested by some city born policeman who gets embarrassed over watching a natural act which is done by all human beings (even him). Like so me on e once said "When y o u gatta go , y o u go tta go ", of course, I feel that it would be awful bad to see it done in the sign-up or p its , but give the poor racer on the starting line some slack, HE 's NERVOUS !! JIM NAUMAN 78x Invad ers M.C. The really final drop... I can' t remember when I've enjo ye d anything as much as the co ntroversy over th e d esert racer's blad der. It re m in ds me of one o f Sha kespeare 's titles, "Mu ch Ado A bout Nothing. " In fact, the drama moved me to poetry ; to wit: A d esert racer f elt fr ee To relieve himself with a pee.' He said , " I should sto p, Because there 's a cop Who ~ shaking his handcuff s at m e. " SWEDE CARLSON Harley -Davidson o f Ingl ewood Som e wit, Swed e... Ed. We did too Since I always get Cy cle Ne ws, I keep up with all the latest stuff.c.and about this Hazlew oo d dude, he's crazy. Everyone is writing about how they agree with hi m and h ow they don't like your answer you gave back. Well, I like d your answer, and I'm sure you did too. If this Novice had to go , OK then. If Hazlew ood gets his kicks watching people go to the b athroom why doesn ' t he keep p eace and forget it ? He is ma king so methi ng o u t of nothing. Also about F. Blake who thinks he is co ol by ca ncel inK h is sub scriptio n . Cycle News doesn ' t make th e magazine just for him , they m ake it fo r the m ajorit y. I hop e yo u pri nt m y feelings. editorial department before. A pparently it is a rather tick lish subject t o mo st of our readers. Although w e couldn 't print all th e letters, the on es tha t we did run reflected sentim en ts in proportion to th e amount of mail that we received fa voring each sid e..•Ed. Choices in Baja 1 have just read your article on the Baja 1000 in the February 5,1974 issue of Cycle News. You could have treated the Baja Sports Committee more harshly than you did. Most of your statements were correct. Only two erroneous statements stand out. Six o r eight money winners have been paid. Not one of them came in person nor otherwise con tacted anyone in Baja before being paid. (This .is patity.ing but contrary to presstime•••EtL ) our information at But what has me upset is not what you sai d b ut what you left unsaid. You left the im pression that the Baja Sports Committee is the only group promoting off-road races in Baja. You forgot that the Baja Racing Associa tion, with Raul Sanchez Diaz, son of the former Governor of this State, as President. and yours truly as Execu tive Director, have been promoting races here fo r several years. In 1973, we had 193 entrants in four ra ces and paid the ra cers $19 ,960 in prize money plus $ 2,100 in Baja Ch ampionship Series aw ards at the end o f the y ear. Mo st of th e big names in off-road racing en tered th ese races. At all times we paid the p rize mo ney w ithin 24 ho urs of the races. All o ther bills we re p aid on receipt. Now, you may ask, what is th e co nn ectio n between th e Baja Racing Association an d th e Baja Sports Committee? T o clarify this, let me state a few facts. When Governor Castellanos set up the Committee to promote the Baja 1000 and 500 ra ces , there was n o body i n the state with an y background or experience in such events except Raul and me . We we re char ter mem bers and co-organizers of the International Council, Off-R oad Race Directors. We had several years of ex perience an d knew the terrain suited to off-road racing. So we were hired to do such things as layout the co urse and c hec kpoints, engage personnel for t e chn i c al in sp e c t i on . t im i ng, com m u n ications, and c heckpoin ts, an d, in general, handle th e mechanics of the race. To dat e, all n ews me d ia reports and co m men ts fro m the racer s indicate that we d id our j o b well. For y o ur kin d words, w e ar e very gra teful ME San D iego While Raul and I were not and ar e not inv olved in t he other aspec ts of the rac e , suc h as its finances, we co uld no t help knowing some facts. First of a ll, it was estima ted that 200 e ntries would b e received. Due, probably , to there bein g anoth er race in th e same time period as the " 1000. " only 14 2 w ere received. Tha t sh o rtage of 5 8 racers re sulted in an in come o f 523.200 less than expect ed. The "should ya if ya gotta " debate sparked by Mr. Hazleuiood has triggered a veritab le flood of letters the like of which has never been seen by this T he Committee spent over $8-,0 00 in advertisin g and public relations which represents the n et in come from 4 0 en tri es. There is a defici t of ar ound $ I 7 ,000 fr om th e amoun ts paid fo r th e two airplanes for the trip to La Paz and the guaranteed rooms in La Paz because many ra ce rs and friends did not pa y their bills. So it is not hard to see why the Committee is in financial trouble. Wha t ab o ut the fu ture o f off-road ra cing in Baja California? We, th e Baja Racing Associatio n, are going ahead with p lans fo r fou r races th is y ear. T hey are the Lucerna 25 0 o n May 18 th, th e Baja 300 near Ensenada o n A u gust 24th, an d the 9th an d lOth . Laguna Salada races on October 12 th and December 28th. The futu re o f the Baja 500 and 1000 are less clear. Negotiations are going on in several quarters, anyone of which can assure their continuance, In any event, Governor Castellanos has stated that if the Committee canno t resolve its di ffi cu lti es, the S ta te will cover this in de btedness. He has also stated that if t his becomes necessary. no m or e permits will be issued to anyone for off-road racing in the State. Bu t th e racers will ge t th eir money, in an y case. Now, through th e aweso me p ower o f th e press, y ou an d o th er publica tions have it w ithin your power t o ac co mp lish one of two th ings . You can in sure the future o f o ff-road racing in Baja fo r your readers or you can just as surely deny their ever racing here again. You can fo llow up your good reports of the race in previous issues by stating the facts and assuring the racers that they will be paid. Or you can blast Mexico and Baja in general and the Baja Sports Committee in particular. If you follow the lat ter course, the money due the racers may be paid a little sooner but I can tell you. your readers will have lost Baja. The choice is yours. BILL MARTIN Executive Director Baja Racing Association Our choice, as it always has been is to have the finest off·road racing in the world continue in Baja Califomw.. Our responsibility. as it always has been, is to "port th e fac ts to the best of our knowledge... Ed. America's No.1 Weekly Motorcycle Newspaper O"l ...... Shar on Clayro n ; Publisher Th omas R. Culp ; General Manager Edna Mewt o n : Secr e tary to Publisher Advertising Thomas R. Culp ; Na tional Director \Vcn d y Blanton ; Assista nt T rudi Cu lver: Assista n t Edit orial John D. Ulrich; Associate Editor John Huetter; Feature Editor Lane Campbell; Calendar Editor Dan McCue; Managing Edito r Art & Production Catherine Lampton; Art Director Nancy Gray; Advertising Art Director Hecto r Aguilera; Lab Technician Marion Hatashita; Typographer Melvin Phelps; Assistan t Typographer I Circulation Rheba Smith ; Manager Parn Hobbs; Al sisunt Chery l Steinberg; Amsunt Accou nting Gaye Zaionz; Manager Chris Kolbet; Assistant Twila Wheeler; AWltant Rosemary Chandler; Assisun t Ji m Squirel; Collection Services & Support Mike Colikas ChriS Andrews Day Pauli Bill Run yan J ean nie Dunivan ; Receptionist / West P.O. Box 498 , Long Beach, CA 90801 (2 13) 427-743 3; LA 636-8844. Telex No.6 73-4 74. East-Dixie P.O. Box 8 05 Tucker, Georgia. (404) 934-7850 Central P.O. Box 13245 , Austin, Texas 78711. (512 ) 444·7548. Subscription Poop, , , , . . , , , , , . , . . , , .5 More p o in ted p aragraphs from the paramount precipi ta to r of pulp, Pap a . Dese rt , . , • , . . , .. 7 0-37 1\I00se run, Bullwinkle didn ' t make it . Parker 400 "" . . ,8 Mickey SCOREs agai n . this time with a 359. Trials 10 SCTA and Mission Gorge bogwheeler bonuses Portland • . •. ... , • ••. • •12 Short T rack te rmin us Speed way , , , , ..... , , ..14 Down Un der u p per-cuts Hodaka Test . , . , One year, second class mail. 512.50 2 years, seco nd class mail. 522.5 0 3 yea rs. second class mail. 530.00 Single co py pr ice, 504 6 ~ Pub lished wee kly excep t for th e fast an d las t wee k o f the cal en dar year by Cycle News. In c. Post Off ice Box 498 . Lon g Beach, Califomi~ . Second class postage p.a.i d a t Long Beach . CA . Editorial stories. car to o ns.. photos. etc . a r c welcome . Addressed. stamped envelope assures return of ed itori al matter. Rep rin ti ng in whole o r part on Jy by permission of the pu b lishers. Advertisi ng rates and cir c ula tion infonnat ion will be sen t upon requ est . See S.R.O.s. Copyright Cycle New,. Inc., 1975. All rights reserved. 24 T he " Birt" Squirt Spring Rating . . ... , , , . .31 Huerter on Suspension an imation Results , ... .. , , , . . , , • .32 Turning forward to look back Maico Test " . ... , , .. . .34 Doing a double take. almost. MX Cat . , . . , . " , .. , ...4 2 Every th in g Jawan t ed t o know ab o ut... . COVER: Tes ting th e Maico 400 and 4 50, th e di fferen ce isn't just in the n umbers. Photo b y Ar t Fri edman . 3

• Cover