Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

The ladi es have alway s been prominent in AMA participation. The Motor Maids were formed in 1940. Each y ear the Maids select an outstanding girl rider; pictured here is Gay Raymond. • , motorcycl i ng's institutions , Jules Horky, in 1946 . I n 1939, a no t h er Smith-inspired institution th at still lives tod ay go t its start . The Charity New sies or ganizat ion in C olumbu s, O hio, a group of ex- newspaper boys with the in terest of needy Franklin Co un ty , Ohio children at hear t, co nceived th e idea of an air show to raise mo ney to buy clot hing for those children . Noting this gol den opportunity in the hometown of the AMA, Smith immediately joined the Newsies organization and began to push for a char ity moto rcycle race rather th an the o rigin ally planned air show, pointing out that a motorcycle race would draw a better cr owd and thus raise m ore money for char ity . The committee agreed and the 1939 Charity Newsies mo to rcycle race d rew 20,000 people to the Ohi o State Fairgrounds . Now one of the classics o n the Ameican Mo to rcycle Association Grand Na tio nal Ch ampionship schedule, the Ch ari ry Newsies is still a pe t proj ect of th e venerab le E.C . Sm ith. Now in hi s ea rly 80s, E .C. can st ill be seen o n Saturday before th e New sies clad in his "whi tes" and offering sugges tions to t he " yo ungste rs" on th e AMA staff as to proper prep ar ati o n of th e trac k. A West C oast o ffice of the AMA was opened in 19 39 with Chet Billings , e d i to r of MOTORCYC LIST (" Th e Offi cial Publication o f the AMA") serving as part ti me field representative. In 1940 ; Sm it h reported membersh ip of 22,612 with 760 chart ered clubs and I ,300 sanc t io ned even ts . Despite an announced a tt end ance a t A~IA rac es o f 6,000 ,000 pe ople in 19 40 , Smith noted a s lig ht d ecline in d irt tra ck and hillcl imb activity. The club busin ess was b ooming though with field me ets, turkey runs and reliabiliry runs am o ng the favorit es . A co ntinuing emphasis on saf ety prog rams and ac cident record-keeping also b ecame a major the me of the AMA during the early 1940s. Late in 19 4 1, permanen t n umbers were assigned to AMA d irt track riders. Wo od s ie Cas ton gu ay of Sp rin gfield , Massachusetts, wh o teamed with his brot he r Fre n chie to headlin e th e Ind ian a raci ng team of the d ay, was issued Nu mber On e. An attemp te d revival o f speedway racing in Los Angele s during th is period pr ov ed 30 y e a rs prem ature and speedway racing, o nce th e mainstay o f A m e ric a n Motor cycle As sociation co mpe tition , was to lie dormant until an o th er revival in the Lo s Angeles area in t he 1970s. Smith's o verr iding concern with safety bore fruit in 1941 with the ann ouncement of availability of liability and propert y damage in suranc e to AMA member s. Pri or to 1941 , few motor cyclists were able to obtain i ns u r a nc e and a m ove toward co mp ulso ry liab ili ty for motor vehicles had created a in a number of states diff icult situation for many cy clists. The AMA ' s c a refully co mp iled accident st atistics helped pave the way for the availab ility of the sometimes-mandatory insurance for motorcycle riders. The war years led to in evitab le problems for organized motorcy clin g, but Smith took a lesson from the o ld FAM's failure to cop e with similar difficulties during World War I. While th e AMA did not flourish during th e y e a r s ' 19 4 1 - 19 4 6 , it ·managed to mainta in a leve l of interest and enthusiasm that enabled it to reviv e quickly fo llow ing the war . While the A.I\1A h ad 15 yea rs of support to fall back o n in riding the tides of World War II, the fam o us Motor Maids of America had a tougher time . The idea to establish the Motor Maids wa s Linda Dugeau's . Throughout the history of the AMA. member cl ub s had ladies' auxiliaries, so why not form an organization so lely for women? The Mo tor Maids were born in 1940 with 59 member clubs and th e o rganiz a tion's first president, Dot Robinson, kept them growing de spite the w ar. . Even today, the Motor Maids' Parade is one of the highlights o f the annual Charity Newsies rac e and the organi zation is very act ive throughout the United States;• . ... j '0 t b fOl'gort~ despite e- 18 .- - shadow of war hanging over the Un ited States early in 194 1, " Ca nnonball" Ba ker burst back upon the scene at age 60 by registering his fas test LA ·to-New York mo torcycle trip , co vering the distance in six d ay s, six hours and 25 minu te s. F ew b el i e v ed t he el d e r ly " Cannonb all" whe n he clai med he made the trip without breaki ng a singl e speeding reg ulation! In mid -19 42 , the Office of Defense Transportation placed a ban on motor racing. The 1942 running o f Dayton a ha d already been cancelled an d th e AMA qu ickly agreed to coopera te wit h the governmen t ban in sup port of the war e ffort. E .C. Smith meanwhile m ad e freq ue n t checks with the O.D .T . to d e te rmine what sort of m o to rcy cle activity was allowab le in an effor t to main tain as much in terest in th e A.\1A as po ssib le d ur ing th ose di ffi cult y ears . Even the Gypsy Tours were ultimately cancelled , th ough they wer e allow ed to co ntin ue during th e. earl y years o f th e war as long as compe titive even ts we re not included. Ever th e pub lic rel ati ons man , Smith moved to offer th e services of th e Am erican Motorcycl e Associa tion to th e governmen t a s a Civil D e n fense organization. Motorcycl e 'p ub licat ions o f th a t era wer e filled wi th th e patriotic messages of th e d ay an d sto ries and p ic ture s of h o w motorcycles an d ' mo to rcyclists were co n tri b uting to the w ar effort. The most important error th at th e FAM ma de an d w hich Sm it h an d the AMA did no t repeat was in failing to keep in con tact with the membership d uring the war. Smi th init iated an AMA publica tion kn own as A merican Motorcycle Associatio n News, w hich went to every member includ ing th o se serving the armed forces overseas . The fou r-page newsletter was printed on a b i-mon thly basis an d be came a free benefit of m em b e r sh ip. M o r e imp or tan t1y, it served as "w o rd from home" fo r th ose overseas an d as a co mm unicative link w it h the hom e . offi ce. fo r m otorcyclist s wh o had found that local activity h ad dried up due to th e war. An expen sive undertaking, American Motorcycle Asso ciation News proved the salvation o f th e o rgan izatio n which immediately swung back into high gear at the conclusion o f h ostilities in 1946. So effective had the newsletter been that the 'M&AT A and Smith ele cted to move into th e publishing business on a major sca le with the post-war monthly maga zine k nown as AMERICAN MOTO RCYCLING. T he end of World War ' II and of the second decade of Smith's tenure also brought with it another major chap ter in t h e h is tory of the Ame rican Motorcycle Association. Th at previously -m en t i o n e d Pennsylvania Dutchman Jules Horky, with I I years of seasoning as a motorcycle rider, official, cycle polo pl ayer, cycl e shop "greaseball" and emp loyee of the Indian Motorcycle Company, mustered ou t of th e Marine Corps as a motorcycle instructo r on April Fools Day, 1946. Within 24 hours, he was on the road as a district manager for Indian, leaving his wife Millie and oldest son Ray in New England . T he return to the mo torcycle "circuit" brough t with it a return to officiating Al\IA races an d "Hork" was at the Springfield Mile in 1946 w hen E.C. Smith said he wanted to talk on Monday morning. =! The result of that visit was a job offer. ru nning the competition end of the American Motorcycle Asso ciatin . Horky moved his family to Columb us in October 1946, buying the ho me wh ere he and Millie still live. Jules rem emb er s that he took a cut in pay to co me to work with the AMA, but would do it again .because "I lo ved it. What the he ll , my wife was a motorcyclist-she worked with the Ind ian factory as a press ope ra tor duri ng the war when everybody was pa triotic and Indian got this big banner from the government. It started like everything else with me as a hobby . I j um ped at the chance to take my hobby and m ake a career out of it." Horky remembers those early days this way: "Smith was put in there (as AMA sec retary) the same way U udge Kenesa )Mo un tai n Landis was put into

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