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/125880
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AND ITS 1000 U.S. DEiLERS featuring
CHAMPIONSHIP
HI-PERFORMANCE
PRODUCTS for YAMAHA
..Smokey.. Joe Leonard, AMA Grand
Nat ional OIampion 1954.
" p sycological im pact in suppressing
speed ing drivers in immense ."
But t h e di re c t or c o ncl ud ed b y
poin tin g o ut that n o ne of that so rt of
thing really concerned the F BI very
much and t he on ly time his departmen t
was like ly to get.. involved w ith
mo to rcycles would b e if one were stolen
an d t ransported across state lines . He
therefore allo wed that it would be a
good idea for all motorcyclists to lo ck
their bikes!
In the area of co mpetition growth was
being measure d in leaps an d b o unds.
Attendance, sanctions , lice nses, and all
th e statistics th a t measure ra cing on
both the p rofessional an d the amateur
level w ere o n t he increase.
The Daytona 200 mo ved to Dayto n a
Internatio nal Speed w ay in 19 61 , setting
the stage for a subseq uent change in
AMA leadership five years later an d
offeri ng the fi rst full $10,000 Exp ert
purse in AMA h ist o ry .
The largest single area of competition
b ein g sanctioned by the AMA by the
year 1960 was scrambles with 1,18 0
scrambles sanctions issued o ut of a total
of 2,9 84 during th e p re vio us year.
Th e 19 6 1 Competition Committee
a p p roved rul es for a n ew fo rm of
competition the n called Mo t o-Cross,
wi th th e note th at "A Moto-Cro ss is a
scr a mb les except in the m ethod of
running an d scoring the even t." No t
exact ly th e olym pic system o f today,
the point sys tem outlined for scoring
" Mo to-Cross" awarded 4 00 p oints to
t he mo t o w inn er d own
through one
point for th e 20th -place fin isher .
The public relations and co m petitio n
programs o f th e AMA j oined hand s
aga in at Loudon in 19 60 wh ere C BS
Sp orts Spectacular sho t 60,000 fee t o f
til m that was subsequently edi te d into a
one- ho ur feature o n the event.
In 19 6 1, the Compe t iti on Com mittee
first raised the question o f affiliation
wit h the Federation In ternat ionale
Motocycliste , in ternational sanctioning
body for motorcycle sport. Kuchl er
reported th at there w as n o American
affiliate to the FIM and the subject
passed with no fir m action taken.
L at e '61 and early ' 62 saw an
i nt e re s t i n g mov e t o create: some
co mp e tition for th e AMA in th e field o f
The famed Billy Huber.
ro ad racing fr om the United St at es
Mo tor c y cle Club (USMC) . Bernard
Kahn , sp o rts editor of the DAYTOJ\oA
BEA CH EVENING NEWS , wrote o f th e
USMC th reat : "The U.S . Mo torcy cle
Club was fou nded last year p urpor tedl y
to challenge the mo n op o ly exercised by
th e American Mo t orcy cle Associat ion in
thi s co un try . It is still tryi ng to get off
th e ground ."
USMC's two big even ts were Grand
Pri x-styl e road races at the newly b uilt
Daytona Sp eed w ay . The organization 's
co -fo u n de rs w e r e Tom Galan of
Montclair , New Jersey, and Bill T uthill
of Daytona, hi mself an old moto rcy clist
and co-foun der wi th Bill France Sr. of
the National Associatio n of Stock Car
Auto Racing (NA SC A R ).
Kah n p ut his stock with the AMA and
L in K uc hler, w h om h e called
"industrio us an d knowledgeable." Kahn
said , "To paraphrase Wins t on Churchill,
Ku ch ler d id no t b ecom e the chief
executive in o rder to p resid e ove r the
liq uidation of the American Motorcycle
Association .':
T he by-play an d th e perso nalities
i nvo l ve d were m os t i nt eresti ng.
particularly in ligh t of th e fac t th at
wi thin five year s Ku ch ler wo uld be
co mpetitio n d irect o r of NA SCA R.
Kahn me asured th e parties invo lved
this way : " In 1961 , when the U SMC
became act ivated, indi rect assistance
fro m Dayt o na Sp eedway via Bill France
p l a y ed a k ey role. By promo tin g
an oth er Grand Pri x a t th e Daytona
Speedway ea rly th is ye ar, France helped
keep USMC a float , alth ou gh it is ta kin g
o n water and listin g.
" Fr an ce is no t officially associated
with USMC , except as p romo ter of th e
Grand Pri x at Day t on a Speed w ay .
"Bill France is performin g a delicate
balancing act b e tw een rivals Ku chler
and Tuthill . No slips p lease."
Shortly thereafter the United States
M o t o r cy cle Clu b fade d from view,
tho ugh the nex t dozen years would see
other sanctioning organizations emerge .
most claiming to offer wh at the AMA
did not.
In 19 6 3 , an other nam e that w ould
re appear i n A merican Mo torcy cle
Association histo ry cr op p ed up in th e
trade publication s. In January of th at
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