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
You too can share in the next 50 years growth oftheAMA. Four champions: Joe Leonard. Roger Reiman. Carroll Resweber and Dick Mann. to new headquarters , located at 5 03 0 North High Street in Co lumbus. Ku chler noted that the addition al space ava ilable mad e possible the p lanned expansion into add ressograph eq uipment to hand le the maili ng load . Seventeen AMA employees made the move t o the new quarters. K uch ler's f orw ard-lo oking public re l ations progra m began to pay im med ia te divi dends and it is apparent in reviewing th e early ' 60 s tha t, w hile Kuchler's first love may well have been racing , he certain ly to ok a lesson from E.C. Smith in continuing a program of public relations and service to the clubs. Examples of the efforts made and r e s ul ts attained during that period in cluded the Highway Sa maritans Program wherein m em bers and clubs were urged to n o ti fy the A."vlA of incidences of m o torcycl ists being of service to mo t o rists on the h ighway. News release service to ne ws papers and other news outlets was inaugura te d d uri ng this p er i od . SPO RTS I L L US TR AT ED took an objective, favo rable lo o k at Laco nia . th e TODA Y sh ow o n NBC-TV interview ed Ro ger Reiman and then Don Burnett wi thin ho ur s o f th eir vict ories in th e 19 60 and 1 9 6 I D aytona 20 0 s ; executive secr etary K u c h i e r ap pe are d in a six -minute interview with w ell-known new s co mmen tato r Bob Con sidine on th e sy nd icated television program .. Fo r Yo ur In formation ," wh ich was aired on an estim ated 40 0 st ation s during the sum me r of 1964. Later in Kuchler 's tenure, an American Mot orcycle Ass oci at ion-pro d uc ed motorcycle safety film en ti tled "Two-wheeled Wisdom" met w ith widespread acceptance. The public relation s program defined in 1960 gained a p opular slogan in 1961. " Pu t Your Best Whee l Forward" becam e the watchword of AMA clubs as th ey carried o ut, at th e urgin g o f th e home o ffice , public rel ati ons efforts of th eir own at the local level. The im po rtance o f th is local p ublic re la t ion s c a m p aign was noted b y Ku chl er in resp o nse to a seco nd m ajo r S PORT S ILL UST R AT E D article in 196 1. The coverage was of th e Big Bear Run an d honestly reported d o zen s of Join and support YOUR American Motorcycle Association! r------- American Motorcycle Association P.O. Box 14 1, Westerville, Ohio 43081 I - --, I I want to jo in the AM A. share in the fun and be eligible for all me"mbership benef its. I agree to co mp ly w ith ANA rules for sanctioned mot orcy cle activities. I understand that my ins urance be ne f its accrue upon rece ipt of my AMA card and that S 1.00 of my competito r or enthusiast dues is fo r my monthl y AMA Re po rt. I I I o $ 8.00 o $10. 00 I I o S 6.00 - I I I I 22L Compe ting _ mbership (For all motorcyclists interested in am... teur or sem i. Me professional compet ition) 16) n01 interested in I I I Name Stre et ._ _ St ate c;,y - -- -- - 0 This is a new membership AMA Number - -- I I Enthusiast Membership (For road and street ride r!. and the casual trail ride r) A ssocia te Membership (For w ives and ch ltdren (under amateur or se mi-p rcfesstcnel competi tion) I - - - - _ o - - - - -- - - Zip - - - - - This is a renewa l - - - - -- Mail this appli cafion wi th your remitta nce. - (renew als only) I I I J riders jumpin g th e start b y as much as ten minutes, de stroying trail markers. creat in g havo c and end angerin g the lives of o th er riders, officials an d spectators. Th e n at ional magazine blasted participants as "punks and hoodlu ms in bl ack denim d iapers." / Kuchler noted the sad truth, that the SPORTS ILLUSTRATED story was accurate and that motorcyclists could only react by re-do ub ling their efforts to clean up the sport from within . "Get the c owb oy s out" was the way the AMA executive secretary described it, and with that came a wave of newspaper and magazine a rt ic le rep rints in AMER ICAN MOTORCY CLING depicting th e 99 perce nt of motorcyclists who were clean-cut enthusiasts or which applauded MIA cl ubs for particularly me ritorious service-type activities . On e of the mo st interesting "coups" in t he p ublic relations o ro zr am was th e successful attempt to ge t FBI Direct or J. Edgar H oo ver to com ment o n th e subj ect of motorcycles. Criti cism o f Hoover had not ye t b ecome the po p ular p astim e that it would be in lat er years and for a m an of su ch st ature as the director of the F BI t o devote a page o f his th o ugh ts to any p articular sp eci al in te rest gr oup was co nsidered significant ind eed . T h e leadersh ip o f the ·AM A w as obviously proud o f th e accomplishment too as a qu ote from the Hoover article graced various AMA publications for several yars thereafter. That quote read, "Simple c ourtesy is the key to .ac ceptance, and motorcycle clubs as well as individual owners, by adhering to a rigid co de of co urt eo us conduct, can d o much to add to the safety of th e highway ." That quo t e, how ever, is the pearl from the Hoover letter. The rem ainder of the c o py go es o n t o p oint o ut th at m o tor c y cl es i n l aw enf orcemen t app licati o ns are limited basically t o tr affic con trol, h andling of "unusual cro wd situations ," parades and funeral processio ns, th ou gh Hoover n otes that mo t orcy cles may also b e of great valu e in th e co urse o f d isasters suc h as fires. w h e n c o m m u n ica ti o n s m ay b e d is t ru pt ed an d th at a mo t o rcy cle 's Chet Dykgraaf and Ed Kretz were tough competitors. A you.thful Dick Mann.