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
l i I I Salutes the on its th year 50 We also salute the stars of the AMA who have received continqency prizes from Diamond: Kenny Ro be rts Dick Mann Gen e Rom ero Mer! Lawwill Rex Beauchamp Gar y Ni xon Ga ry Sco tt Hank Scott Don Cast ro M ik e (C. A .) G er a ld Dave Han sen Sc o tt Br etst or rt Terry Dor sch Chuck Joyn er Jim Ric e Darryl HI li 51 Frank Gi llesp nRon Moore Mike Kidd To m Hor ton Ranrly Scotl Motocross S tars Roger DeC ost er Ron & Jim Pom er oy Bobby Harris Adolf Well Willy Bau er Morris Malone I The AMA's involvement with the March of Dimes was one of the most successful publ ic relati ons effo rts ever undertaken. reco rds that there have been motorcycle makers in t he p ast w ho, because of financial weakness ,and in very few cases becau se of a nat ural crook in character, h ave bee n guil ty of sh ady methods. These were not ad mitted to m e m b e r s h i p i n t he make rs' organizatio n, fo r it m ust be rem ember ed that membersh ip in th at b ody im p lies and in fact guaran tees strength, financial responsibility and the square deal ." And on the general state of the sport, MOTORC YCLE IL LUSTRATED said, " It is no exaggeration to declare that the new year finds the motorcycle trade and sport in their healthiest condition, firmly established and hopeful. The rah-rah years have passed and a fund of more or less necessary but always helpful experience has been drawn upon to build t he manufacture and sale of ma chines right upon the rocks of sound business principles. The trade is better organized than ever before, and a more . energetic and intelligent class of agents. wonderfully optimistic, ar e prepared to work hand-mohand with the makes. Then too, th e sport h as rais ed its standards, and public prejudice. a most s erious obstacle to its growth in popularity, has been allayed. The FAM is beginning to do the work for which the organization ca mc into being, wh ile individual riders are eve rywhere learning the value o f m o dera tio n and a decent and sensible regard for the rights of others ." T he wo rk of t he FAM at t hat time incl uded a numb er of ite ms th at ring fam iliar ye t today . Secretary Le Ro y C o ok w a s , i n 1910 , workin g o u t en forcement pract ices to prevent ab uses o f the FA.\ l co m peti tio n ru les and fo nnu lating rider classifications. On the legal fr on t, FAM was working w ith t he Chicago Ci ty council on "a restrictive measure to eli minate the sharp pop-pop of a m otor cycle " an d with the Tacoma ci ty fathers on an ordinance t hat wo uld allow motorcyclist s to ride on th e sidewalk if t hey limited their speed to eig ht miles per ho ur. C o o p e r ati on of t he indus t ry organization and th e sports organization on the p u b li c relations front is evidenced in the suggestion of W.F. Hapgood of th e Hen dee Manufac t uring Company at a 191 1 meetin g of th e Cy cle T rade Intl ustries at A tl antic Cit y, New J er sey. Hap go od urged th at the ma nufact urers req uest their agen ts t o persu ad e custo mers Uto main t ain as nea t a n appea ra nce w h en aw he el as pos sibl e ." With that , the Mo torcycle Manufacture rs' Associat io n m o ved th at it was " th e sense" o f the ir or gan izat io n that " t he FAM take actio n to the end of adopting a standard FAM uniform ." It is n otew or th y that A .B. Co ffm an of Consolidat ed Manufacturing of Toledo, Ohi o, who would later become t he first sec retary of the American Motorcycle Association, was elected presiden t of the Moto rcycle Ma n ufactu rers' Association at that 1911 meeting. O b li v i o u s to the organizational turmoil p ervading the times, E.G. "Cannonball" Baker was beginning to make himself known in an illustrious career of frantic point-to-point journeys both on motorcycles and in automob iles . In 1914, "Cannonball" traversed the United States from-Los Angeles to New York in II d ays, 12 hours and 10 min u t e s . I t was one of the first celebrated motorcycle journeys for Bak er , who would write in the Febru ar y, 1935 edition of MOTORCYCLIST : "Up to n ow 1 h ave crossed this con tinen t 106 times in gasoline-propelled vehicles and estimate I' ve covered three m illion miles on roads and tr acks in the U.S .A. and fo ur o r five other count ries ," B y 19 15 , t he FAM b o asted a memb ership of 8, 24 7, but t he fin an cial d iffi culties th at h ad be gun as ear ly as 1909 were becomi ng mo re pron ounced. Dissa tisfaction with th e wo rk of th e FAM had begun to surface wh en Sh elby Fa lo r of Goodyear Tir e and Rubber Co mp an y in Akron, Ohio , was elected presid en t in 1916 . Fa lo r mad e maj or gains in reo rgan izing the fi nances of t he FAM , b ut by 19 17 mem bership had fallen to 3,378. Organ ized mo to rcycl in g m igh t have suffered a major blow with t he ste ady de teri o ration of t he FAM, had it n ot b een for a November IS, 1916, meeting o f m o t o r c y c le manufacturers and relate d companies , the re sult of which was th e fo nnation of - the Mo t o rcycl e To m Rapp ANlA club involvemen t in civic functions p rovided a good image for motorcycling. Bryar Ho lco mb Marty Tripes Gerrit Wolsink Heikk i Mikkola Ga ry S e m ic s Rich Tho rwaldso n Steve Stac kable Bob GrOSSI Ke n Zahrt John Unt iedt Bi ll Cleme nts \ T Ams t e d H. IN D U ST RIE S 6 Yc:1 -,_IM•.. .,.._