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
The Daytona 200 was the realization of a dream of E.C. Smith . Ed Kretz won the inaugural event in 1937 on the sands of the "Worlds Most Famous Beach." M&AT A also ca rried o n the competition fun cti on o f" th e old FAM wi th its emph asis on oval t rack an d b oard t rac k racing and hiIlclimb ing . M&ATA also de voted c o n s i derab le t im e to the developmen t o f what was to becom e an instit utio n in A me rica n mo to rc ycling , th e Gypsy T our. Th e origi n of the Gypsy Tour ph enomen on ca n be tra c ed to Milwaukee , Wiscon sin an d th e year 1913. At t hat time , the MILWA UK EE JOURNAL sponso red a so -called "Good Fellowship" to ur fo r motorcycl ist s. By 19 2 0, sim ilar even ts were being h eld by motorcycle clubs all ac ross the co u ntry w ith the M&ATA designating them G ypsy Tours and se tting a single, . co o rd inat ed week end o n which all were conducted. In 1920, 30,000 riders took part in Gypsy Tours; in 1921 there were 50,000, and as many as 75,000 people were expected to participate in th e Gypsy Tours of june 18 -19, 1922, des cr ibed b y E N T H U S I A ST, th e Harley-Davidson owners' publication, as " loc al runs o r outings in wh ich the motorcyclists of the community, th eir wives, sweethearts and friends tak e part. The tours are o rganized as a rul e by one of th e local dealers , cl ub o fficials or perhaps a rid er. They are so p lanned that the new rid er as well as t he old ca n find pl easu re in taking part in th em ." The Gypsy Tours were also o ne of the major m emb e r ship effort s of t he M&ATA and s u bseq ue n t ly of th e American Mot or cycle Asso ciation wi t h literall y th ousands of member sh ips being sold at th e site of tours t o e n thusi asts who w an ted to j o in in the fun and fell ow ship . Meanwhile , the demise of the FAM , a long with its competition committee an d structure for organized motorcycle racing, created a void. The Motorcycle and Allied Trades Association quickly jumped feet-first into the arena or motorcycle racing. In the spring of 1919. M&ATA competition rules were announced to govern two basic classes of competition, one for stock machines and another for "track speed even ts." Announcement q uic kly followed of two rider classifications, amateur and pr o f e s s ion al . Amat eur ride rs approve events th at were s tage d under rules varying from those of the M&ATA and a lso provided for o ffic ials to guarantee th e en forcement of M& ATA rules. The on ly eve n ts for which M&ATA re ta in ed th e responsibil iti es fo r promotion were the annual Gypsy Tours. In 1919 an n o unc emen t of rules and procedures was backed up with an ann oun c em e nt of a co m pe tition schedule t ha t included an American Tourist T ro ph y R ace at Elgin (II 1) course; a renewal of th e Dodge City , K ansas race m e et ; race meets at Sh eepshead Bay in New Engl and and LaG r an de , O r e gon; a Nati on al End ur an ce Run an d a N ati o n al H i li cl imb , wit h t h e f u rt her re c omm en d at i on th a t a National Economy Con t est should be considered. Further, the l\I&AT A an nounced th e creation o f a Competition Co m m itt ee to "have the authority to act in the name of the M&AT A to make rules and regu la tio ns as may be necessary for proper control of the special events suggested and also for all future motorcycle competition in the United States." It was in the seedbed of the M&ATA Competition Co m m i t tee that the Safety was a major issue du ring the formative years of E.C. Smith with prestigious awards presented to clubs. 8 were d efin ed as those wh o had never c o m pe te d f or a ca s h purse and professi onals as those who had. Am ateur riders were sub-classified as Novices and Experts, depending upon whether or not th ey had ever w on "a prin cipl e aw ard in an y type of mo torcy cle co mpe titio n. " A plan was set up wherein t he first 100 members of th e new regi stered rider di vision o f M&ATA w ould be assigned numbers b y lot. Coin cid entally , A.B . Coffman drew number 100. By mid-summer of 1919, over 1,500 rider registratio ns had been receiv ed, with additional registrations pouring in at the rate of 10 to 20 per day . Thirteen sanctions had been issued in acc o rd ance with new guide lines set o ut in the original competition announ cemen t of the M&ATA. Those guidelines defined the respo n sib ilities of loc al promoters , indicated t h at M&A TA wou ld in n o wa y co ncept o f the Americ an Moto rcycle Association began to take roots. The announcement of th e crea t io n of th at co m m i tt ee in 1919 co n t ain ed the following statement: " T he fu ndamental idea is that the M&ATA must have co n trol of competition. To ac co m p lish thi s there must b e so me system o f rider regi stration . Out of this we b elieve th at ultimately will co me a strong riders' association which need not and should not be a part of t he M&ATA , but which will b e affil iat ed with the M&ATA for the purpose of competi tio n co n tro l. . ." W.H. Parson s, editor of MO TORCYCLE AND BICYCLE ILL USTR ATED, was named first ยท c h a i r m a n of the Compet ition Committee. In the first issue of his publication following his appointment he editorialized "Th is plan of registration is not, strictly speaking , the organization of a rider's association, th ough it is expected that th is will be the foundation upon wh ich eventually will be built a strong and efficient rider organization which will be affilia ted with the M&ATA for competition control. T h e preliminary plan of registration at the nominal fee of 5 0 cen ts is th e affilia tion part o f the program . When a large list of registered motorcy clists has been obtained, it will th en be possible t o p erfect the i n d e p e n de n t ass oci a tion, with the regi stered motorcyclists as the charte re d m embers. But for the present , th e comp e tit io n com m ittee deems it wise to devote all of its en ergies to the m atter of co n t ro lli ng, r e gul atin g an d e ncour aging cle an co m p e ti tion and m ot orcy cle sportsmansh ip. T he less complicated the machin ery is for th is. the m o re chance there is of success." Control , regulate and enco urage they d id. and the nex t five years saw a great The stage was se t for a later chapter in the h istory of organized motorcycling on Labor Day , 1923, when an unknown messenger boy from Kansas City named john Tom Brandson won the M&ATA nat ion al championship motorcycle race a t Kansas City Speedway before a crowd o f more than 20 ,000. At an average speed of just under 100 miles per hour, Brandsen beat th e "Buckey e Comet ," jim Davis, and became an overnight hero. The -re fere e a t th e event was E .C. Smith, wh o was to guide the fortunes of th e American Motorcycle Association for 30 of i ts first 50 years. In late Sep tember, 1923, BICYCLE AND MO TORCYCLE ILLUSTRATED commented, "Every once in a while someone propounds the q uestion to Chairman Coffman of the M&ATA Co mp e titi o n Committee, 'Wh at do I get f or m y fifty cents?' T he chairman should retort, 'What d o you ex pect to co ntrib ute to the M&ATA?' Some riders see m to be under the impression that the M&ATA is a sort of one-sided benefi t associa tion ; that it should confer all sorts of benefits on its members without any c o op eratio n on their part. They ap pear to have the idea that the fifty -cent registratio n fcc, which hardly pays the p ostage on th e mail they receive from the chairman d uring the year, should p ay for almost every th ing from furnishin g legal assistance wh en arrested for sp eeding to payin g fire, theft, accident and life insurance and every th ing in between th at they happen to want. The M&ATA really is a benefit associ a ti on, but it is a mutual benefit, a nd th is mean s the ob ligati ons are m u t u a l. Every mem ber benefits in proportion to the serv ice h e rende rs. duplicating his Los Angeles-to-New York ride, nearly five days quicker. The trip took just six days, 22 h ou rs and 52 Th e registra ti on fee is o nly a small par t of the service, Among th e thi ngs that every registered rider m ay do to help th e M&AT A are to observe the rul es of the road, consider the rights of others, d ress neatly, act like a gentleman and a I ways respond w hen asked in combating adverse legislat ion , or for any other organized activity of the association. The fifty cents is only incidental. It's the personal service that counts. Do your share and you won't have t o ask, 'What do I get fo r my fifty minutes. cen ts?'" increase of organized motorcycle competition on half-mile, mile and two-mile tracks, hillc1imbs and in a multitude of non-speed road and endurance events across the country. In 1922, "Cannonball" Baker made another momentous journey, Wide handlebars, st ock suspension and spring seats were evident on th e early Daytona racers.