Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

I SIDE • U2 th em , an d main tain th eir own bikes and expenses. Bu t no matter how great th eir victo ries, th ey are st ill labeled a "powder puff" which is abo u t as ridi culous as co m pa ring Roger DeCoster t o Bett y Cro cker . This of course does not ap p ly to all female racers, as there are man y true "powder p u ff " riders who feel t he need to over-emphasize the fact that they are ladies by running beauty con tests among each other at lo cal races. Th at's fine. but for the d edicated an d serious female rac er . being cal led " powder puff" is really a put do wn. Not to men t ion unfair and just plain ridiculous. We go to the races to race - no t to co m pete for Miss America. People who hav e seen us co m pe t e kno w that we are no pussy cats. We do n't projec t a ph on y pin k image. We don't carry mirrors on o ur bikes and we are not co nce rned with o ur good looks d uring a race. Wha t we are concerned with at a race is ourselves , our bi kes , o ur fello w racers and w inning. We are also co nce rned with o ur pse udo class ifica t ion. We are pro fessional women racers, so don 't call us po wder p uff anymore. 51 r.:lI r.:lI ..:::I g =- g ~ r- O"l c;<') s-. Q) ..c E t:J U t:J Q YZ 80 .. . . . . . . . . .. . • . . .6 Po wer to the Little People! Gobble 8 Turkey Shoot Enduro 9 Grooves There will alw ays be an Engl and 10 Tech Thumper lives at L.B . Hi Performance Preview 12 What's past is prologue . 13, 14 , 19 Races C!\IC, ORA. A!\IA an ' all that Scrabble 16 Desert Anybody lose a co yo te? 20 Trans-AMA Roger raps it up North Results Cat ~ 22 26 27 TI,e model that got away How-to 30 Bailey philosoph y, Part 8. FRONT PAGE: A checkerboard of speed portraits by Andy Hayt plus one of 0-37 !\IX King Mike Hannon by his lady. Rawhide booster Psuedo-racers, hu mbug! I am very d isappointed about Raw hide Park 's money co nd itio n . To me th at park is one of the best mo to rcycle playgrounds aro und, wi th two m ini-b ike co urses, plenty of open trails, and free overnigh t camping. Their race track is the best in Southern Califo rn ia , well prepared on Saturday and always kept wet on Sunday. Best of all it is a European co py . This p ar k cannot continue to st ay open with this lack of support fro m the riders. I am surprised th at a lot o f the racers go to small, flat trac ks they call motocross. If this situation co ntin ues to exist, Rawhide will p robably fo ld and with it the best prepared track ever . I agree 100 % with j ean Goodsp rin gs. This glo ri ficat io n of the o u tlaw cafe racer appears in every colu mn an d test Campbell writes. Th e Po op co lu m n reeks of such idiocy. Gravity racing, turni ng t he ton, streaking the rotary the " it's against the law and so m uch fun" men t ality eviden t in th e wo r ks of Campbell invites and encourages the "hero racer" image. All the po or so uls with the center stands still on "cafe" machines wh ich loo k like racers, have more horsepower than stockers. and handle like pigs. fanned not just by "moto mo nthlies" (most of which are better staffed in terms of experience, relevance, and technical bac kground than you'll ever be). but also by Lane Campbell, the most rabid psuedo-racer of them all, make up the statistics that bring the cops running. Every time someone in government tr ies to save a few fools from killing themselves and innocent bystanders, you turkeys write out in rage instead of trying to do something about policing your own problem. You print nothing but go-fast garbage, Tuna Canyon invites, Muholland referen ces in Suzuki, Honda, and BMW tests alike, eat , breathe. and live "sport, " th en blame someone else when the seeds you 've sown bring forth racked up lunat ics who never learned to comer but h ave a healthy grip o n the th ro tt le. Yo ur qu alifica t io ns ? Beats me . I ne ver saw Chu ck Clay ton, or Lane Campbell at a road race do ing anythi ng but sitti ng in the press booth eight sto ries above the action or flaunting a broken arm (no doubt earned practicing the foolishness you preach) . You're not a racer, Campbell. Once yo u get that through yo ur head, we'll all be th e better for it . VERY SAD RACER L.F.T.,jR. Arcadi a , Calif. Rawh ide bum mer Sharon Clayton, Publisher Edna Mewton. Secretary to Publisher. Adver ti sing Linda Clark . Advertising Manager. Gil Brown . Nati onal Advertising Manager : Chris Ko lber, Advertising Assistant, Edi torial DIaries Clay ton, Edi tor ; Lane Campbell. Assist ant Editor, Bobi Scott. Secretary and Calendar. Art 8< Prod uction Catherine Lampton, Art Director; Nancy Gray . Advertising Art Dire ctor; Hector Aguilera. Lab Te chn ician ; Marion Hatash i ta , Typographer. Circulati on Rheba Smith. Manager; Pam Hobbs and Otris Andrews, Assistants. Accounti ng Gaylene Zaionz, ~fanager : Twila Wheeler, Judy F O U lS . Lane Sienk & Mike Klin ger. Assistants; Gary Ginn , Credi t Man ager. Sentice . 8< S uppo rt Mikt: Coli k.as; Randy Davis ; Bill Runyan : Jt:annie Dunnivan, Re ceptionist . West P.O. Box 49 8. Long Beach. CA 9080 I. (2 13) 4 2 7·7433; L.A. Line 636-8844 . Ea. t P.O . Box B05. Tucker, GA 30084. (4 04) 934-7850. Central P.O. Box 13245, Austin, TX 78 7 1 1. (512) 444-7548. Subsc rip t ion One year, second class mail 512.50; 2 years. secon d class mail. 5 22.50 ; 3 years. seco nd class m ail , 530.00; Single copy price, 50 cents. Cy cl~ N ~WI, In c. 1974. Trade mar k r~l{i lt~red U.S. Paten t Of fice . All ril{htl re served . Published weekly ex cept tht' firs t and lut wee k o f the ca lend ar year by Cycle NC'W I , Inc. , P.O . Box 4 9 8. Lonl{ Beach. Ca liforn ia. Seco nd dass pOlt~e p .id at Lonl{ Beach, C A. Editoria l I to rin , cart oo ns, ph o tos, e tc. arC' welco me . Addrcllni, I tam pt:' e nvelope ....ur n rt'l um of d unpurch ascd C'd itori;,al m atter, Reprinti n ll: in whole or parI o n ly by perm ission o f the pu bli.JhC'Tl. Adwrtilina; rat es and circulation infonnatio n will be sent u pon req ues t, See S.R .O.S. Copyright 4 I want to apologize if this letter sounds a little on the bitch y side. Here's the st ory : Oct ober 27, 1974. It's my brother 's 15th birthday, his first set of leathers, and his first race. After finally winning th e perennial father's permission , he star t ed his first ra ce at Rawhid e Park. This was not a club even t, so it was sponso red' by the park itsel f. In t he second 250 Beginner moto an ov ereager rider went wide in a turn tr yin g to pass an d ended up using my brother 's leg for a berm. Both bik es were o n top of each other. pinning my br other on the bottom, screaming with an an kle broken in th ree pl aces. The culprit then proceeded to pull his bike off and continue the ra ce , leaving my broth er pinned beneath his bike . Now, my gripe isn't ag ainst the accident , or even against the vermin who lef t an injured rider screami ng in pain . :'ly gripe is aga inst th e p eople who put o n the race fo r what happened next . I was about 150 yards ac ross the track, yet I was th e fir st person on the sce ne to help . By this time m y brother ha d unpinned himself and push ed th e bike off the trac k to keep fro m being hit by other racers, complica ting his injury to wh ere it required orthopedic surgery to repair the damage. I found only three flagmen on the whole course which co nsists of 13 turns, 10 of which are majo r enough to req ui re flagmen . In other words, if you wiped out it's u p to you to get off the course, regardless of injury. I reali ze that rno to-x is a relatively new sport and o rga nizatio n takes time and mo ney. Bu t when a rnoto -x p ar k charges $8 a h ea d to race ($3 to ge t in an d $5 to enter th e race) and $2 a head fo r spectators , there: is m o re th an en o ugh bread involved to afford a few more flagm en aro und th e co urse to achieve some sem blance of safety. I have n othi ng against Raw hid e Park or th e peop le who run it, but I wish th ey would become a little less profit motivated and a little more sa fety oriented in the fut ure. BRUCE JOS EPH Costa Mesa , Cali f. JOHN THOMAS THOMA La lIabra, Calif. Hold on. sport. You remind m e of th e guy wh o resp onded t o the Rorschach test t hree out of three t imes th at th e inkblot reminded him of sex. When told he had a sex fix ation. he scream ed, "What ? You 're th e on e showing m e all those dirt y p ictures!" Sp elling out the strengths and limitations of production machinery at sp eed is a far cry from ballyhooing, in full color, the most ex pe nsive and ill-advised equipment money can buy. On more thing. You don't "flaunt" a broken arm - you live with it as b est you can - someth ing I h op e y ou never screw up badl y enough to find o ut . Having don e so myself, I'd still rat her pay for my own mistakes than live un de r a suffocating pro tectio nist u mbrella . . . L.C. Don't call us Powder Puff anymore It m ight have started ou t as a " po wd er ·p uff " class, but since the ea rly days, m an y of th e ladies who pioneered the sport ar e st ill at it to day , and are cer ta inly no "powder puffs." In several cases they compete with men and beat NANCY T HOMAS Ap plega te , Ore . O K, Nancy - uhho w Pourder-person l . . . Edit or. about Sidehack MXers .... . As host to a Moto-AMA Sid ecar Mo tocross race, we wan t to exp ress o ur grati tude to th e West Co ast an d Arizona side hack racers that participated in our race of October 6 , 19 74 . Unfo rtu nately, there was some m ix-up co nc erning th e prize m o ney expecte d and the race did no t pull the spectators expected. We still want to say thank you fo r helping us bring Sidehack MX racing to the Eastern part of the U.S. :'lUNCH Ohio International Racew ay Ravenna, Ohio Which fram e? Co u ld you please tell m e wh ich frame would be the best h andl in g frame to have for a 100 Yamah a fo r scrambling and T .T. ? How about the Ric km an frame? JIM HI SER 68W Merced, Calif. The Rick m an fra me wo uld be an im prov ement over th e stock Yam aha MX fram e. B et ter shock s and a f ork kit would improve th e Yamah a 's handl ing . . . Edito r. High school MX We in Northern California are blessed with lots of o pen space, small sch ools and a desire to kee p o ur High Sch oo l Moto cross "pure." I am attempting to set up a High School Motocross Conference . very similar to no rmal high school football leagues. Very briefly , it would be th e respo nsibility of each "Conference School" to host a ho me MX event. At the end of the schedule. we would have our League Ch ampio n , All-League MXers, etc. Our football/basketball teams regu lar ly travel over 100 miles to games . With the backing of o ur administration an d school board. th e MX team can t ra vel as far as our mo ney will take us (we pr efer to keep it within a 15 0 m ile radi us) . If any school (wit hi n our area. of co urse) needs help in getting organized an d/or is interested in th e " Co nferenc e" idea, we wo uld like to kn o w it . DOC BLEVINS Lassen High Sch o ol MX Coach Las sen High School 1 1 10 Main Str eet -Su sanville, Calif. (9 16) 25 7-2 141 R igh t on, Do c. To get a "ho w to do it" checklist for sta rting HSMX at your school, se nd Doc a self-addressed stamped envelo pe (SA S E) at the above address. Sounds like a good alternative to "p romoter" IlSMX , If ther e are enough co nc erne d sc h ool administrators and co aches lik e Doc around . . . Ed it or.

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