Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

First TT of the year By M aureen Lee ELSI NORE , CAL., JAN. 5 Only i s en tri es sho wed up to ride the first Distri ct 3 i IT of th e year hosted by the J ackrabb its M.C. bu t th e ones wh o did had a good time. It was an o ccasio n to sport the jazzy new leath ers so me go t for Ch ristm as and to admire plat es with new num bers. The atmos- In the racer's footsteps By Art Jensen, 400 Wha t do you do when a f 0 ur-by-four fence post proves stronger than some of your ribs, your short tracker is rolled up into a mang led little ball , yo ur half-miler is obso lete you are , II down to yo ur last h u nd r~d do aI'S, yo u have only one SIde o f a 8 Carlisle left , th e too tsies have d eserted yo u fo r so me ho t Novice and t he seaso n is almost over anyway ? Retire . . . 1\'0, tried t hat once . Work yo ur tail off a ll wi nter wrenching in a shop ? Did that last ye ar • . .wasn 't m uch fun . Marry a wealth ywo man ? Good id ea . . .but no ne have asked me. Go back t o school ? . .Huh ? . . .Yeah , go back t o school. . .Yo u kn ow . . .like Gary Nixo n did that time, he to ld abo ut it in his book. lie had a bad season , reall y had t he b lu es. . .so he went to school, go t sick of it , w en t r a ci n g again and ende d up Natio nal Number One . (Ima ges o f me p a s s i n g R o b erts, Scott , and Kid d co mi ng out of t he last turn to take the flag p op up in m y he ad .] Schoo l? Yeah, Great ! It 's ano t her step toward fa me, glo ry an d eager you ng pit t ootsies aski ng me for m y autograph while I look down their shirts . Far o ut! Besides, my o id man migh t let me slide o n a co uple of van p aymen ts. So I truck o n ov er to t he local j unio r co llege whe re I went a few years ago wh en I was trying to stay o ut of the Ar m y (i t d id n 't work) an d fill out th e fo rms (all you have t o d o to ge t accep te d is figu re o ut how t o o pe n t he d oo r t o the o ffice) . T he instru ct ion s t ell me to see an ad visor if I was n ' t sure o f m y ed ucatio na l needs. T he ad visor asks me wh at t he hell I wa nt to go to co llege fo r. I te ll him m y story an d he asks aga in, " What t he hell you wa nt to go t o co ll ege for ?" Evidently , he d idn't under stand m y educational needs either. As I st ood in t he hall watching ' the ch ickie s boun ce b y (wo m en 's lib ain 't so .. . bad ) a d vi s i n g my self o ut of the ca t ~loK,:, e , seven teen d u.des ask m e w hat Mai co is. (I get m y sh irts free.] : I to ld sixteen the truth. . .t hey loo ked at me as if I was either some kind of weirdo o r ly ing. I to ld the seven teenth that I didn 't know either , wh ich see med to b e th e right answer. I chose first sem es ter Russi an be cause I had alread y had a ye ar of it , Chinese Life and .Cult ure bec au se . it . so unded e asy, Cme m a App.re Clall on ( n o co m me n t needed) , So ciology because I fig ,:,re~ that all th ose lib~rat e~ littl e c h i ck i e s would be takmg It and America n Literat ure be ca use I ran o ut of o ther things to take . All I need ed to d o was .get m ~ hea.d t oget her and go. T he first th mg l S dre ssin~ co rrectly. I th o ugh t I'd j ~ st dress like t~ e du des th at we.re gomg th ere. '. . un ~I1 I saw the m . .. High heel s an d sat m shi rt s unbutto ne d so that t heir navels showed .. .I'll be dam ned . I sure co uld n ' t see Dick ~.Iann dressing. lik e that. I ended up WIth a new parr o f mo ccasins (t h e six dollar kind) , bl ack so cks (I can ' t wear my boots to co ver up my stained up wh ite o nes because the left heel is cut o ff as p er Ke n Mael y's ins t ru ct ion s), Levis, and regular b utto n -up shirts with th e tails hung o ut (I always worry about m y zip per being d own , th e tails keep me co vered if t h e zip per doesn' t ) . My nex t p ro bl em is th at th e vete ran 's chec ks do n ' t co me fo r three month s. Well. my o id boss w ill let m e hammer stuff to get her part ti me . It s o und s go od until I lo ok at m y fing ernails and resign mysel f to a half ho ur of gouging and scrubbing every night. I t ell m ysel f I'm no t too b ad off. I'm no t a Novice any mo re, I kn ow a lot of fas t gu ys, I gas it up every o nce in a wh ile an d even w he n I dorr' t , I k now how to get sideways and lo o k sty lish . Then I realize t hat co llege to o tsies a re n ' t p i t tootsies. The y a ren ' t impressed with the fact that I kn ow ROK Crump o r ma ke the main a t a er sh ort t rack or the time I beat tw o prett y go od Ex perts in a half-mile heat race , As I pull m y va n in to the parkin g lot I realize I'm swea ting. . .reach for the underar m spray o n the engine box , unbu tto n m y shirt , push th e b utt on and . . .oh hell , in t he fu ture I m ust rem em b er to leave the chai n lub e in th e t o ol bo x.. .greasy lef t armpit. I co ver t he mi st a ke as best I can, grab a bru sh to frizz up my hair so me a nd chew ha lf a pack of Certs. The hall ways are like pract ice line at an o utlaw sh ort t rac k . I feel a little at h o m e unti l pe o ple start looking offended at m y elb owing. I wish I wasn 't so b ow -legged . Almost eve ry dirt tracker see m s t o b e bow-legged b ut I'm the o nly ra cer here . My classes are largely lacking in a p pea ling ladies except fo r Ru ssian where a super -cu te litt le too tsie nam ed Den ise sits beside me . I strike up a st u pid co nversa t io n whil e t ry ing to hide m y o ily arm p it. It 's a lo t easier when yo u have yo ur lea th er s o n , at least sh e wo uld k now your name and numb er , b esid es an o ily arm pit w ouldn't be so hard to hid e und er t he lea thers. As she talks I realize that I may b e yo ung as a per son and mi ddle -aged as a racer b u t I feel ancie nt as a st udent. Still she smiles and lo ok s cu te while I run out of m y non -mo t orcy cle vo cabulary. I wo nder wh at Agosti ni wo uld do . All I ca n thin k of is what Go rdon Duse nberry wo uld tell me to d o and it didn 't really seem ap pro p riate : So th at's ho w schoo l go es for me. Sign -up is ab out lik e re-newi ng yo ur lice nse. They d on ' t have ti me trials . Yo u selec t yo ur ow n heat s w ith ou t kn owing anyo ne in th em . T he sem is arc called mid -terms and t he fin als ar e ca lled final s. T here 's no prize mo ney . unless yo u have a sponser (like your par en ts or the government.) T aking out a neat tootsie is lik e th e t ro p hy d ash a nd if yo u d o n't ma ke the d ash , there's alway s th e co nso la tio n (a not -so -neat too tsie ). So I' ll be at Dayt ona . If you see me , ask • how I made o ut. ph ere was very rela xed, unli ke th e days of yore when h und reds of riders wo uld sh ow up and th e p ace was fra n tic to say the leas t. R efe r e e Di ck Kouns h ad no prob lem s, ex cept to co nso le o ne rider who th o ugh t the o thers we re ju st may be cutting h im off all the time (" He y, th at 's raci ng, kid") ; As usu al with th e J ackrab bi ts, tech inspection was well handled and the races ra n off lik e clockwork . A ne at day! Th e ti dd ler class ·t o o k to the tr ack f as t. Th ese youngsters an d th eir eq uipmen t are a pl easu re t o wa tch. To d d Brown o n a su per so unding Yamaha had it o ut with Honda mou n ted Eddie Ta Foya and J oh n I\lu rph y (Ya m ). In the first rna to Brown and T aFo ya were draggin g it alo ng th e upper straigh t wi th the Yamaha having a speed ed ge o ver Eddie 's Ho nd a , bu t no t by much . In th e second J oh n Murph y (Ya m ) mixed it u p with them and in th e third goi ng in to tu m o ne Ta Foya showed his ab ility by sm o o th ly going under Bro wn an d ta king th e lea d. Th ere werc o nly five in th e class, with Do ug Nico l carr y ing the numb er one 'plate havin g a di ffi cult day of it an d Pat Gillen always being in th e righ t place at the righ t tim e o n every tu m . Each class (excep t the I 75-250cc Novi ces who ran heats an d a main ) we nt seven laps and by 12: 3 0 a ll was o ver. Pent o n rider Larry Hed strom was the 12 5 No vice winner but two Yamahas man ned by Dan ny Perk in s an d Calvin Wan grtid were always aro und . It's o bvious fro m the way entry . forms are filled out th at so me riders have a h ec k of a t im e just writing, but th er e is a de fin it e social structure with Yamah a riders. H y o u are lu cky eno ugh '"

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