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/126022
.• -; ~ t Rogue Community College's class of 1975 attempt to blow up a Yamaha or a dy no wh ich ever comes f irst . MOTORCYCLE ACADEMIA Three years ago a Grants Pass, Oregon teacher by the name of Pat Loughery was tom between his two.loves, teaching and motorcycles. Pat had j ust about decided to give up his job with the school system and go into the motorcycle business when an idea struck him. (7141894 .2623 rI KTM & Rupp Fun Machines Sales Service Parts Accessories n&RCycles 7181 Westminster Ave. Westminster, CA 92683 ~~ Coast Moto Cycle 2334 Newport Blvd., Costa Mesa, CA ~ (714) 645-3008 ~ Mike Patrick's YAMAHA al CORONA 1101 E. 6th Street, Corona, CA _ (714) 735·7721 '@! Why not co mbine the two into a motorcycle school? Pat sold the idea to the Oreg on State Board of Higher Education and promptly went to wo rk setting up the course , developing the curriculum at Rogue Community College on the outskirts of Grants Pass. The Project was no easy one. Other schools in the area mounted opposition to Pat's plan, "The very ide a , greasy old motorcycles in an institution of higher learning? Absurd!" Pat could care less what the other schools thought and pressed right ahead. Today Rogue Community College probably offers the finest motorcycle mechanics course in the country, and the same schools that fought the course are trying to work out some way to teach the academic portions. "Motorcycle Mechanics", is probably not the best title in the world fo r RCC 's course. Motorcycle Business w ould probably be better. The course takes two years to complete and bestows an Associate of Science Degree . Mechanics are taught all right, in depth! Every single phase of maintenance is covered from basic design theory to the idiosyncrasies of particular motorcycles, but that's just part of the deal. The students mus t in addition to the regular required math, English, etc., co urses, take allied classes in Welding, First Aid, Industeial Safety, Technical Writing, Communication Skills and Metallurgy just to name a few . The college's Business Department even rew orked some of its classes in Business Research, Salesmanship and Merchandising to closely reflect modern motorcycle industry practices, and not 1930 Sears Roebuck taught in other schools. The two full time instructors, Larry McLane and Don Gan oung, have made it a point to stay abreast of the very latest practices. A good portion of their th ree month summer vacatio ns are spe nt attending factory service schools or looking over the shoulders of successful dealer and race tuners. "This thing started in one little room." McLane stated. "Today it takes up all of Mackenzie Hall and has about 2,100 sq. ft. of shop area." The college is accepting about 15 new students in the cou rse each year and wishes it could accept more as the waiting list is now getting quite long. "Increasing the number of students with our present facilities and staff would only lower the quality of instruction and we won't do that " , stated instructor Don Ganoung. "We'll still accept all the applications we can get but we're only enrolling the students we feel are the best suited and most sincere about making the motorcycle industry their life", said course founder Pat Loughery, who is now on the college's ad ministrative staff. The school d oes accept a very limited number of students from Grants Pass High School on a special enrollment basis in afternoon classes. These students have to really be so mething s pecia l as only one st udent who is an AMA professional racer was accepted t his ter m . The cost of tuition , books and requ ired basic to ols ru ns each student a lit tl e over $1,000 for the two-year course if he is a resident of Josephine Coun ty and additional $650 if he lives out of the area. Racing plays a major part in the course since most of the students seem to have a definite interest in competition. Second year students have one class devoted entirely to speed tuning and just about any evening you can fmd so me o f the students with one of their racers on the school's dyno or with a die grinder stuck in a port. The Physics and Math departments had to bone up on sonic velocity formulas when the students started design ing their own expansion chambers. Last year, as a class project, the students designed and built the motocross co urse at Sunny Valley Speedway. McLane and Ganoung say they have received tremendous amounts o f help from m ost . '0 major factories . Yamaha ' do na ted engines and test stan ds , Kawasaki fu rnishe d a complete video ta pe library of training films. From Honda came their "Full Cy cle Training Program "; Mikuni su pplied engineering an d tu ning data they had never even m ad e available to factory service departmen ts. Dealers from allover Southern Oregon have donated everything from parts to complete motorcycles. The list goes on and on. What can a student expect when he completes the course? McLane says, "For a start he can probably get a list of about 70 or 80 places to go to work". The servi ce department at American Ho nda has a standing offer to place any studen t successfully completing th e course. "Just tell us how long you want to wear your hair and what part of the co un try you want to work in. We11 find you a shop you'll like." One of the first graduates of the class, J im Zoellner, liked the course so much he has stayed on as a part-time instructor and will probably be hired full ti me next year. P e r so ns interested in more information or enrollment ap pli cati ons write to either Motorcycle can Departme nt or Dean of Ad missions, Rogue Co mmunity College, Grants Pass, Oregon 9 752 6. •