Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Item. A 1961 photo of determined looking men in plain black leathers with jerseys bearing brand name and riding number; side by side, elbow to elbow boring around the tum. On the outside is AI Gunter (BSA), on the ' inside • • .... 30 the great Joe Leonard (H-D) and the sandwich in the middle is a young Gary Nixon on a Matchless. That shot brought back the memories .... Ascot Park. There's not a big name in dirt track circles, be it four-wheeled or two, who hasn't been there. To the motorcycle racing fraternity it's a legendary place. Some of the Eastern riders don't like it one bit, especially those weaned on the horse-tracks of the Midwest. More than one top nationally rated hotshoe, Grand " . National Champion included, has arrived.at Ascot to put everyone away only to have one of the local riders roll him up. 1962 was a great case in point. These were the days of the infamous Ascot "BSA Wrecking Crew" and Carroll Reswebcr was Number One. It was the eight mile National and excitement was really high. Bart Markel was challenging Reswebcr's do min ation , but in those days Markel fell off a lot. When he didn't fall, he wa s bru tally fast. His track conduct had earned him the title "Bad Bart" and it wasn't an endearing term. There they were that nigh t , Carroll Resweber, a handsome quiet Texan with exacting technique and Bart Markel who had you babbling to yourself as he would "diamond" those Ascot turns. No one has done that since. "Well" sages in the stands said. "Our guys arc good but they can't beat those big boys! That 01' Bart! Didya see that line of his? Ain't that crazy? Tonight he's goin' to get 01' Resweber." "Nah, Reswebcr's go~' to get 01' Bart." When the checkered flag fell 01' AI Gunter had got both 01' Rcsweber and 01' Bart and in second was another Wrecking Crew member, Jack O'Brien. Third was Rcswebcr and fourth Dick Mann. Markel, who set two track records that night, fell and in a huff left his Harley where it lay. To be fair, Reswebcr was still suffering the effects of an earlier crash. But the legend of Ascot grew that night. Then there was the 1968 National people still talk about. Gary Nixon had become 'Grand National Champion the year before over George Roeder, and Harley-Davidson wanted to show up Nix on bad. Rumors said Harley was pouring $500,000 into their bikes compared to t he English firms' $30,000, Harley had a remarkable team . and they savaged at Nixon all season. A rider of multi-talents, Gary managed to fmish up there in a 10t of races whereas the Harley riders split wins and high places amonl{St themselves (and thus the points). Coming into Ascot there was still a chance for Nixon to keep that number one plate. The late Fred N"lX was just ahead of . hi m in points, 605 to 596, and the two of them had a blood feud going. Still, it looked like Nix would be the next Grand National Champion. The Harleys had been so much faster all year and Nix figured he'd be able to out-horsepower Gary as he had all year. He didn't. The pair of them were behind the front runners and on lllp seven the moment of truth came. Side by side they roared .down the straight into the tum and Gary left it on. Incredibly, Nix could not or would not stay with him. Mert Lawwill won that night but Nixon's fourth earned him that number one plate another _year . Nix came in seventh and was to die in a car crash a few weeks later. Those were the glory days. The half mile reigned supreme and ran from spring through fall. What a comparison to the wretched six week season the riders had this .year . So much seems to have gone from the .Asco t scene and we wondered why. We were all up in the press box one night rapping about racing. The idea for this article came from things said there and from conversations I'd had with riders. We'll start with them first. The riders laments One of the Experts summed up a lot of things this way. "God, it's changed. Like, when I became a Novice and I guess even after I'd made Expert there was always some kind of thrill when I got to the track. We'd get there and unload and the track would be all prepared and ready for business. Really got you wired just looking at it. Now for Christ's sake they're working on it ' right up to race time. They haven't been maintaining it like it used to be a few years back. Each season they'd dredge the whole thing up and re-clay it or whatever they do with it. I know they can't do anything about this but ever since they started running cars and bikes every which way on it there are sections where there are ripples going crossways across l;he tra~~ and it's like being on a pogo stick ... Purse money brought plenty of comments. "The AMA should ' do something about those purses. One guy this year won everything in sight one night and his pay-off was so small he damn near told 'em to stuff it. It was around $150 something. There should always be show money. Any good Expert is worth something man, even if it 's only a couple of tariks of gas. They wanted us to go on television one' time, bring our bikes out to the track to advertise an up-coming race bu t they didn't want to pay us for it . I guess some Novices did it for free." . "And those Juniors, man! They aren't professional. Offer them a can of beans for a purse and they'd ride for it. They don 't have much pride and they don't realize how much that's going to hurt 'em when they tum Expert. A lot of them are just hot young kids and they don't know where it's at. A couple of them have a dad able to pay all their bills and they've never had to scratch ' for anything." This seemed to be a good time to get into the question of the ruling allowing 16 years . olds to become professional racers. To a man they all said riders should be 18. Another expert: "A sixteen year old has the physical ability to go fast, but not always the mental maturity . They can't handle it. Like one crashes and t he others p ile up. Professional motorcycle racing is not for young kids •. There's plenty of racing fo r them to do and gain experience in without turning pro." . And " . . . some of their dads, man. I mean my dad has always helped me every way he can but like if I said I've had enough tomorrow he'd say OK. Some of those guys just push their kids. Make the!" feel it's a family disgrace if they spend more than one year as a Novice or Junior." It almost seemed funny listening to these young men not so far off in age from the sixteen year olds but with a lot of wisdom and experience packed into those few short years. "Kids have hurt racing, I think. When my dad was a kid you had to be full grown to handle bikes they had back then. Now they can start real young. By the time they tum pro they've been racing too long and can't take it seriously." We talked too Of another problem that has to be faced. Drugs. Some of the big names may blow a little pot themselves at appropriate times, but we _talked about youngsters who showed tremendous promise and talent, got into pills or booze, (usually pills) and just destroyed themselves. "Hell, I don't know ... I mean, they're neat guys but maybe they weren't old enough . . . just not mature enough. If they had really been serious about being a professional racer they never would have gotten into the bag they did. A lot of these kids have really had it easy. You know what riders like Gary (Nixon) and Sammy (Tanner) went through to get where they did?" As you can tell" the riders are frustrated and that short season of six weeks really brought out the resentments. "How the hell can ·y o u transfer in six lousy weeks?" Another .. . "Man, that pilot program saved my ass. Without being able to ride that I never would have transfered. ' And one last shot ; this time from a mechanic. "Ascot? It's gone downhill. There 's no feeling .o f tradition there anymore. The pits look like a hippie convention sometimes. No one wears whites, or not many. And all those women in the pitsl You're n ot going to te ll m e they are all mech an ics even if they have the -license. No ·w ay l And they don't belong there unless they have a real reason. t, So, that night in the press box the people connected with Ascot thought it would make a good article. "It'd be good to get some of this out in the open. The riders, I think, don't have any idea of what running Ascot and promoting races is like. But while you're at it, you might ask how come it costs Ascot more money for AMA officials, even for that little pilot program than it does for a National NASCAR "Stock car race. That brought my eyebrows up, and it was obviously time to talk to the Ascot people and to the AMA. tI • The Pro moters' dilemma Track conditions came up first. Ascot still has the m ainten an ce crew they have had for nearly twenty years but the exceptionally bad weather in 1975 hurt everyone. The crews couldn't do th eir work off and on all week as they n ormally do and more events were completely rained o ut than before. But the week we talked ninety tons o f clay an d 100 tons of decomposed granite had been worke d into each tum. We spoke of the enormous expense of operat ing a racing plant like Ascot. There's no other place quite like' it. Even its location makes it ' a fea ture, tucked in between three freeways. Because of that location the taxes on it are astronomical. Due to the fact that the Ascot corporation leases the land, they are responsible for those taxes, not the land owner. Who ever thought an old dumpfill would ever be worth so much! I asked for an estimate as to what it costs to put on a race and Ben Foote came up with a figure of $ 1500 "just to open up. A lot of racers never think of just how many things have to be paid for before they even get in the pits." Now the question. Did AMA officials cost more than any others? That had boded to be a touchy subject and yes, it was true. It took a bit of prodding but Ben fmally allowed that AMA were just abou t one third more than other associations. We asked them about the purses and the short season. "Back in '73 we tried a guaranteed purse of $2000 to see if that money every week would keep more riders around when the National circuit started. We did have a few more but no t enough to make any difference. Finally riders dropped off and the attendance as well. But we tried and the riders can't .say we didn't . .. If the AMA show can fill those 10,000 seats, Ascot is ready to pay for it," Somehow we were getting a hunch that motorcycle racing. wasn't as much of a crowd pleaser as it used to be. But no one wanted to come right out and say , it. As to improving things in general for bike racers, Ben thought it wouldn't hurt the manufacturers to help out more. "When a rider is here from out-of-state or way up north they should get him a bike to ride while he's here . Put him on one. We've had name riders out here with no ride. The only one who really helped their riders was Norton. They were the best." Itwas apparent they thought the AMA could help more too , towards making bike racing more exciting. "We had a big exhibit in the mall , some time ago and NASCAR paid all the bills to transport one of the big stocks in and it was an attention getter too. The bike we really. had to hunt around for and the AMA could have helped there, promoting their organization and its racing equipment. We've had a lot of support from local people like Hockie's (a shop in Torrance) but then again that 's an individual effort," The subject of show money wa s obviously a sore point. Ascot is not against paying out show money, to riders who are worth it. "We arealways fair with the top guys. We can't see paying for every rider who thinks he's worth it. Some of them never win at Ascot even if they do have a national number. Some of them' are difficult to deal with. Just try to build some advertising around some of them who keep saying they'll be there and then

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