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/126057
. By Jody Weisel LOS ANGELES, CAL. ,jULY 24 It's just like the Texas St ate Fair," said a mechanic as he stood in the arches of the Los Angeles Coliseum and looked down on the largest motorcycle spectacle in American history, bar none. The only thing missing was the 100 foot statue of Big Tcx as vendors haw ked balloons, T-shirts, hats and programs; Hawkers vended tickets and pit passes; A rock and roll band vibrated the m agnificen t bowl, built for the 193 2 O lympics; Chopper pilots cruised the main drag in front of the one million do llar Harley-Davidson show; jammin' j immy Weinert had a m ystic healer in his pi ts with a titanium alloy pyramid to cure his injured knee; Tony D. was holding co urt on eating " friendly ba cteria" while guzzling quarts of milk all day ; CBS Sports Spe ctacular was sticking microphones in front of anyone wh o wanted to talk, and that was everyone; Indy 500 . winner Bobby Unser and Robert 'Baretta' Blake were both doin g their best to be c o n s p i cuo usly inconspicuous; A fiieworks display cratered the sky during a ja m session National Anthem; And in one of the night's fastest performances, a streaker out-ran 20 pursuin g security guards for two action-packed laps of the infield. A show and a half If that wasn 't enough 73,000 spectators piled in to the Coliseum and they put on a sho w in themselves. The fans resembled an enormous Costa Mesa speedway crowd as they vocally demonstrated their feelings, and at one time three different brawls could be seen as well as ' the world 's largest display of paper airplane power. Frisbees were fired from the top of t he s tadium to the bottom, back up again and on and o n. Guys brought their gir ls, and the ushers gave up o n t rying to talk people o ut of bringing their dogs into the stadiu m. At one point a ' p o ten tial rio t developed w hen several ticket cou nters ran out of tickets and several th o usan d people tried to force through th e gates. The fa ns knew t he ir favor ites; Yo ung Danny 'Magoo' Chandler in 500 Support had the crowd waving th eir programs and pointing in amazement as the 130 pound child -wonder ricocheted off walls, missed the track, swapped ends and stood his under-manned KTM400 on its tail, but never ever shut off. Eventually he crashed his brains out but kept coming back for more; japanese rider Yasuo Tofukuji turned the 5/8 m ile track in to a mile long track by taking lines that had him hitting some berms twice. He didn't go as fast as the Americans, but he we nt a lot farther; Pyramid powered j immy Weinert had half the crowd with him and half against him as he and Bad Brad Lackey we nt at it in a mo tocross version o f bumper cars in the first m oto . Who wo n the duel? Steve Stackable, who passed both of the m af ter th ey took each other out. . . (Above) High-flying Jimmy Ellis put his second Superbowl crown in his pocket with a 1-1-2 performance. ' (Below) The night's top three ridei's were Jimmy Ellis (5). Pierre Karsmakers (4). and Tony DiStefano (11 . z a III w ::;: c( -. -' w o -. oll III a: a: :J III " (J :J History Jesson J: Fo rmer Wor ld Motocross Champio ns Rolf Tibb lin an d j e ff Smith stood in a st adi u m th at wasn't buil t until a fte r they were born and watched rid er s wh o were in di apers w hen they were st ars and shoo k t heir head s a lot. For th e first time in AMA motocro ss history pit pass es were so ld so th at the spectators co uld see th e facto ry equipment from behind sn o w fenced aisles. Fo r the first tim e in L.A. Coli seum history th e fan s got to see th e ath letes in th eir skivvies let 's see the Rams match th a t ! - w " i J w III W ~ >c a -. >III Lost in space, III Missin g fro m action w as announcer Larry Huff man who was replaced by the vocals of Bruce Fla nde rs and Steve a. a fa :x: 7