Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• By Jack Mangus e- "Are y ou going to race again?" Gary N ixon wish es he had a nick el for every time he answered that qu estion last win ter. I heard it a do z en tim es dur ing an afternoon spent in N ixon's st ore, Gary Nixon En terprises in Cock eysville, Marylan d, just pr ior to this year 's Daytona 200.. Nix on alwa y s answered that qu estion with "I never qu it. " Nixon ham't h eard that question lately. A second in th e Daytona 200, a f irst or seco nd in th e Vene zuelan 200 (a race still awaiting an /lIM d ecision on the final results), and a string of co nsisten tly strong performan ces in Europe have rightfully placed Nix on back wh ere he belongs - at th e top. What f ollows is a virtual potpourri of item s which all deal with one Gary Lloyd Nix on . Ran d om th ought s about a real racer. • "Yo u k now, I' m really no t much of a sales man ," sa id the sma ll. muscu lar man beh ind the co un ter af t er a cus to me r had j us t exite d Gar y Nixon Enterprises without p urch asin g an y thing. But what wasn 't ob vio us to this man, Gary Nix on . WdS t hat the "custo mer" h ad , just as many do, en tered the newly -opened sto re just to say hello and p erhaps exc hange a few words with the man all agree ra nks high on anyb od y 's t op -ten list of all-ti me great mo torcycle racers. While there has been a Gary Nixo n En terp rises fo r m an y years , it 's o nly in the past six o r seve n years that h is bu siness has bec ome mo re than a means to pad a wallet which many though t was ~ready fattene d to t he burst ing poi nt. "He started this whole thing of selling racers what they had to haveto do business." Neil Keen 34 UGary Nix on was the first mot orcycle racer in modern times to make a living a t his cra ft in the off season ," says th e absolute sage o f those modem t imes, Neil Keen . "I knew Gary wh en he was j ust a kid out of Oklah om a. He moved to Maryland t o be clo se to Triumph and start ed o ut in his own bu sine ss venture by making up so me special t ools which , at the ti me , T riumph in this co u ntry was having made at high priced mach ine sho ps-thi ngs like simp le la the jobs . He th en star te d making front wheel hubs, cas ti ngs rather th an machine jobs, and started putting t ogether entire wh eels. Fron t and rear wh eels. Barnes t ypes. Chuckie Palmgren had starte d rid ing for Nixon -- he 'd j ust gotten out of th e Army -and he wa s doing most o f the ac t ual work gr inding o ut these ite ms . Bu t I 'tt:' jumping ahead a b it. .. Ra y Hen s le y had moved fr om Michigan out to Cal ifornia and he wa s sponsoring a kid on a Honda- and Ray had the id ea to make a swingarm frame. Remember, everything back in th at period of the '60s was all rigid frame as for as track racing was concerned. Well, Ray built one and his racer got the high point Novice thing at Ascot th at year. All this was being done through a company Ray was working for : Sonic Weld . "Well, the next logi cal progression was to put together a frame - for Nixon's 500cc Triumphs, and - th is wa s done through Nixon 's constantly sear ching for something better than wh at Triumph wanted him to race. Triumph was . really into the stock thing. Like their racing bikes should use stock frames and things like that. Anyway, Hensley and Nixon got involved in • • m a k i ng that frame sim p ly beca use Nixon wa nted t o help his racing effort. If my mem ory serves me co rre ct ly , and I beli eve it does, the first time Nixon rod e that lI en sley swingarm frame was at the first Louisville Invitatio nal. Now don ' t get me wr ong, o ther-peo p le had run swingarm fra mes before. Ed Kretz was running th em in ;'4, but beli eve me they really d id n' t wo rk . Like Kretz was all over the trac k with one, but anyone wit h fo resigh t co uld see that they wo uld eve nt ual ly be the th ing . " An yw ay , to make a lo ng story short, peopl e lik e Nix on and my self decided th at swingarm frames mad e ou t of chromoly steel were t he way t o go . lIen sley was ma king th em , but yo u wo uldn't bel ieve how hard it was t o co nvince racers th at th ey were th e way to go . S I 60 . Tha t' s right, S 160 is wha t o ne cos t, but the work involv ed t o sell on e was not hing but h ard wo rk. "Event ual ly, RdY had a fall ing o ut with Sonic Weld and Nixon and I lent him the money t o sta rt Tr a c ~ma ste r . It 's all d ocumented hi st o ry fro m th at point on, " co ncl uded Neil K een. D o cum en ted h i st or y. Noway. Do cumented to those few indiv id ua ls wh o have foll owed trac k raci ng for at le a st a de c ad e, b ut. for m o st m otor cyclists it 's so me thi ng that man y take fo r gra nte d, ye t k now next t o notJ!!n g abo ut. We wo n' t ge t in to a ye ar -by-year, rac e-by-race fe C-d P of Nixon's life ; th at's al ready bee n well d ocum en ted in R AC ER : T HE STORY O F GA RY NIXON by J oe Scalzo . But we will upda te yo u o n Nix o n 's life sin ce the publish ing of Scal zo's b oo k, wh ich was reprinted in pap erback form several ye ar s ago and ca n be found if one looks hard enough. "When it comes down t o dollars and cents, he doesn't need a calculator." Gene Romero One o f, if not the mo st . articula te racers o f all time, Gene Romero , ' had th is to say abo ut Nixon, "When it co mes d own to dollars and cen ts, Nix on doe sn 't need a calculato r. He's o ne of the forerunners o f ma king mot orcy cl e racing a bus ines s and/or a career. li e never surprises me, be cause I respe c t him . We've had o ur falli ng o uts , bu t I think I can say he's my friend . li e 's a ra c er' s ra cer . You know . ther e's prob ably only a dozen o r so guys who can really say they 'r e racer s." Xixo rr's definitely one of th ose. In fac t, he's THE ra cer." " Oeterminat io n . That one word sums up Nixon. " Gary Scott How d id Gary Nixon be come THE racer ? Le t the curr ent Gr and Na tio na l Ch amp ion Gary Sco tt answer that qu estion: " De termina tion. That on e word sums up Nixon." D et ermin ati on. Something every successful person must have. Some have more of it than others and thus so me _ ach ieve more. I t 's o ften said th at certain rac ers have natur al talent, while others had t o learn th eir cra ft step b y step. Nixo n is always pl aced in the latter category . ISDT ac e Carl Crarrke dispels th e n a t ur al-ta len t line o f th ought , .. Eve ry bo dy is saying th at Kenn y Robe rts is the grea tes t mot or cy cl e racer in history . Th ose same pe opl e say th at he p ossesses natural talent. W

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