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/126321
r; Oxley 's OK! III • ~ t WIST America's No. 1 W eekly M otorcy cl e Newspaper Sharon Clayton. Publisher Caro line Gmdry. Secreta ry to the Pu blisher Bob i Sco tt , Exec utive Assistant Advertising Ji m Ryan . Sa les Manager. l ar ry Liul e , Sa l" M an age r . M a qi~ ol Bergma n . Sa les Mana ger . Chris Kol be -r . Assisran r. Editorial C ha ri" MOTt"y. Ma naging Ed itor . Da le Brow n . Edi to r . Br ia n George. Assistant Edit or . Graph ics and Production Jan Gill. Da y Paul i, Product ion . Marion Hatash ita . Pa t Ph illips. T ypography. Dennis G ree ne. La bora tory . A ccounting ~ i lc. r Kling('T. ~1a n a K (' r. j ea nne Hammond . ACCh . Receivable . X at alie ~taK("(' . A!»t. ACCb . Re-ce-i vab le . Hollv H ale , Col lection and Credit . Circulation Rh e b a Sm ith , Manager. Patricia Pasquale . Sh erry Kau fm an . Sand ye:' McK ay. C h risty Bel l, Assistanu. Services and Support Pat Cardenas. Reception ist. Ginny Harper. Wan' Ads . 5' eve McK ay . 5&5 . West 220 1 C herry Ave.. Long Beach. CA P.O . Box 498 . Lo ng Bea ch . C A 90801 (2 1$)427· 74$$ : L. A. Lin. 6$6 ·8844 . East 4 190 First Ave . . Tu cker . GA , P.O. Box 805 . Tucker. GA $0084. (404)9$4· 785 0 . Subscription Om' yea r , seco nd c lass ma il, S15 : two vea rs. second cla!l..... mai l. S27 : th ree vca rs, ~C"'Con d c lass m a il. 537 .50 . . Cc pyrigb r" Cycle News. In c. 1978 . T radema rk Cycle News registe red U.S. Pa ten t Offi ce . All righ ts rese rved . Publish ed weekl y rxc("pt the First a nd la st week of the calenda r year by Cycle News. In c . . P.O . Box 498 . Lon g Beach , Ca lifor ni a , Seco nd class pos tage p ai d ar Lon g Bea ch . C A 9080 1. Cycle News welcomes u nso licited editorial material incl ud ing stories . ca rtoons, pho tos . ere. Suc h m at er ia l. if pu blis hed , becom es IhC' exclusive copy rig ht p roprn y of Cycle Nf"Ws. Suc h accep ted mat er ia l is su bject 10 revisio n as is n~t'SSa ry in the sole discretio n of Cvcle NC"ws. Unsoli cited mat erial "'h lch ' is not used will be re t urned if accompanied by a self ad d ressed sta mped e nve lope. All un solicited m at erial will be handled with rea son able care. however . Cycle News assumes no res pon aibi liry for th e safrly. l()~s or da mage 10 suc h malt-ria l. Re p rim in g in whole o r pa ri on ly by pe rrnissia n o f rhe pu bl ishers. Advert ising ra in a nd circu lat ion in form ation will be sent upon rC'qun (. S("'(' S.R .D .S. POSTMASTER: Send f or m 3579 to Cy cle News. P.O. Box 498, Long Beach , CA 90801. 4 ON THE FRONT PAGE: In his return t o speedway, Jim " The Animal" Fishback roared around San Bernardino, but his untamed f ans made more noise than his mount. Photo by Oennis Greene. Thanks from the Maelys We would like to thank everyone for their letters , cards , phone ca lls and concern over Ken's recent illn ess. He was in the hospital five days and is now up and around . The doctors never were quite sure what th e ca use of the blood d isorder was, but we hope it doesn't come back. He is back to work but at a slower pace and we hope to take a little R &R up in Oregon and Washington. Plan on going to see all our friends in the North and take in th e races at Castle Rock. We a re really looking forward to it. Thanks again to everyone. It sure made Ken feel good to hear from all his friends . KEN &JUDY MAELY Corona , CA A little action on the side Wow, what exciting racing at th e Coca- Cola Superbowl of Motocross! This was the best year yeti Here's a little action on th e side that you probably missed . Guess what Superbowl winner Mike B II wears under his leathers. Answer: Ab solutely nothing! He has one of th e n icest BA's I've seen in a long time. ESTHER WILLIAMS Manhattan Beach, CA P.S . Mom , 'than ks for the binoculars you gave me f~r Christmas. In issue #24, we printed a letter umtten supposedly by George Thomas of Santa Fe Spnngs regarding the June 26 GNC Amateur stadium race in th e L .A . Coliseum. Mr. Thomas has since informed us that he did not write the letter and that he does not share the opinions expressed by the aut hor. We regret any embarrassment the leiter may have caused . . . Editor. AMA response to GNC " ripoff" As posed by a letter in the Voices section of you r J une 28 , 1978 , issu e about "GNC Ripoff:" "W hy does the AMA allow t he follow on lea ching of Amateur riders?" First of all, the Amateur race held in th e L.A . Coliseum on June 26, 1978 , was not AMA sanctioned! T he AM A ha s tried to work with Mr . J erry Surber (G NG) since he contacted us in 1975. However , we could not agree with his' policies, i.e. ent ry fee , participant fee, computer fee , qualifier fee , etc. (T he letter states L.A . Coliseum totaled $77 .) We have not been able to arrive at a sa tisfa ctory arrangement with Mr. Surber, wh ich would provide a mutually beneficial relationship for all concerned. One of our primary purposes is to sanction activity for our members , with new programs being developed on an on-going basis to achieve this purpose. One of the programs developed was the indoor AMA Amateur MX , which we sanctioned in Pontiac and Pittsbu rgh with very good resu lts. T he cost to the AM A rider in the Pont ia c Silverdome race was $20. T h is included : 1.) the fee to ride a qual ifier on March 26 ; 2.) Pro Su percr oss ticket for April I; 3.) Pro Superc ross ticket for Ap ril 2; 4 .) Amateur Stadium entry . for April 2; 5.) Amateur Mechanic's ticket for April 2. The AMA-sanctioned Pittsbu rgh Three Rivers Stadium race, cost the AMA Amateur rider $20 . This included: 1.) Pro Supe rcross ticket for May 13; 2.) Amateur Stadium entry for May 14 ; 3 .) Am a teur Mec hanic's ticket for May 14. Also, any rider who entered the Pontiac race was entered free of charge at the Pittsbu rgh race. It should be noted that AMA membership is required at all AMA sanctioned meets. This $12 membership fee is good for one year. and includes all of the following benefits: I. ) Monthly copies of American Motorcyclist Magazine , 2.) $2,000 Accidental Dea th & Dismemberment Coverage. 3.) Pa rt icipa tion rights in any of the 1,000 ro ad meets, 4 .) Particip a tion rights in any of the 7,000 amat eur meets and semiprofessional meets. 5.) And m any other benefits too nu mero us to list here . Sure it costs a lot to put on meets of , th is magnitude , but it do esn 't have to cost that muchl HUGH FLEMING Am ateur Act ivit ies Manager Am erican Motorcyclist Association Westerville, OH After readi ng t he"An ti-Oxley senti m ents" letter, I felt that it ' was tim e that I sent in my feelings to Cycle N ews. I'll start a t the top a nd work m y way through Ms. Scheffers' letter, First , she asks , what is the ma il er with speedway riders? My answer to th a t question is nothing, if they're riders. The riders are at Costa Mesa . The others that are running at Sa nta Ana are the same bunch of clowns tha t were on strike last year and limited their riding to Bakersfield! I feel that the riders that continued at Costa Mesa, Ventura , Irwindale and San Berd oo last season were real r acers . They knew that the men who made it all possible for them in th e first place were Oxley and J ack Milne . O h sure, a few others tried several yea rs before to "revive" speedway, but it took the smart thinking of Harry and a couple of others to put it together. Next on the list is "failure to provide proper security and crowd con trol. " If she could see how things are run from the office out, she wou ld know that this is one of the most stupid rem arks yet. That track is tight compared to other promotions , I don't know wha t Mr. O xley has done in the past about free passes , but when I was th e promoter at Bakersfield he tol d me to "gi ve away a few passes . . . it's better to have a full grandstand than an empty one." Ask a ny promoter, and they will tell you the same thing. She said that since Mr. Kossu th runs on Saturday night and Mr. . O xley runs on Fridays, there appeared to be no conflict. Wrong againl Severa l years ago I was on the Board of Directors of the SRA, and we made a rule which stated how close a new p romoter could hold races to an existing track . Why should a . new p romoter be allowed to move into the area that another promoter is in . They would be movin g into an area that the other man has worked hard to build up , therefore trying to take over a "built-in crowd." That's just plain bad business. Don 't you th ink that Aggie would be a little upset if some promot er tried to open a track just like Ascot right ac ross th e street from him? Sh e sai d that th e competition is willin g to meet the rider's deman ds. If that is the case, how long d o you th ink that they will stay in business? Bak ersfield is a good exa m ple, They offered the rid ers 40% last year , and no w tha t track is history . It j ust ca n't be done! T he question was asked , has anybody bothered to check Mr. O xley's income fro m last yea r? I have been at several SRA a nd NSL meetin gs where H arry lias offered to ope n his books to any of the riders that will take the time to come to his office. You know wh a t the problem is; most of them wouldn't know what they were looking at , anyway! We ha ve worked for many years gett ing the insu rance to where it is now . Before the riders ha d al m ost noth ing , and with t he amount of accidents in the past couple of years th e rid ers are lu cky that any ins urance company will to uc h them at all. O nly steady work by men like Mr . Ox ley h as kept as good coverage as th e riders no w have. You , Ms. Sch effers, a re on th e look in g in . Wi th the outside sta tements th a t you made in you r lett e r , I ca n tell who you have looking over your shoulder. No w is th e time to check your facts and ge t smart! Without the ha rd work of Mr. Ox ley a nd Jack Milne, we wouldn't have Speed way. Be tha nkful that we dol DIGGER HELM Bakersfield , CA