Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Stand up and be counted. Follow the duck feathers to Vegas! Quack, quack , quack .. . (Didn't see many enduro riders last year. Jeep trails too rough?) PHANTOM DUCK OF THE DESERT San Bernardino, CA Digger, clowns and sheep Digger Helm , you are so right. The clowns are at Santa Ana. Costa Mesa has all the shee p. People have al ways loved clowns! but sheep? No wa y! JESS A GILLETTE Altadena, CA \liST America's No.1 Weekly Motorcycle Newspaper Costa Mesa clowns7 Sharon Clayton, Publisher Caroline Gcndry. Secreta ry to the Publ isher Bobi Scott , Exec utive Assistant Advertising J im Ryan , Sales Man ager. Lar ry .Litt le. Sa les Manager. Mar g ot Bergm an , Sales Ma nager. Ch ris Kolber, Assistan t. Editorial C ha rles Morey. Man aging Ed itor . Dal e Brown . Editor . Brian George, Assistant Edi tor. Graphics and Production J an Gill, Dav Pau li, Prod uction. Ma rion H at aahira , Ty pogra p hy. Dennis Greene , La bor a tory . Accounting Mike Klin ger , Ma na g er , Jean ne Hammond. Acces. Receiva ble . Holly Hale. Co llection and Credit. Circulation Rheba Sm ith , Man a g e r . Pa tr ici a Pasquale, Sh erry Kau fm a n . Sandye McKay. C h risty Bell, Assistan ts. Services and Support Pa t Ca rde nas. R e c e p ti o n ist. G in Harper , Want Ads. Steve McK ay. 5&5 . West ~~Ol C herry Ave .• Long Beach . C A P.O . Box 4 98 . Lon g Beach. CA 90801 ( ~ 1 3 ) 4~ 7 ·7433 : L. A . Line 636 ·8844 . East 4 190 First Ave .• T ucker, GA. P.O . Box 805 . T ucker. GA 30084. (404) 934· 7850 . Subscription One year, seco nd class m ail . S15: two years. seco nd class ma il , $27 : three yean . second class m ail, $37 .50 . Cop yright OJ Cycle News. Inc . 1978 . Trad emark Cycle News register ed U.S. Pat ent O ffice. All rights r eserv ed . Published weekl y excep t the first an d last week of the ca le-n da r year by Cycle News , In c.. ' P .O . Box 498, Lon g Bea ch . California. Seco nd class post age pa id at Lon g Bea ch , CA 9080 I. Cycle News welcomes u nsol icit ed ed itorial m ateri al incl uding stories, cartoons. photos. et c. Suc h ma teri a l. if p ublished , becomes th e exclusive copyright property of Cycle News. Such acce pted ma terial is subject to revisio n as is necessa ry in the sole d iscret io n of Cycle News. Unsolicited m at erial which is not used will be ret u rned if accompa nied by a self add ressed sta m ped envelope. All un solici ted mat eri al will be hand led with reaso na ble ca re . however . Cycle News assumes no raponsibility for the safety, loss o r da m a ~ to such mat eri a l. Re printing in who&e or pa rt on ly by pe rmission of th e publishers. Advertising rat es a nd circu la tion information will be sen t upon request. See S .R.D.S . POSTMASTER: Send form 3519 to Cyde News. P.O. Bolt 498. Long Buc:h. CA !Il8I1. ON THE FRONT PAGE: Team Yamaha's 125cc National Champion Broc Glover came 4 out to the Mid-Ohio 125cc USGP and roosted the European competition. Photo by Jim Giai.1sis. Unwanted stepchild Regarding Glenn Jordan's a rticle on the . AMA and it 's pl anned restru cturing, the proposed plan ' to reshape th e AMA Board is fin e as fa r as it go es but it sti ll leav es ou t ign ores - one im port a nt segment of AMA . th e promoter. The unwanted stepchild, th e man without a voice . We promoters. a ttended the AMA meeting in Anaheim and we too were give n lip servi ce. They listened and th en swept us back into th e co rner. AMA has placed us in th e adversa ry position instead of th e partnership position. We are resentful. I make no claims as for speaking for th e other promoters. For myself, AMA and promoters' representation is a nother Proposition 13 as far as I am concerned . BOB BARKHIMER Scotts Valley, CA Support for Scott Gary Scott has been fighting a gia n t of a battle for too lon g . I think it 's a real sha me when an expert ra cer suc h as Scott cannot buy parts from HarleyDavidson, Yamaha or whomever. How the hell can Sp ringsteen o r a ny other H ·D rider feel com pe titive whe n pa rts are readily ava ilable to th em and no one else ? I'd much rather see a rac e .whe re anybody can win bec ause everyo ne is getting pa rts . bikes or wha te ver they need to be competitive . As fa r as I'm conce rned, Ga ry Scott is on e hell of a man to stan d up and fight for what he believes in and for st a yi ng com p e ti t ive without any factory support. R.W. MARSHALL Tacoma . WA Puzzled publisher Perhaps m y 25 years in journalism, including the last 17 years of which have been in motorcycle publishing. has some bearing on it. but for th e life of me I can't figure out how you determine what is worth publishing. I refer to Papa Wealey's column, July 19, and the report that a member of the Mt . St. Helen's motorcycle club had given concerning the receipt of some wrong programs from the AMA's program department . I publish the'AMA programs for th e association under contract. They 'd id ind eed receive approximatel y 1500 Castle Rock prog rams with th e National Motocross program inse rt incorrectly bound in . I also publish programs for the National Mot ocross promoters. The binder com p a ny that assembles th e programs in advertently bound in the wrong cen ter sec tion in some of th em . Needl ess to say we are looking for ano the r bindery company. I find .it much more th an puzzling tha t you found this information worthy of publishing. You tell me th at what happened "affects th e industry." Nonsense , th e onl y on es it a ffects are th e people who bought those in correct programs and the club who sold them . If it is true, as I tend to believe. that you were simply looking for another way to hi t at the AMA , you found on e . My congratulations . T ry looking under a rock next tim e . If, on th e other hand, you were trying to damage my business and reputation. feel good on that hand too because it will cause som e concern among the other nearly 50 ra ces for which I provid e programs. I ha ve a suggestion for th e column: If you will print it , I will do my best to su pply you with th e names of a ll of the peop le. including myself. who receive Cycle N ews on e full week late , and the subscri bers who do not recei ve th em a t all, on ce in a while. By your standard of reporting, it should make fascina ting reading. JOSEPH C . PARKHURST Cost a Mesa . CA As should become obvious with your reading this published lett er,Joe, we'll print whatever our readers - even program publishers who suffer th e inconveniences of a tardy U.S. Postal Service - consider worthwhile . . . Editor. Phantom Duck quacks T he fourth animal "Duck Ride" will take place Saturday morning. November 25 at 8 a.m. at the Harvard Road off-ramp, Each year it gets better, but join us this year for sure. It may well be the "last gasp" before the Sierra Club takes over the Eastern Mojave Desert. You didn't really think the bureaucrats would listen 'o r ca re about us did you ? Digger, th e clowns you spe ak of in your letter are not at Santa Ana but at Costa Mesa . All of them , including the greatest clown of all , Mike Bast voted to strike for more money . In fact. the voice of Bast was loudest and strongest for more money. Do you believe he d idn't get it? Why the riders even voted to strike is beyond my comprehension. Aside from a few who wanted to earn money racing, the rest seemed satisfied to just hear their names come over the p .a. system and then a yell from the grandstand . But being like sheep , they followed Bast when he deserted th e cause for a guaranteed sizea ble sum against his winnings. How many of these that follow ed h im - received such a guarantee? They sim p ly feared Mr. Oxley and hoped following a winner some of it might rub off on th em. I truly believe Mr. Kossuth and Mr . Oxley are letting personal feelings gu ide them , and th ese feelings are hurting speedway. It's not smart to cut off you r nose to spite your face . and yet this is exactly what I think the riders did when ' th ey voted to strike without any idea what it would mean if they broke their commitment. Digger. you are the best of speedway announcers . you had a really fun track . and you are not on the outside looking in, but it is obvious who is looking ove: your shoulder. This has always been a puzzle to me. You did not and do not need him. IDA FAIRCHILD Corona , CA To sponsor or not to sponsor ... As a sponsor (Denn is Smith. Superbike Production) , I feel it is necessary to point out a very major oversight by the people who published the AMA program at the Sears Point National Road Race. In the front section of the program that lists the participants by rider, number and bik e brand. not one mention was given to the riders' major sponsors. It 's rather obvious that an AMA p ro fession a l ra cer would not go very fa r without support from hiS sponsor, and wh en a rider solicits his help his largest exchange is exposure and advert ising for his sponsor. If the AMA, who rel ies heavily on revenue generated at racing events, can't even ensure that a rider's sponsor will be published in the program next to the rider'; name. it's time to re evaluate if supporting a racing effort constitutes a -wise decision in spending advertising dollars . KEVIN DONNELLY President, Del Amo Suzuki, Inc. Torrance, CA Taylor on "'50%" Suzuki We want to thank you for your most generous coverage of our rider, David Taylo r , Marconi Racing/LOP · sponsored in the 125cc AMA National (Continue d to page 21)

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