Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

A look back throng By Suzie Mann Photos courtesy of Bagnall Publishing, Larry Haley and Petersen Publishing. The desert has given the sport of motorcycle racing a different and unique form in southern California . According to the dictionary' a desert is a wide, sandy waste area , a region not inhabited or cultivated a wilderness one usually / with .u t trees (at]' t -t r es as o eas e most people know them) . In 6 adapting to this special environment , the riders and their bikes make up one of the most interesting in-groups within the body of motorcycling. Motorcycle racing has been around ever since the second motorcycle was built. It has existed in relatively organized forms in this country since the first decade of this century. The bulk of desert racing in southern California has always been sanctioned by the primary national organization in this country through its members clubs. For about 40 years now that organization has been the American Motorcyclist (formerly Motorcycle) Association. The association and points set -up may be fro m national headquarters , but southern California competition riders have always had a streak of independence which they have loudly proclaimed from time to time over the yea rs sin ce their first disagreement with the then -ruling body, the F.A .M . , in 1915 . This streak of inde pendence is nowhere more prevalent than in the desert riders and h as resulted in a certain amount of auton - omy .in attending to their own com petition matters. They have been assisted in this by the uni'Jue nature of the events they run which are held nowhere else in this country on such a scale over the years . The base of desert racing lies with the endurance runs of the late 'teens , twenties and thirties. And indeed, there is 'a race which was the great· great·grandaddy of desert racing, the famous Big Bear Run which began in 192 I and was last held in 1961. Due to some starting treachery by a group of riders, which was compounded by the sponsor's (Orange County . M.C .) unsuccessful efforts to son out the cheaters, the 1961 race was declared no -contest, The last official Big Bear Run was won in its 59th year in 1960 by a 16 'year-old unknown named Eddie Mulder on a Royal Enfield. The first Big Bea r and many of the events held in the twenties and thirties were held over unmarked cou rses. There was a starting spot and a named finish spot. Whoever go t there first was the winner. There was no breaking out of t he classes of motor cycles ente red, and in the early days , th ey wer e mostly Harley-Da vidson or Indian m achi nes ; tha t was what everyone rode . There were no real gas chec ks to speak of , either. Rider Aub Lebard (for many years now co-owner of LeBard and Underwood , a motorcycle store in La Habra)" recalls that in the late thirties and early forties he would carry close to the correct amount of change with him on a run . Gas stops were any gas station along the way , and when a rider pulled in, he usually had to sit in line waiting for those in front of him to finish filling up their tanks. Recalled Le Bard, " If you had near the correct change (just a bit over) you could just toss the attendant fift y cents, say , for 46 cents worth of gas and be on you r way without having to wait for change." "Another th ing," continued Le Bard, "was that most everyone rode the same bikes that they rode to work in these events. Not only that but we would ride the bike to and from the event. We didn't have pick-up trucks in those days , Each club then would have one run per, year, like the Three Point Club , early sponsors of the Big Bear Run . There weren't many clubs, so a big month was when there were two events. " With the advent of dual Eu ropean Scrambles that number now can be five and occasionally six eventsl In those days, the runs weren't over really rough terrain and included some paved roads. Most of the bikes then had girder forks and no rear suspension. You co uld ride almost anyplace in those days, though as the yea rs went by the ,events got pushed further out into the desert and mountains as civiliza tion grabbed more and more land. These rac es began , as most motorcycle ra cing did then , on a much less professional level than now . They were fun events along with the field meets of the day where you could take you r wife and a picnic lunch and off you'd go to the start , race, eat and then ride I home. Desert racing has kept some ofr! th is old -time flavor except that now o you loa d your bike and girlfriend or rl wife and kids, dinner and a picn ic ' lunch in your van or ca m per go out the evening before, have dinner, ride the race in the early morning, eat lunch , then load everything back in your ' truck and be home by later afternoonf" Nothing in this life now is as sim ple ri and uncomplex as it was "b ack then ,and the desert itself is still a relatively simple and basic place, removed from the bustle of civilization. For hundreds of people each weekend it is still a J place to have fun and "get away from it all ." £ Some of the early races attracted droves of spectators to the stan and finish as well as a known road crossing in the middle if there was one. A few of the races used to cross over Cajo n Pass on the main highway and the police would be there to stop the regular traffic for the riders! The very early endurance runs became Hare and Hound races. As the motorcycles of the day improved technologically , the country ha d to get rougher to son out t he winners and the el finishers. In the tough and important events , rarely more than 25% of the starters finished . These races were real tests and the big thing for many of th e competitors was sim p ly to reach the finish . ~ The definition of a Hare and HoundrlT was " an unknown co urse marked witli> J lime. " That was unless it got into some snow , a commo n occurrence in the winter , when lamp black was used for marking). A rider knew where the

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