Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

there, it was voted unanimously, all but one person, to allow them to run together this ~ar. Yet we're not running. Yet in that meeting many people saw the advantages . . Th.e ~mphasis I see in Superbike is that It IS a return to Class "C". In its he y day , the early '70s, Class "C" drew the biggest crowds Daytona ever saw. That's whal we want to bring back. But we have a bu nch of contradictions . We ha ve two-stroke people a nd the four -stroke people tried to keep them ou t. Now th e twostroke people want to keep the fou r stroke peopl e out because it mea ns a n end to their era . '.'0f course, we couldn't be -ranked on Roberts' level, but I'd certainly like to see a munchkin on a Super-bike," 18 bottom line, if everything you are doing doesn't work, if you go out and win a race people are going to buy your product because it's superior. Performance superiority sells things . Plus, what sells tickets at races? What kinds of motorcycles are on the track is what sells those tickets. If Kenny Roberts, who is probably the best road racer in the world, came to Laguna Seca and they only had 8 ,100 spectators, that would mean that category isn't drawing any people. W e must realize our names aren't drawing them either. People are loyal to what they own . If they're a Honda man, they 're a Honda man. If they're a Suzuki man, they're a Suzuki man. And they want to come see those things race. We haven't been giving them that. We've been giving them the same thing year in and year out, That, unfortunately, is due in part to the lack of leadership in the AMA in the sense that no change is better than taking a chance of making a mistake. The Superbike proposal to allow the four-strokes to run against the Yamaha is five years old. It has been submitted five years in a row , under two directors, under five different changes in the AMA Board of Trustees, and it has not progressed . I think they are afraid of change. Of course, lately, they've made some changes in the hierarchy that I think they felt they got burned on. They got a few people that just didn't work out, so they're probably even more censervative than usual, just to make sure. So you feel that AMA's comervative attitude hal slowed progress in the entire road racing field? I tend to agree that it does. I sat in on an AMA road race ocmmittee meeting right after the AMA banquet last year. Normally there are five members on that committee: Bob Hansen, Gavin Trippe, Kevin Cameron, the com missioner and myself; Bob Barker comes to represent sidecars. At this particular meeting we invited all the manufacturers . Everyone sent a representative but Yamaha - why, I don't know. I put forth a proposal that would enable the 1000ccs to run against the 750s. A rather detailed , in depth proposal, 20 pages, showing the marketing analysis, the reason and logic behind this, the history of AMA's road racing in areas where they had succeeded ' and areas where they had failed. Included in that meeting was Fugio Yoshimura , Pierre desRoches, Reg Pridmore and Mike Baldwin : We had rider representatives, aftermarket representative and factory representatives. Of the 20 some people that were Is that why Yamaha wasn't represented at the meeting? No , I think Yamaha did n't show up because they really ha ve no options . They wouldn't probabl y feel en dangered by hav ing th e 1000ccsrun against them . They have Kenny and a lot of the odds are in their favor . But they don' t have any equipment. , I raced against Kenny Clark a long time ago" He's a good man; he's a fair man , I think he wants to do right for the sport. I've worked with the AMA Board of Trustees for a long time and I . have yet to find a major manufacturer come to those committee meetings and attempt to sway things to their benefit. They are there to attempt to benefit th e sport. In some areas I disagree with them in the fact that they're rather absentee management. They have other jobs to do . At one time the Board of Trustees was overviewed by the manufacturers but the racing managers really ran the AMA . The AMA was primarily a racing organization . When that occurred we had a pretty good rules set -up because all those people were current with what was gding on. They knew what was happening, so they changed the rules accordingly, Ultimately, when March left , all these things changed. They became staff functions . And in some areas it's difficult to say how qualified the staff might be to be making statements, They, don't have that much racing experience in those areas , in road racing particularly. The sad thing is that so many good people have put forth suggestions and concepts that are totally viable, but they aren't heard , I feel many times that I'm in a position where I can't just roll over. If I see something I don't agree with , I say I don't agree with it. I feel I have the right to do that. I pay my own way. I don't have big sponsors, I make it on my own . It 's my dollar out there, and it's my life on the line. Unlike many people, I've raced , promoted races, scored races, I've made regulations and rules for racing bodies, I've done all these different functions . I've got a different perspective than many of these people do. We have a group in Westerville, the AMA staff, and they have one perspective . The promoter has another perspective, the rider has his perspective, and the Board of Trustees have their perspective. In my situation, I have performed all of these group functions and I have a cumulative perspective of what I see ,,:11 these peop}e doing, But I.feel many times that things are not done. They are reacted to at the AMA by the sheer fact that you say something. It's not the content of what you're saying, it's the fact that you said something at all. I don't mean me, specifically, I mean all of the rest of us. Last year I had seven international inquries to race at Daytona in the Superbike class. I talked to the Frances directly, and they would have paid the additional money for the sanction. But the AMA refused to issue an international sanction. They must have had a reason. Because the class , in their opinion, was too new. We were dealing with Mockett at the time, and they were afraid people would come over here with illegal bikes. Well , no one is going to travel 10 ,000 miles from Europe. the Orient, or Australia, and bring a bike that doesn't adhere to our I rules or can't be modified to adhere . when they get here. So their argument was totally ill ogica l. Thar 's the problem. We had these people who wanted to come, they would have spiced up the class , there's no reason to keep th em out. They have no inherent advantage, if anything th ey hav e an inherent disadvantage. _ The road racing committee was intially designed to have five working members who voted and that's what they did: As soon as Macken took office, they said the votes don't count anymore. So far , DiPrete's done nothing to reinstate our powers. The AMA stated they would take it under consideration, however, it would all be dependent on whether or not the tire manufacturers could guarantee that the tires would go 200 miles . Now the tire companies, since Mark Donahue was killed in road racing cars, will not guarantee any tire will go any distance or time at all. It's against their liability. So they built in a clause to tum it down. The competrrron would be incredible. In actuality, the lOOOcc four-strokes put out more horsepower than the two-strokes, but they're heavier , so they won't win the race. But, given the opportunity to come down in weight as a GP machine, we would maintain GP racing. Superbike racing is different. A clip on road race bike is not a Superbike. There is a big difference. You have a street .motorcycle primarily, that may be reinforced and gusseted, but it weighs 50·80 lbs. more than the GP bi~e . It has no aerodynamic assistance. "One ofthe guys who's going to be a real savage is Baldwin. He's going to be a world champion . . . if he doesn't killhimsel]. He rides to the wood - l%oths of the time." Here's another interesting facet : They came up with a rule about the restrictors. Now, to my way of thinking, last year, the only people it restricted at Daytona were the privateers, Kenny Roberts broke the lap record five times, lapped the field , obviously it didn't work . Now, we don't hear any more talk of restrictors. The premier decision of the AMA was to slow the 750ccs down, that they were too fast . Now why, when Kenny didn't go any slower, didn't they restrict them more? Why didn't they alter the restriction rule? Well, now , they don't want to hear about the restriction rule. You know why? Because people like Irv Kanemoto , Steve McLaughlin and Don Vesco lunched motor after motor at Daytona trying to develop the technology ' tha t they had allowed someone to develop . Now , not through malice or convert conspiracies, it just so happened they used Kel Carruthers to develop the technology - and he's Kenny Robert's tuner. And who was the fastest bike? He had the six months ~gel It 's not bad-mouthing Kel. He did what anybody would do. It's just the illogic of the approach that was taken . To compound that , they haven't slowed them down any . We 're going to have tire problems again this year. They're going to be even faster. The design, by allowing them to change the angles behind the port restriction . there's almost no restriction at all . In some cases it's helped the carburetion and speeds up the velocity of the gas that's going through there. My point is, without fairings on the ' Superbikes. and because of their weight, they are naturally inhibited. Last year my speed trap was 159 mph. Well , for a Superbike to go from 159 mph to 165 mph is going to require a quantum leap in horsepower because of the aerodynamic drag . So, in Superbike, you have a built -in restrictor. Now this drag is a major feature . That's one of the views of Superbike racing. When you look back to the '70's when the bikes really started going fast, breaking the 150 mph bearing, many of the older AMA guys first suggested taking the fairings off. But no one would hear of it. Taking the fairings off will make the difference. The Superbikes will stay pegged, even though we'll go to the short tracks and the Superbikes will be within a second. In fact , at Laguna Seca , my best lap was about l I.B .' Kenny's was an 8.90 . That's three seconds, from the best guy iR th world and a Superbike. Of course, we couldn't be ranked on Robert's level, but I'd certainly like to see a munchkin on a Superbike. One of the other real advantages of Superbikes: If you look at Superbike riders , many of them are tall people. One of the real limitations is that big people are at a big disadvantage in the 250 and 750cc classes . But, put them on a Superbike and it's a totally different thing. It's a big motorcycle made for big people. For men, when it gets right down to the bottom line. I'm not saying Kenny Roberts isn't a man: but let's put him on a Superbike. Both Gary Nixon and Kenny Roberts have commented, in the put, that they would never ride or race one of thOR pieces of crap, It has something to do with the fact that, in the early stages, all the chassis work was disallowed in order to stabilize. When you take a motor and bump the horsepower up it affects the chassis . What might be a good chassis for a standard street motorcycle might be very weak and require reinforcement when you add a lot of horsepower to it. When they saw them race, they saw these things do all kinds of gyrations up in the air and all that stuff. But they don't do that anymore. At least the fast ones don't. I'm sure both of them would give great consideration if that was where the money was . They'd change their ' m inds . Unfortunately, due to the cost factor, do you know that Gary Nixon does not have a ride for Daytona? Here's one of the greatest racing stars in this country. He's built American (Continued to page 58)

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