Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

answer by mail ra the r than print m y com ments . 1 ha d asked why they di d not o r woul d not su p port . or a cknowled ge the efforts of the Cycle News ' Rid er of the Year' - The Pha nt om Du ck . As you ca n see by the answer I received . the AM A's position on our problem is sti ll negative. Presu re the BLM? 1 thought that's what the B to V was , a pressure directed towards t he BLM . Bu t the AMA seems to have another ta ctic . (I wish they cou ld have told me how .) 1 ha ve written letters to the Director of the BLM. th e, P resident of the Uni ted States, state senators , etc. : and 1 could go on forever. Bu t it seems the Du ck had the solution , show u p in force but peaceful. 1 think the AMA is confused. The Duck protest was not to re -esta b lish the Ba rstow to Vegas race per se, bu t to esta blish our rig ht to rid e on open la nd . ou r la nd . a nd that is wha t is at stake. 1 a m an AMA member and will co ntinue to stay in t he AM A for the good they do m otorcycling ove ra ll . Bu t maybe if Cycle Ne ws will print this, you r rea ders will respond and wr ite to A m erican M otorcy clist Magazin e in the same way I d id a nd . wak e them u p. . GLENN SNODGRASS Chatsworth , CA WIST America's No, 1 Weekly Motorcycle Newspaper Sharon Cb. ...to n . Publ ish er Tom Cu lp .' Ma rkr ti nK Dir ect or Ca rol in e Ceod rv . Sec . 10 the Puhlishe r Mug-ir Soulht·r~ . S r C". to the MlkK . Oir. J Advertising J im Ryan , Sa les Man ager. La rry Little. Sales Manag«. Skip johnson. Saly Short. Assista n ~ . Reader/Dealer Services Gin H a rpe r . W a ru Ad Sa les . Services and Support P d l C arde-n as . Pr u il . S&S . R e- c e- p ti o ni st . Br u e r West 220 1 Ch er rv An ' . . t oni{ Br ac h . C A P.O . Bo x ·198 . L.noK Bea ch . CA 90 801 (2I :1)4 27 ·7H:I ; L. A. L1n.· 6:16·88H . East 4: 190 Fir " (\ \t• . • Tu cke r . GA. P.O . Box 8 05 . Tucke-r . G A :l0 0 B4 . (4 041 9:14·7B50 . Cycle News/West (USPS 141.:140) is pub lished week ly ~xcept th e first a nd last week of the caJe ndar year for SI S per year by Cycle News. In c .. 220 1 Cherry Avenue , Long Bea c h , CA 90801. Second class postage 'paid at Long Beach , CA . POSTMASTER: Send form 3679 to Cycle News. P.O. Bolt 498, Long Beech, CA 9CllI01. Sub scri p tion ra tes : O ne year. 5CCOnd class mail. SI S: two years , second class m a il, Sf i : thre-e years . second class m a il , S:!7.' 0. Cycl e News welcomes u nso licited editorial m a te r ia l incl uding st ories , canoons, photos. etc. Such material. if published, becomes t he exclusive property of Cycle News. Such accepted m a te ri a l is su bject to rev isio n as is necessary in the sole discretion of Cycle News . Unsolicited material which is not wed will be returned if acco mpa n ied by a sell -addressed sta mped envelope. All unsolicited material will be handled with reasona ble ca re . however , Cycle News assumes no responsibility for the safety, loss o r damage to such m a te r'ia }. Reprin ting in whole or part on ly by permission of the publishers. Adveni5ing rates and circulation information will be 5("0[ upon request. See S .R.D.S . Copyright " Cycle New., Inc. 1179. Tredemerlt Cycle New. registered U.S . Petent Office. All right. re.erved. Not too late t o write 60 MInutes I enjoyed reading your subscribers ' comments regarding the recent 60 Minut es segment which appeared on national television . The y echo responses we received at AMA offices and were the co ncerns of mot orcyclists across th e country . I sin cerely hope th at eac h of those who took t he time to write to Cycl e Ne ws to exp ress t he ir di sm ay also took the tim e to write to 60 M inutes. We ha ve it on good a u thority that the sta ff of 60 Minut es received significa ntly more letters fr om environmentalists than they received from o ff-ro ad vehi cle ent husiasts . The e nd resu lt being that t hey believe their story reflects the majority of p ub lic opinion . If they haven't don e it yet. it is sti ll not too late to contact the 60 Minut es sta ff. R OB ERT RASOR Associate Director Government Rela tions American Motorcyclist Associa tion Westerville. OH While tem pora ril y working in th e Biltm ore H ouse (or Vand erbilt Mansion ) in Asheville . NC , I was sliding th rou gh t his im m ense lib rary of first print ings of some of ~h"""'o u n t ry 's most fam ou s books. I endoed int o a copy of My First Summer in th e Sierra by John MUIr, co pyright 1911. As 1 thumbed through th e first few pages , I fou nd a small dedication : "To th e Sierra Club of Ca liforn ia - fa ithfu l defender of the people's playground ." 1911 , huh? 1 guess they have been working against us a lot longer than 1 ever th ou gh t. TIM RYAN North Hollywood . CA AMA: Listen to Mclaughlin Sierra Club subterfuge Thank you . Cycle N ews, for the greatest in -dept h Dayton a Preview Issue everl Especially of interest was Bob i Scott's fantastic piece on Steve Mc Laughlin. I'm quite certain that those of us that enjoy United States road racing will agree with Mc Laoghlin's ideas for the future . JUSt think of all th e aftermarket involv ement and benefits when Superbike takes off. O ur only hope is for th e Oracles of Westerville to wake up to Mr. ~cLaughlin's words and get on the p Ipe . T hank you again . J O EL BREAULT S&W Engineered Products Ana heim . CA Warrant out on CHIPs ON THE FRONT PAGE: Two days of AMATToyota Supercross racing under Houston's Astrodome added two more first places to Bob "Hurricane" Hannah's series points total. Photo by Jim Glanatals. 4 Ba tteries. Ca mpbell Soups, Easy-O ff, General Motors. H ughes Air West. Kent ucky Fried Chicken and Head and Shou ld ers Sham poo. As for me . I will not purchase any more of their products. STEVE MANLEY San Diego . CA Dirt bi kes receiv e eno ugh ba d atten tion bu t the icing on the ca ke was N BC's episode of CHiPs . Being a show geared for menta l midgets. it show ed riders d oing everyt hi ng from selling d ru gs to running down chickens. The sponsors of this "show" should be notified of theirbad public image with m oto rcyclists. They are : Eveready Sierra Club - enduring ev il Is it possible to get a list of Sierra C lub members in the .L. A . and O ra nge Coun ty areas? 1 wou ld hate to think that 1 patronize the enemy. 1 would like to boycott their services or my neighbors if they are m em bers . STANLEY A. BURA K Huntington Beach , CA It s dou btful; but you can write to th e Sierra Club. HO B ush ' St . ,' San Franicsco, CA 94108 and request a list of m embers names and businesses that a re affiliated with th e club . W e sugg est you don 't tell th em why you want it or at least make up a good lin e if you have to ex plain your request. Wouldn 't it be easier to ask your neigh bors if they are associated wit h the Sierra Clu b.' Same go es for people who provide services . If they 're afraid to commit, be suspicious . . . E~ito r AMA: Did something get lost in translation7 Here is a le tte r 1 received fro m the AMA in response to a lett er that I wrote to the editor of American Motorcyclist Magazine. T hey chose to Dear Mr. Sn od grass: W e greatly appreciate yo ur co m ments and observations regarding the Associa t io n 's position on t he P ha ntom Du ck of the desert. As you pointed out , the P ha nt om Du ck exists to protest the Bu re a u of L and Management 's mandates and the prohibition of the Barstow to Vegas event. You are correct when you say that the Association disapproves of th is event and to a great extent the publi city whi ch surrounds such ' activiti es . Fr om the Association 's perspect ive . there is a gr eat deal more at sta ke in the Cal ifornia Desert than the ability to ru n o ne e ven t from Barst ow , C al iforni a to Las Vegas . Nevada . We view the efforts of the Phantom Du ck to be specta cu la r, but somewhat singular in purpose. We feel the issue is m uch broader a nd not lim ited to whet her or not there will be a Ba rstow to Vegas race; bu t ult im atel y whether or not there will be racing in the Ca lifo rnia desert a t all! T he p ub lici ty (mostly negative) t hat Ph antom Du ck 's activiti es receive from ou tside of th e motorcycle press does not hing b u t jeopardize t he public o p in io n against the m ot orcycl in g activities in the Ca lifo rn ia Desert . We ce rta in ly would not d iscourage anyo ne who wishes to su pport some so rt of orga n ized o pposition to the BLM 's q uestion able policies, but we would prefe r t hat they exert their energies to p ressuri ng the BL M to see that future opportunities prevail. ROBERT R ASOR Associ a te Director Government Relation s American Motorcyclist Associa tion Wrong wild and crazy guy Re: Atlan ta Stadium Race . Con cerni ng the first q ualifier made u p of Bob Ha nn a h , Croft. Semics , Re id , a nd Ba rt on - Ba rt on in error; sho uld have been Steve Martin of Cycle Springs Yama ha . Good hea lth to all! RON TICHENOR Cycle Sp rings Yamaha Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News. Inc. Send letters to Voices. Box 498. Long Beach, CA 90801.

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