Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Dirt .Track Roundtable ~ather than having to put headlights on it and run them on the street. You'd probably get a black eye from the AMA, but if you put events on with a big enough purse you'd get the riders and spectators. It would be one helluva gamble. but if a promoter could put together 15 or 20 mile and half mile races we might really be getting into something. The point .I'm "If we had a 500cc (restrietor) rule, there would be more riden out there getting paid to go .racing." Skip Aksland What About Mopeds 1n Let·. . . . . . . . . - i0oi<" rnapMa_ .nelyze1hem - . , . The moped ...... _ non 10 -r unique _ ...._ •• A blcycle wllh. _ . 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Good-", ...... _ _ ... lhIl _ _ trying to mak.e or question is what if we droeped the shon track and r r events (from the National circuit) and only had mile and half mile Nationals plus the road races involved? I'm not talking about eliminating those events altogether, just from the National points chase. . A rider would not have to own as much .equipment and he could be specialized at all din tracking or din track and road racing - such as in my case. What we are looking at would be. a cOD!Plidation of the circuit where you wouldn't be all over the U.S. Think about a circuit where you had eight miles, eight half miles and perhaps six or more road races. There might be less racing. but J feel that it would be better' for the riders, the specinors and the people who we seek sponsorship from. ML: I don't know about elimination of therr andshon tracks because I hey are the events where we have more brands than j!JSt the Harleys running. Nil: I was in favor of separating the din track and road race into two championships years ago until someone said to me one day that our championship is uniquely American. This is the only country where we have an all around champion. ML: If we dropped the r r events we would be dealing the Nonhwest a severe blow because that is basically all they have up there. r r racing is a weekly program- and Castle Rock is their justification for running everything else all year long. In ad· dition. r r is one of the events . and . shan track . where there are varioUi brands that are competitive. Of courx .that brings up another point. If r r is the major event where there are many brands that .can. be competitive. then why isn't r r the IIlOlIt popular? Gil: I'ye got'another propoul and this may sound a little off the wall, but let me have a shot. Let's raise the age limit for a license to 18 (A murmur of acceptance). We also need to establish some son of farm system - like in pro sports. Mak.e the Novices ride 500'5. They could also ride them as a Junior if they wanted to and that would give a rid« two years wonh of use out of his machine. If he wanted to sell it, he would have a ready made market of Novices coming into the system. . ML: I think accidents would still be a big problem. Gil: That's prob",bly right, but we've . got to explore as many angles as we have. . OB: I'm not sure I agree with 500's for Novices. The bike is light, fast and we would have just as many or more problems witk the Novices as we do DOW. 24 - Nil: The sad pan about this whole thing is that we • Men, O.B., Gene, , ~t·oDe.of us . "&AM 'go' ~h tbt pits at a National and pick out 10 persons at random and probably come up with more logical ideas about what needs to be done bel ter than the AMA. Give me the ten and I'll guarantee you that in a day or two of discussion we could come up with rules that we all could live with. There just doesn't seem to be a way that the AMA can come up with something that will keep both sides happy. It's either shaft the rider or shaft the person who makes a living off the spon like myself. Gil: I think that the only way that we will ever solVe the problem facing . us is by having a separate professional racing organization within the AMA. h should be governed by a small. open minded board that trot onIy.has inbut rider dustry involvement. representation also. OB: Ithinkwe'vegota good plan in the A-MA right now who can look after things and that is Lin Kuchler. He's been involved i.n racing and knows the' ups and downs. He's been through restrictors and all their problems when he was with NASCAR. Now he's been pretty busy turning the AMA around and he's done an outstanding job of it. "Promote the riden, not the brand of bike they ride. Sure it will take time, but isn't it about time we started doing it?" Gene Romero Kuchler is a man who will listen and, if necessary, reorganize the whole damn thing. I personally think that. he should be approached directly. I've got a lot of faith in him. I think he could go a long way in turning things around if we gave him some imput. He's the right man to get things moving in the ri~t direction. He has. because of his mvolvement with the fISCal pan of the AMA, basically stayed neuti'al in this restrictor controversy. SA: I think that perhaps we ~hourd restrict the Harleys so the 500'5 would be competitive. We could have a rule where you have the flexibility to unrestrict the XR when it loses its com· petiti~ess and try to keep both the 500 and the 750 more or less equal. That's the way auto racing (NASCAR) does it. If we had a 500 rule there· would be more riden out there getting paid to go racing. Right DOW you've got two factory riden with a salary. If we changed the rules and Honda or Yamaha or anybody else came in, they would' spend money and you'd have . more factory riden. If they did that, perhaps the companies would also tie in the dealen on a suppan program like we have in MX. Hey, I'd 1ilte to get a salary for racing. 1t would be a lot better than "I believe there. is one thing critical that we do at this time and that is bring the Junior class riden back intO the Nationals." Neil Keen havins to ,,:lways scrape to get togetheJ: . a good racmg program. DK: Even with all the things we I\ave talked about, the series is still a darn good product. Attendance is holding its own which. of courx, is our major concern among many thinp. In the fight for the entenaiD!nen~cIouar, any program that is holding its own is JUC. '~in "-RIlle. -t mdly"dod( ha~ any answers, but it. would be nice to see everybody working together rather than in splinter groups in the pits. bars and smoke filled rooms. We'd love to see the spon bust open as much as anyone else . double or triple in attendance. A real shot in the arm would be about a half million more spectators next year. OB: I think that putting Juniors back into the National picture is a good idea. I can see where it might be an inducement to other manufacturers to put OUt an effon if their brand could win the Junior "National." I feel that this would be a move in the right direction. . What I don't want to see is something that would make obsolete the millions of dollan wonh Qf equipment currently in use. However. I don't think that Skip's idea of a flexable restrictor rule would be feasable. The problem is when would you change the 'restricton? Who would decide when somebody was too competitive or not competitive =ough? The AMA woutd have to be damn flexable in their decisions. Shifting things back and fom would always be a bag of worms. I don't know all the answers, but the combined Expen/Junior National program is one thing that can be done and it could be done immediately for 1980. SW: As it is now for the average rider, racing is an investment and should be looked at that way. However. it is ODe of the poorest ones he can possibly malte as a money malting opponunity since there will always be a handful of top riders malting out while the rest scrape and are considered lucky if they break. even. What has to be done is to somehow malte the racing so that more riden can mak.e money. If that requires a change in the rules - whatever way nec~ry - it will have to be done.• "Racing is a capital iDvestment and things just ~ren't working out. We are. dying because of the costs more than anything else." Storme Winten Racing is a capital investment and thing just aren't workiBg out. We are dyinJ_ becaue of COICS more than anytbing else, h costs so much more just to go to a race than years ago and .:e~ have not increased thatI'm sure that Dick has seen his racing budgft . in relationship to riSing COltS • dwindle from the time ten years ago when there were about nine factory riden to today with only two.. It certainly isn't Harley's fault because they've played the game by the rules ~ built the required 200 motorcycles and offered them to everyone. In Yamaha's case, they feh that racing wam't COlt effective· that they didn't get enough return for the dollan invested. To me it doesn't seem right that they pulled out of racing because if they wanted to build a 750 they could an4 so could Honda and the rest. That is, if they really wanted to go racing. OB: I'd like to bring up what I feel is an imponant point that I think a lot of people have overlooked. The cost of the 500's is going to have to be wat· ched very clORIy and the rules are ~ to have to be written very tightly if they come inlo the pictuJe 01' are gradually phaRd in and the 7SO's pcl'ually phased OUL are

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