Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

!7he E o 00 O"l 1"""4 uck7apes Rappin' with the BlM's feathered antagonist and two-time Cycle News/West Rider of the Year about B-to-V, desert land use, and the most famous Novice of the decade, Wallis Weatherwax. By Dale Brown Driving down the road to the pits of a District 37 desert race in 1971, few, if any, would have guessed that the People responsible for the Burma Shave signs heralding the exploits of Novice Wallis Waxweather of the Desert Ducks-M.e., would some day stand in the forefront of the motorcyclists' battle with the Bureau of Land Management.' By the same token, back in the 1760s, few would have thought that the taU surveyor from Virginia would someday lead 13 colonies to freedom. 20 The Phantom Duck of the Desert was bom in that 1971 campaign to make Waxweather famous. Nobody knew who he was, and after Waxweather was indeed famous, the Phantom Duck disappeared into quiet obscurity. Like the Phoenix rising out of the ashes, the Phantom Duck reappeared on the scene in 1975, the year the BLM refused to allow the classic Barstow to Las Vegas hare and hound. The Duck wanted to protest by riding ~rom Barstow to Las Vegas, legally, using BLM-designated open roads and trails. On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, an unidentified Duck and about 25 others went riding. Year by year the protest grew. In 1978, the BLM made a furious attempt to shut it down. They threatened the Duck. They lOOk him to court. And on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, 580 riders, outraged over the BLM's actions, headed east from Barstow on existing roads and trails, in the liirection of Las Vegas. The BLM did not like having its feathers ruffled. They hauled the Duck, and two close friends back into court. The BLM spent four days showing its evidence and then both sides were literally ordered by the judge to come to an out-of-court settlement. The settlement, after several months of negotiation, was reached and the charges dropped against the Phantom Duck, who never really had his day in court. Who is the Phantom Duck? Why would Cycle News/West readers, who could name World Champs Kenny Roberts or Bernie Schreiber, AMA Grand National Champ Steve Eklund, or motocross superstars Bob Hannah or Brad Lackey as the Rider of the Year, twice award that title to the Phantom Duck of the Desert, and by overwhelming margins each time? The Phantom Duck of the Desert is now a non-profit corporation dedicated to fighting for motorcyclists' rights in desert land use battles. The Duck, Louis McKey is the president, AI Fob the vicepresident, and Rick Sieman, the editor of Dirt Bike Magazine, is the secretary-treasu rer. Louis, 48, is an electrician for Kaiser Steel in Fontana, while AI, who is Mary McKey's nephew, works as a mea tcu tter. A few days after a busy Thanksgiving Weekend, I traveled out to Fontana to talk with Louis and Mary McKey and Al Fols •.. It's been over a year since the first day in court - Nov. 21, 1978. Could you give us a capsule description of the year and your reaction to lOme of the things that have happened? Louis McKey: Well, I've learned that you can't always say and do what you want, even though it's legal. I think that's the most important .lesson that I've learned, and it's kind of sad in a way. Even though what you're doing is legal, it's terribly expensive to exert your legal rights. I don't think it should be that way, yet it is that way. Therefore, I intend to be a little more cautious in the future. I feel that recently though, I have been very cooperative with the BLM in the sense that I have done what I felt was best to prevent a confrontation in the desert on Thanksgiving weekend. The BLM has also been, I think. more or less forced into changing their attitude also, which was reflected in their leaving a legal route open for the people who wanted to ride from Barstow to Vegas this year. If they continue that attitude, we can actually accomplish a lot and we can work together. If they close that avenue, and decide to go back to their hard line. I'm not going to be quite as cooperative as I was in the past. I'm going to exert a little more effort to try to get the BLM to cooperate a little more. What do you thinIr. wu the IIlOIt significant thing of the year? Obviously, the trial WaID't a very positive thing. Do y01l hold any animosity towards the BLM? Louis McKey: No, not really. Perhaps I did at one time. but if I did, it's forgotten now. The thing that's most forward in my mind right at the moment, and I think it's a tremendous stride that has been made. is the opening of that utility corridor for use on that Thanksgiving weekend in . particular, and recognizing that that route' is actually open all the time and having the BLM admit that that route is a legal route to use is the most important advance that off:roaders and other multiple-use users of desert land have gained in five years. At Fols: Another point too is the Ludlow-to-Parker. A lot of what happened developed out of the Phantom Duck of the Desert lawsuit. According to Jim Ruch. if that had been scheduled for Nov. 25 instead of Oct. 27 it may have been a go. More so than Oct. 27 because of pushing the deadline. Of course, there's a controversy over whether that started dealings with AMA before or after the stipulation was signed. BLM wants everybody to recognize the fact that they worked on the Ludlow-to-Parker event to fulfill their obligations to the stipulation for dismissal, yet they started the Ludlow-to-Parker negotiations with the AMA before the stipulation was ever signed. That will probably always be a controversy because we can't afford to challenge them on that point of whether that was really the fulfillment of our stipulation or if that was something that was begun beforehand just out of dealing with the AMA.. So that we also have a promise that maybe next year Ludlow-to- Parker. What about next year as far as an organized Barstow to Vegas event? Are you working towards anything like that? Louis McKey: I actually have hopes of some type of pertnitted event. There again, it depends on the BLM's attitude. I wouldn't expect to go back to the type of race we had in 1974. There is still the opportunity for a hare and hound type motorcycle race. I would think that a timed start with smaller groups would be a practical way to approach the BLM on a natural race. Do you see other events besides the Ludlow-to-Parker and BantoW to Vegas events?

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