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WIST
America's. weekly
motorcycle newspaper
Sharon Clayton, Publiaher
Caroline Genclry, uecutive Secretary to
the Publisher.
Victoria Smith, Advcnioing/Editorial
AIoiItant.
Editorial
Charla Morey" Managing Editor. Dale
Brown, Editor. Mark. Kariya, Editor,
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johnoon, West Sales Manager. Linda
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Cop,.Ight. Cycle N_. Inc. '981.
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MrWCI.
ON THE FRONT PAGE: set
egalnat e striking springtime
beckdrop In the Deep South,
twtey's FlT Tow GIde CIeaIe WlIha enxIousIy to get beck
on the roecI for enott.- trip.
Our riding Impreulon a.n.
on
28. Photo by Tom
M
.
Four percent solution
Did you know:
That over 90% of all motorcycles
~ for ~ use in this country
are from Japan?
That 6% are Harley-Davidsons.
That less than 4% com~ from ev~ry·
wh~re~~1
th~ own~r of a Euro~n
motorcycl~ to do? Ev~rywh~r~ w~ go,
peopl~ want to mow: Does it run? Do
What is
Ducatis self destruct at 200 MPH? Is a
Lav~rda an Italian shoe? Ar~ BMW
rid~n all eccentric. middl~-ag~d, or
both? Is a Morini a myth?
Own~n of European motorcycles
unit~1 L~t's show those ric~bum~r
own~n that w~'r~ all compl~tely nuts.
~t's g~t togeth~r and go for a rid~ out
of town, past th~ Ort~ga, and b~yondl
W~'11 show '~m.
Sunday, Jun~ 28 is th~ day. W~'r~
going to m~t at Rickey Rac~r's in
Costa Mesa and ride over som~ exciting
roads to our destination for lunch,
som~h~r~ in th~ mountains of San
Di~go County. It's about 2~0 miles
round trip. Th~r~ is gas. Th~r~ is
food. Th~r~ is no mechanic. Come
pr~pared. and r~memb~r, this is not a
race. For furth~r information, you can
call Rickey Racer at 7I4/6~1-04~0.
SON of RICKEY
Costa Mesa, CA
A drag for Preston
I fint be<:am~ involved in th~ world
of motorcycles in 1957...even though I
do hat~ to admit that I'm that old.
Besides riding anywher~ I found a
race, I sponsored lIeV~ral riden.
A regular stop of mine was th~
w~k.ly short track and/or -rr races at
the beautiful, grape'filled ar~a just
below Fresno...mown as Selma, CA.
I had mad~ fri~nds with a pair of
Novice riden at Ascot...Elliott Schultz
and Preston Petty. Schultz alr~ady had
a steady ride for Selma and Preston
was looking. At that time I had th~
local Triumph/Honda shop in Bakenacres and I offered Petty a ride on my
old 40" Triumph.
The fint night out, th~ promoten
decided to giv~ th~ fans in th~ grand·
stand a little "extra" show, and let up
a wheelie contest. with a whol~ $10
going to the winner. Petty asked if he
could enter... and I gave him the "goahead. " It was a contest between
Schultz and Petty since the othen were
no contest to trna pair. First Schultz...
then P~try... back and forth ...each
time just a bit farther than the other.
Petty was the 1aat to get rna chance at
bettering Schultz...and he went for it.
A well known track·builder. whose
monogram is "HM," was preparing
the track for th~ main event at about
the time Petty made his fmal run down
the front straight. Petty had the old 40
incher high on the rear wheel. .. when
he saw something moving just to the
edge of the gas tank. Panicl He let the
bike back down on both wheels. The
only problem was that the wheels
ended up on opposite sides of the very
large wooden drag that "HM" was
pulling acl'Olll the race track. The bike
was destroyed ... but they did give us
the $10 fint place money.
Petty... if you can see trna letter
better than you can see a 15' X 15'
drag...1 would Iilr.~ to hear from you.
sa that we can "hench-race" a littler
DIGGER HELM
P.O. Box 1726
Bakersfield. CA
805/~24-9701
PubrlShed letters do not necesurily reflect the position of
Cycle News, Inc. send len..
to Voices. Box 498. Long Beech.
CA90801.
Guest
Editorial
Twice each year, the best motocrossers in the world face each
other in team events for the
honor of their country. The two
events are held one w~k apart. The .
Troph~ Des Nations is a 250cc race
tha.t in 1981 will take place in West
Germany. One week later the same
riden race 500cc's in Yugoslavia at the
Motocl'Olll Des Nations.
They are the mOllt prestigious events
in motoe:ra., yet the U.S .. for the last
two yean, hu DOt participated. With
your help in 1981. our riders will go
and win. There are a multitude of
reasons responsible for our absence,
but they can all be solved by getting to
the main one... LACK OF FUNDS.
It's difficult to imagine money being
a problem. but that's the bottom line.
The factories, with mega-buck race
teama, have no reason to pursue these
events with a U.S. team. They have
riden in Europe campaigning the
Grand Prix circuits. 10 why send more?
Further, racing in the U.S. is aimed at
individual titles. and factory point
standings - Titles and points that sell
bikes. There is no motivation for
s~ding bucks on an effort with no
VISible financial gains.
So, for the last two yean. the U.S.
hu not been repreacnted. The best
motocrollen in the world have stayed
home while Belgium, Russia. France,
Italy, England, and the rest of the
motocross powen compete to prove
dominance in the motocl'Olll world.
Dominance that easily should belong
to the U.S.
The world directon of motocross.
the FlM. have decided that if the U.S.
is not interested in their events, then
they are not interested in the U.S. A
righteous position.
The 125 U.S. Grand Prix, a fixture
at Lexington. Ohio since 1975, bas
been dropped from the 1982 schedule.
It·s a warning. Get with the program
or get out. If we ignore the warning,
we will lose the 250 GP at Unadilla
and the SOO GP at Carlsbad.
Motorcyclists as a group have
banded tQJlfthcr to fight many issues,
including helmet laws. land closures,
and noise restrictions. It's time now to
face a new issue. one of pride and self
satisfaction. It's time to get together
and raise the funds needed to ~Id a
top notch team to blow the Europeans
into the weeks.
Dick Miller. editor of MOtoCTOSS
A ctian, hu taken the fint steps. He
has acquired commitments from
Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, and
Suzuki that they will match dollar-fordollar. the donations received by you.
up to $5,000 per company. If we raise
$20.000. they will donate another
$20.000. It sounds Iilr.e a lot. but it will
cost approximately $10.000 to send
one rider. his mechanic. and rna bike
to Europe for two weeks. There are
four riden per team. 10 we need a
minimum of $40.000. Hopefully. we
will raise enough to send an alternate
rider. and a team manager.
During the n~xt few months, Tshirts and decals will be traded for
your donations. Promoten and clubs
throughout the U.S. will be contacted
and aslted for support. Cycle News,
th~ bible of our sport, bas agreed to
assist by publishing information pertaining to our efforts. Hopefully.
additional publications and organizations with clout in the cycle industry
will jump on the wagon and get
behind our efforts.
It would be easy to ignore the
Motocross and Troph~ Des Nations
and the challenge that has been issued
by the rest of th~ world. But I don't
believe that's the American way and
it's certainly not the way of motorcyclists. So let's pool our efforts. Let's
send a team to Europe.
Next week:
Indy M';le #1!
