Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

,, ... r .~ _1 . 1 ~. !""'"-~_._.~---- -_. _---- ---- sta rte d bv hi s fath er. H e sti ll r id es m otorc vcl es o n th e s tree t, a nd rakes h is res t~red KR H arl ey to Da yton a eve ry year fo r the Vin t a g~ ra ce . \\' h ~ n he 's no t in rh e shop or wo rk in g o n h is KR , Roger ca n be found u p in th e ai r - he has a hot -air ball oo n a nd holds a co m me rc ia l .licen se for it. Nixon no w ru ns G ary Nixon Enterp ri ses. a bu sin ess th at ca ters to racers a nd m o to rcvcl e deal ers . H ~ lives in P ho en ix, :\I:irvl and , with his wife o f " 19 years , fh 'e'm onths. eig h t d a ys an d t h ree h ou rs. " a nd th eir t wo ch ild ren , Gary Jr.. l -Land Kary Anne. 8, a ttracted . A C ycl e N ews report o f R om er o' s victory ba nq ue t m enti on s that guests included, "TV a nd m ovie stars Ba r ba ra Ed en, M ik e Ansara a nd Jimmy Darren . All three a re avid cycle rid er s. Barbara a nd Mike wer e vi ~wing th eir fir st p rofessional race." 1969 Mert Lawwill HI would n 't enjoy raci ng no w as m uch as I d id back t h cn . It was cheaper bac k the n. Th e racers today ma ke m ore m oney, bu t th ey n eed to spend a lo t m ore. It' s m ore co m p lica ted now ; yo u a lmost hav e to be a Ph il adelphia lawyer to run a ll the races, wha t with th e IR S chas ing you arou nd a nd a ll." Besid es icc racing, Markel likes to r ide street bik es, incl udi ng his new V15 H onda , a nd indulg es ina lill ie rnot or ros sing every now a nd th en . Ban has two g r own ch ildren , Stacey and Ba rt jr. , a nd lives w ith h is w ife J o Ann in Fli nt. 1963-71 Dick Mann Dick Ma n n jokes th at h e won his firs t title "bac k in the dark a ges ." On a more se r io us note, ;\Ia n n. sa ys. " It was sort of a shock. Fo r years i t was j us t assumed that the top H a rl ey guy wo ul d w in the titl e. Yo u 've go t to remember tha t R esw e be r or L eonard were a little bi t bett er ca l ib er of riders th a n th e res t o f us; th e" wer e fant astic, 'K enn y Ro bert s' t)'pes. No bo d y gave the res t o f us much of a c ha nce. I was the first non -Harley guy to win and I th in k it woke th e industry up 10 th e Iact th at maybe somebody else besides th e Il a r lt:" team cou le'l win the titl e." . Di ck 's second title - this time for th e BSA factor y - ca rn e ei g h t years lat er. th e lon gest span bet ween two Grand National C ham p ionships. Yo u ca n sti l l fin d the 49-vear-o ld Mann racing o n S u n days n ear his R ich m ond , Californ ia , h ome. H e co mpe tes in a ma teur m ot ocro ss n ow a nd, yes. h e usu all y wi ns . Besides racin g for fun , D ick e njoys restoring o ld bikes; his curren t project is a n AJ S P o rcu p in e. When h e pries h im self awa y from motorcycles. Dick runs a busin ess tha t br ings foreign cars in to co m pl iance with U.S . em issions requi rern enr s, 1964 Roger Reiman R o g e r R e i m a n liv es toda y i n Ke wa n ee, Illin o is. wh ere - he -runs R ~ i m a n H a rl ~ y - Da v i d so n . a bu s in ~" Mert Lawwil l's joy in winning th e Grand National Championship is tem p ered somewhat by th e fa ct th at fac tors beyond his co nt ro l p reven ted h im from rep ea tin g as Champion . " T here isn't really a way to describe ho w I felt about winni ng the Champio nship ," Lawwi ll, no w 43, says. " I t was a n in ner feeling o f extreme ac complis h ment. It gave m e confi den ce and security." Rom ero cu rre n tly has h is han d s fu ll ge lli ng thin g s ready for th e 1984 season. a nd betw een sorti ng o u t deta il s a nd fl yin g to Japan for rn ect i ngs . does n ' t have m uch spa re rime. In a very shan intervi ew befo re lea vin g for th e Or ient , Ro m ero d id say th a t he ha s very high hopes for th e new season . Recallmg hi sda ys on th ed irt track s a n d road ra cin g co u rses. Rei m an says t ha t thin g s wer e a lo t differen t fro m th e fu ll- Iacro ry invo lvement of today . HI was factory sponsored . but n ever ha d a Iact ory-preparcd hike." he says . "M e a nd m y dad d id a bout 99 perce n t o f th e work o n th e bikes." Even a t th e biggest race o f th e yea r. the Da yton a roa d race. thin g s WC IT Oil a gra ss-ro ots leve l. "If th ey (Har leyDav id son ) had seven Iactory tea m riders. th en th ey had seve n m or orc vcles th ere. You p ick ed yo ur m ot orc)'c le o u t a t th e beginning o f t he week a n d th en you worked o n it. " 1972 Mark Brelsford Th e yea rs foll owing hi s titl e-win - 1967-68 Gary Nixon Gary Ni xon had definite g oa ls in mind whe n he started ra cing. HI wasn 't thin kin g of ma king mi llions o f d ol la rs like Freddi e Spen cer , but I w as thi n kin g of making m oney. bu ying a ho u se and even t ua lly becom in g vice president of th e Triumph Corporation ." Gary figured the best wa y to accomp lish his g oa ls was 10 win th e ti tle fo ur rimes.J ik e Carroll Reswebe r. H ~ m ade it halfwa y. winni ng two C ha mpio nships befo re a series of injuries cu rtai led h is dirt-tra ck career . ,....., ,....., ning season were frustrat ing, however . First th ere wer e reliabilit y problems with Merr 's Iact orv Harlev-D a vidsons. th e th e n-new i~on -barr~ll~d XR models. " It was a s truggle just to keep it running, " Lawwil l sa ys, Then , inner-ear troubl es that th rew off hi s ba lance ca used Lawwil l to retire in 19ii. For a fierce co m petito r Iik« Lawwill th e for ced reriremem was tough to swall ow. " I t was a sore spot with m e," he say s. " bu t I sort of turned the page on it. " Mer t's mechanica l skills helped h im turn th a t p ag e. As ea r ly as 19i 3, he was maki ng speed p a rt s for Har ley ra cing engines. W h en he retired, he ex p a nde d the busin ess. Today a good p ercentage of the fa st pr iva teer H a rley- Davidsons o n the circu it are using La w will frames o r en g ine parts. For the 1984 season Lawwi ll ho pes to work wi th rider Garth Brow o n a ne w a l um i n u m-f r a med , rising-rateshocked H arl ey. Mer t a lso h in ts th a t something rea lly big may be in the wi ngs for the new season, bUI he won 't com me nt a ny further. " It migh t be pretty exc iti ng." he says. " If it happens yo u won 't h a ve to ca ll m e, you 'll h ea r abou t i t." Mark Brel sford ha s remain ed o u t o f th e limelight o f racing activiti es since his d a ys as a H arley-Davidson team m ember. H e lives in Alaska now a nd is not involved in any motorcycle-rela ted busin ess. . ~ " / ".\ ) ,-) ~ ,.. / Wh il e o ne of th e mos t li ked a nd a ffa ble peop le on th e circuit. rh e p ressu re of raci n g seemed to ge t to Mark even before h e was N u m ber One, a nd created more problems th an he likes 10 ta lk about. After winning th e title a nd h is subsequent inj u ry in a fiery crash a t th e I 9i 3 Da ytona road race, h e never came back wit h the verve a n d fervor he had displayed in wi n ni ng th e champions hip a nd re tired soon a fter. 1970 N ixon di d go o n to becom e o ne of America 's best ro ad ra cer s, th ough , winnin g th e road racing tit le in 19i 3 a n d a lmos t beco m in g Am eri ca 's first mo to rcycle Worl d C ha mpio n si nr« J ack Miln e in th e 1930s. T he bitterness he feel s sti ll comes throug h strongly wh en h e ta lks today 'o f losin g the 19i6 World C ha mp io nship in th e Formula i 50 class beca use of " po litics ." , Nixo n savs it took a wh il e for th e faet that he liad won his first Na tional C ha m p io ns h ip to se t in . "A t firs t it wasn 't tha t great a feel ing." he says. " T h ere wasn 't a bi g pa rty th at ni gh t or an ything . \ \ ' h ~ n [ di d feel it was wh en I showed up a t H ou ston th e next vea r a nd I had th a t NUl1Ibct'Oll c' o n m'y bike," Gene Romero 1973-74 Gene R om ~ I'O , know n in his ra ci ng days as " T ig er" or "B urr iu o ." is sti ll heavily involved in racing. Today h e is H on da 's din trac k raci ng ma nager a nd hea ds up a 1984 rea m co n sis t ing of R ic k y Gra ha m , B u h ba Shobert a nd Ro o kie o f th e Yea r Doug Chandler. Ro mero was fortu na te en o ug h to win h is title a t a t ime when the sport was getting higgcr . co nseq ue n tly th e m on et ary rew a rd s wer e g rea ter. Tr iumph pr esented Gent' wt ih a 10.000 bonus fo r w inn in g th e title , co m pa red 10 th e 5500 bonu s th at H a rl e)'. Davidson ga ve fo ur- ti me C h a m p Ca rroll Resweber nin e vears earlier. , Anoth er m~a su r~ o f raciu gv grow in g popu larity wa s th e peo p ll' it Kenny Roberts Alth ough o vers hadowed perha ps by h is th ree 500cc Wo rl d Road Racing C hampions h ips, Kenn y Ro bert s' two Gra nd I\'a tio nal Cha mp ionships s ti ll h a ve a sp ec ia l place i n his m emories. " It was sat isfying for m e and Ya m ah a ," Kenn v sa vs, " beca use I won o n a j apanese m ororcvclc when evervbo dv said it couldn ' t he d on e." [~' en for soni eon c li ke Ke n nv Roberts. th ou gh , th ere is pressure ass oc ia ted with h~ing Number One. " Peop le are looking for faults . everyboth want s to shoot vo u dow n ." he ,,1\;' " W hen vo u 'r e ,;umher 80. vo u ca;1 g Ob f't tp ' :Ind it 's O K. but wlren you 're I\' um ber One. you 're a repr~ - '7

• Cover