Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

crash wall and nobody said anything about it. People lined up between the wall and the barrels by the track. And I'd see guys get in high speed wobbles coming down thefront straightaway, slam to the ground and slide - if those people were by the barrels, they were; going to get it. So, when I took the track back over I told every body to stay away from the barrels; it took me about a year to get the message across to them. Now, I don't- have to tell anybody not to go to the barrels because they know how dangerous it is; they stay by the wall and everything's okay. The only thing I can't understand or how I'm going to overcome is the danger in the pit area. Bikes are always going through there, people are always tuning up. What I need to have is a special area for riders to do all that stuff. Sometimes I'm like Mr. Magoo: when'I walk around the pits, I'm so used to things I don't pay any attention. J was walking around there last weekend and alm9st got hit twice. Have any car racers asked about, or for, Armco barriers? They like the track without it. Some do, but after thev get used. to it (no barriers) they don't mind. But some, (like former Formula One World Auto Racing Champion) Keke Rosberg, feel that Armco would be better in certain places next to the race track. But they don't realize how much I run motorcycles here, and I'm sure not going to put (Armco barriers) up to stop a motorcycle rider. Any explanation why no Armco barriers are better for cars than tracks equipped with Armco. They (car drivers) feel that if they slide off the race track 'they could sail in the air - If I was pu tting myself in their position, I'd like to have the protection there beca use it stops me from sailing off into the bushes and stuff, and it would keep me from roIling over. It (Armco barriers) may be okay on a highway, and I doubt that on a busy highway I'd want to get against it, start spinning around and have other cars piling into me... Plus, I don't like the sparks (caused by a vehicle striking an Armco barrier); sparks cause fires. So, al though I'd feel like I'd be better without Armco barriers, common sense tells me that I don't want them. I think they (car drivers) feel the same way. If I had a flat run-off area next to the track, I wouldn't want barriers. Do you maintain flat areas around the race track? Yes, as much as I can, and then I keep changing them to make them better. Like turn six: I've been workingon it for years; it was solid rock, but now I've got it to where I don't have any problems. Turn six was the worst corner on the race track - it would really mutilate cars, but noone would pay any attention to it. I haven't really fixed it, but since I fixed it cars have gone off turn six and nothing has happened to them. What are the accident results between a car going off the track at Willow and another track equipped with Armco barriers? It's much better. We very seldom get 3 car hurt, unless they run into each other. When they spin, they spin of[ the track and out of the way. Something else: When a car does spin off the track, the dust comes up underneath which keeps fires out. If you build a race track right, you don't need Armco barriers. They try to cram everybody up against the front row next to the track because Armco was made for the spectators. There are exceptions, like Daytona where they have high banks; if that wall wasn't there, it would be hell. But that's a different situation, where if a car spins and stays on flat ground it would be in fairly good shape. ~:.. ...... .. ... ... .. How long have you been involved with Willow Springs? I've owned it for over 20 years. Then, in 1966,1 had a balloon payment, and in order to hang onto the track, I leased it out for over 15 years, then I came back about four years ago in 1980. What has changed about the track since you first ran it in the '60s? When I came back, I put in a thousand feet of crash wall and another thousand feet of pit wall. Then I put in a quarter-mile of pit road from turn nine to turn one, another thousand feet of paving in the pits. Thirtythousand dollars worth of improvements were made to the track itself. I also built garages, a racer's lounge for them to relax in, and another lounge for VIPs. I spent $60,000 to fence off the entire race track, to protect the riders from dogs, kids and spectators crossing in front of them. How is it financially possible to support all of those changes and improve· ments? All the revenues come from the race track, and all of that money goes back into the track. It's. self-.supporting, but it wouldn't be if there was a S50,OOO-a-year pa.yroll. It's been kind of a sacrifice on my part, but I can see that it's been paying off; maybe I'll have it in the kind of shape soon that I won't have to spend all that money. But now I need a quarter-million dollars' worth of bleachers. The racing is now getting good, and there will be all kinds of series next year; they'll be bringing the AFM back, which will be nice. How much have you invested in track facilities and upkeep since I980? About a half million dollars. In a lot of cases, track promoters or operators are hesitant to spend that kind of money. What's different about you? They don't have the money; that's the situation some tracks are in now; owners want the tracks to pay their own way. (Naming one well-known California racing facility) was able to recover two or three times, and then there were a couple of times where they came into some money. One time they tested buses for the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and had a truck driving school on the track, and they ruined the race track in order to save it. They got a lot of money for doing it, but they never got back to paving the track again. I was once approached by Universal Studios. They wanted to come out here and test their tour buses, which weigh something like 10 tons each. I said that I didn't want them. They said, "You don't want the money?" I said no. I didn't want them to run on the track. They were going to pay me $1000 a day. So, what you're saying is that some track operators will ignore the long. tenn welfare of their track and the benefits that it can provide just to tum a profit? Well, yeah. The welfare of the track, they don't understand it. Here's the main thing: Guys who come up to the track to test cars and motorcycles, that's all they're thinking about. When they come to a probLem on the track, that has nothing to do with the motorcycle. The drivers and riders say less about safety or anything being wrong with the race track than ,anyone. So I have to find things out myself and look for them. You've heard about some of the problems at other tracks, well, nobody says anything. It's not until after something happens that they (the track operators) figure it out. . In the first place, a guy wharuns the race track is usually a businessman. He's not a racer, because most racers are not interested in running a race track - they want to race. And the only way to find out if something's wrong on the track is to go out there and ride on it. But the average guy who owns a race track drives back and forth to work, and that's it. He sits in his office, and maybe he'll drive around the track a little bit. But he's not out there looking to see what he can do to make things better. All they're interested in is loading the stands with spectators. I'm not interested in that; a race will get spectators, and I'd hate to have a hundred thousand people around if they're smashing into each other. By reading what you just said, there may be other track operators who think that you doll't have the right attitude for the job. Why do you think differently from other track operators? I kind of place myself in the position of the drivers, riders and spectators. Even when I come to the front gate, I try to act like the dumbest guy in the world so I can see from his point of view what's happening. I see that people are no different from anything else; they follow each other along the lines of least resistance. When it comes to the race track itself, I see other things. It's going to cost me three or four thousand dollars to cut the inside of turn three off; that's where they swing around and start up the hill. And the reason I'm doing that is so guys can see while they're going around the turn, and if a rider can see, he's going to avoid an accident. I'm thinking ahead about this; I'm not saying that nobody's ever got hurt there. This safety thing has been going on since I first had this race track. The first race I ever put on here in 1964 was for sports cars, and a guy got kiHed. My first race! So that was the last car guy to get killed. Since then, there have been some damn serious car wrecks that have happened here, but I've been lucky enough that nobody's been killed. But· that first accident happened near turn seven, eight and nine where there was a bank with a drop-of( on the other side ... butthat wasn't the cause of the accident ... I couldn't stand [or that to happen, 'so I started hustling the money to fill in the bank, and this was when the track wasn't even making a hundred dollars a week. It took some doing to get it all filled in, but there hasn't been an accident there since ... Turn nine's a cinch ... J added about nine feet to the inside of the turn, which has made it faster and safer and better for both cars and bikes. These things take money, but I don't just rush into it. I really think things over: What's the consequence going to be? Right now, on the inside of turns eight and nine, I want to move a berm back; it won't have any effect on motorcycles, but if a car goes through there it gets eaten up. Inexperienced cars don't go off where ex perienced car drivers do. Does it make good economic sense to do all the improvements that have been made at Willow? Yeah, sure. The buildings don't (make sense), but they (the riders) have always wanted modern restrooms but, hell, I couldn't even get done what I wanted to do with the track. And that's another thing: When they wanted to run races backwards, I have enough problems making the track safe when they're running on it the right way. Notonly that, it brings confusion to the whole operation. They also want to bring in more roads to make th.e track different ... But, the simpLer you make things, the better they are for people to understand. When you resumed operation of Wil· low Springs, what was the condition of the track? For years I had wanted to get back into the track, but I couldn't because of the lease agreement that had been made with the other operator. But, occasionally, I'd come around to see what's happening, clean the track and make little' changes here and there, Then, in 1980, I decided to take the track over again. The track never had any improvements done to it, except for the asphalt. About the time I leased the track out was when I built the banking around turn two. And about the same time, back at the sweeper, I didn't build any banking; what I did was dig a ditch and put up some yellow signs. I did that to see what it would be like before anything permanent was set up. because back then a car could go 110 mph through the sweeper, and a bike wouLd do about 120. So I'd come back the next year and see if anybody had hit the signs; after about three years I figured it was safe, so I build a bank there. (t still isn't far enough away for ~he motorcycles, but a guy has got to be insane to be that far out, anyway. What you've been doing seems to have hem more of a labor of love than anything else. And considering the magnitude and resources of Willow Springs in comparison to much larger facilities, do you think that you're doing the kind of job that other track operators should be doing? Yeah, I thin.k so; they (other tracks) should work a 1ittle harder than they are doing. Other tracks use the insurance - I try to avoid using my insurance - and what they do gets back to them. , . . , . The motorcycle racers have it pretty good. Last year I woke up to notice all the rocks laying around the track, so I started rolling them to push them into the ground .. , And the other day J was trying to figure out an easier way for riders to get back to the pits when they breakdown among the hills, . , right now it's a long push back. Have you received any special reo cognition for all the work that you've done at Willow to make it a safer track? I got an award from the John Woo Memorial Safety Foundation in May of last year. I've also had tons o[ people thank me for what I've done to the race track as far as making it safe, especiaJly people who've gone 0(( in an area and then see it fixed. They really appreciate it - it doesn't hurt them and it doesn't hurt their cars. Why do you like having motorcycle races at Willow when other tracks seem as if they don't want to bother with them or make an e££ort to sche· duIe an event at a decent time of the year? I've put car races 0(( dates in order to get the new ARRA series together (which will be held on the first Sunday of every month...Editor), I just like motorcycles, and I get a lot of business from them; I do better with them than almost anything else. Motorcycle racing is good and it's growing faster than anything. It's exciting, and you can see more action than in other racing. The money that (racing promoters) have paid me to have the races has done a lot as far as me being able to spend money on the race track. To help me make progres.s with the race track. they've probably been the biggest help, By listening to the plans you're mak· ing, it could be said that as long as Bill Huth runs Willow Springs, you will always be making it safer for the riders, right? Right. It's going to be here a hell of a long time; Willow will always go on. There will be bigger and more bike races in the (uture. And they'lI be as safe as we can keep them. • ~l. .J i ~ (oJ.l_t )~

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