Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

'DBA Championship Drag Race Series: Round 3 McClure, Vance, Wills wail st Louisville SuperNafionals ...... By Tony lee LO UISVILLE. KY, J UN E 15-16 This rigid -frame side-valve Indian may have seen racing service - or may have been restored to look that way. McQueen 24 (Con tin u ed f rom pag e / 7) illSisted th a t 3. 198 ot he r diners were still vert ical. T h is dou bler was furt her . u nmoved by my pl ea th at I'd dropped eno ug h coin on the green bai ze to be a m inor owner of th e casi no, and he refused m y sugges tio n that a few co m p lime nt ary chips might be in order. BUl the vi triol in m y eye was ternpe red whe n I rem embered th is wa s Vegas. a city known for its I tal iana te U n ion . Eti q ue tte dem anded th at I rema in civilized ere I be dealt with as a cra n k o r n ui sance (journalists being bo th ) and tosse d o u t a win dow to see how well I fly. Though managem ent was exq ui si tely polite. I ga zed o u t th e win dow of m y room. a nd as I co u ld h ea r my th ig hs bo nes cracking from the d ro p . it was small co nso la tio n th is was a firs t-Iloor room with, a th ree-foot drop 10 dewey grass. If vo u 're lost in th e maze. a n d ca n' t co nnec t bodily ills with th e Steve McQueen aucti on, I'll turn on th e flas h lig h t: Because I was rendered iUIO so much quivering flesh, I got to wat ch th e Rai der 's football game ins tead of a ttend ing th e first hours o f th e rolling mo tor cycle parade. However. my journalist's long-distance ear informed me that the bidders were ge tting hosed , a nd they were doing it 10 th emselves. It was devilishly clear th e McQueen a uction story wasn't going to reach th e prints of darkness eas ily, a nd m y roiling innards were sym bo lic of th e story's turmoil. More to th e point, th e a uction was so loath esome, I was glad to mis s a s much o f it as possible. But duty trumpeted, a nd I finally resurrected m yself, too late ' for free ras pberry Danish. I tried focusing on th e motorcycle ci rcus , but m y eyes refu sed 10 coo pera te, and I noted onl y th at a 1909 Pi erce sold for $25,000 a nd McQueen 's 1974 Yamaha enduro for 4,250, about 10 times its intrinsic wo rt h . At this point, an o ther journa lis t ca lled th e auction a black co m ed y a nd wondered aloud if he co u ld slip hi s own j u n ker bike into th e line-up. If yo u just want the straight facts , here the y a rc: There wer e lot s of o ld Indians and Harleys with a few odd br ands toss ed in, and th ey a ll so ld for enormous sums of money. To be su re, th ere were man y beautifull yrestored vintage bikes, bUI th eir spa rkle was lost in th e tawdriness o f th e wa rs. I d id try to ge t into th e spirit. The m agazin e had a u thorized S50 for a ny p hotos of McQueen a boa rd the Indian chop pe r, but th ere wer e no such photos and nothing so ld for as lilli e as $50 . However , company a uthorization to bid should never be wasted , and I exercised pl enary powers by raising five fingers for a 1936 Indian, knowing I co uld expense acco u n t it by ha ving a nother brok en cl utc h ba sk et. Th e five fi ngers, though, was taken to mea n $5,000, a nd until I wa s outbid I kn ew it would be a slow tr ip back to L.A. with many brok en clutch baskets . (By th en , I was in th e groove an d mad e an opening bid of 50(000 ) on McQueen 's prized J aquar XK -SS. Fortuna tel y, m y bid was not h eard, a nd th e fi na l se lli ng p r ice was $147,500. ) I ret ired agai n to th e hotel room . The acme o f th e mo to rcycl e auction occ urred while I was wa tchi ng th e Ra ider's kicker miss a 19-yard field goa l: McQueen 's '47 Indian chopper fell to th e auctioneer 's ga vel for $6,000. This had to be p re-ordai ned ; someon e else besid es Ek in s and m e kn ew thi s had been McQueen 's weekend 'geta wa y bike. I soon heard th at th e Imperia l Palace bought th e Indian, with the intention of mounting a wax likeness of McQueen on it for display in the Pal ace' s museum . R um or further says this is the same ha ll where Adolf Hitler resides in perpetui ty. What an awful fat e! McQueen stuffed with a ' sm ile forever carved into his ch eeks, th e cool squin t-eyed look there to be seen by tourists from ' Nebraska on th eir way to Wall y World. It wasan image that haunted meas I raced back across th e Moj ave to L .A. I sank into th e gl oom of knowing tha t two confl icting portrai ts of McQueen had em erge d from th e journalist 's hand. I'd come to learn a bo u t th e publ ic and private lives of Steve McQueen, a nd I left La s Vegas with a story marked like a n in tersection with signs to the same town but pointing in diff erent directions. Yet in retrospect, it wa s Ekin 's descriptions that haven 't faded in time. Though I began th e McQueen odyssey with his film s, to lionize The Star is to pursue shadow s. No, th e MeQueen memoriam is simply that he was a dedi cated motorcycli st with a unique style, whether it be mi sfiring hi s wa y down some road on th e junker Ind ia n ch op per, p erforming some unapproved, daredevil motorcycle stu nt s behind th e scenes, or cu tlin g h im self o n a screwdriver. Next time you' re a t th e Ro ck Store, h oist a brown-bagg ed Col d One in tri bu te to Steve McQueen , who o nce was one of us. • Jim McClure, the untiring campaigner of a Harley-Davidson Pro Dragster, got his first Pro Camp win in seven years of IDBA drag raci n g a t the Su perN a ti o nals at Ohio Valley Racew a y a n d did it th e hard wa y. McClure qu alifi ed h is H a rl ey, sponso red by Master Perfo r m a n ce Cycl es, Spect ra Oil . Prim o Bel t Dri ve a nd Riv era Engine erin g, in the fihh spo t o f the 16-bike field with a 5.356 seco nd p ass on th e eigh th-mile tra ck. T he 43year-o ld McClure no t on ly had his H ar ley h onkin ", - he cu t th e sta rti n g lig ht s o n every oppone nt he di d n't ha ve co vered by a t least two-tent hs , a nd there wa s o nly o ne o f th ose. H is reaction tim es on th e sta rt were exceptional. The Pro Com p fin a l was between McClure a nd Bob T Olly, on a Suzu ki sponso red by Edwa rds Performa nce, Superbike Mik e, Star Cycle. Fali co n, Wiseco , Ca m Mal ian. MR E a n d H ow ell Fu el. TOlly was num ber six qualifier with a 5.398 lim e a nd had defeat ed th e number two quali fier, J erry Meyers. in th e seco nd round. Wh en TO lly a nd McC lure staged for th e final. McC lure got out his a xe for th e fourth time and chop ped down a .431 seco nd reacti on time 10 T Olly's .529, winning th e race on th e sta rti ng lin e. AI th e finish, it was McClure with a 5.33 seco nd, 138.88 mph winnin g run to T Olly's 5.38. T erry Vance qualifi ed hIS Vance & H in es Suzuki in the number one spo t with a n ew IDBA Pro Stock eig h th m ile ela psed tim e record o f 5.28, a full tenth a head of hi s nearest co m pet itor, David Sch u ltz, a nd went on to win Pro Stock handily. Schultz, th e number two qualifi er on a Dave's Carburetor Servicc/ MRE/ T subak i/Dyna Ignition -backed Kawasa ki. lo st in the first round when hi s engine bogged off th e line. Van ce met " P izza J ohn " Mafaro in th e final. Mafaro , th e number six qualifi er . had ignit ion p robl em s on hi s burnout while stagi n g for th e fin al an d pu lled o ff the line with a red light to gi ve Vance a solo for th e win a t 5.39. Van ce left th e meet with a new ' IDBA eig h th -m ile record o f 5.28 / 132.93 for th e 660-foo t m easured di stance in addition 10 h is Pr o Slack w rn. Top Fu el wa s a pi ece o f ca ke for Sa m Will s. H is Purple People Eat er Kaw asaki, sponsored by Naff Racing, -Raci ng Inn ovat ion s, Suncoast, APE. MT C, Fal icon , MC V, Megacyd e, Karat a and Performan ce Machine. qua lified in th e num ber th ree spot wit h a 4.95 , but he came back Su n day m ornin g to run a 4.85 in th e practi ce ro u nd. Will s met top quali fier Bob Malloy in th e first round, but Malloy's Karata Kaw asaki wasn 't showing th e form it had on .Sa tu rday. T h e Malloy ma ch ine , sponsored by Kara ta , Falicon , IRCD, Web Cam, SBSa nd FBF, qualifi ed at 4.87, but turn ed o n ly a 5.36 aga ins t Will s' 4.86 in the first round. First ro u n d actio n a lso sa w Elmer Trett la y down a 4.96 with his Co swo rt h Piston s/Prim e Products/Perform an ce Ma ch in e /W eb C am / Spectro /Trett's Speed & Custom-sponso red Kaw a s ak i agai ns t Larr y McBridc's 5.26. o n h is Su zuk i spon sored by Pro Blend Chemical , Arai s Racin g Piston s, Maaco Auto Painting. Reidel I Machine & T oo\, and T subaki. McBride th rew a drive belt on th e run wit h Tre u a nd wh en word ca me th at Elmer wa s blown beyond rep air, McBr ide o ffered to make a show run with Wills for t he final so th at th e fans would see a side-by-sid e run. Th e fans gO what th ey came for I when Will s laid down a 5.05 / 163.63 for th e win. McBride was right beside him with a 5.02. Th e Funny Bike ranks were all shook up. Th e winner a nd runnerup were number three and four qua lifier s. J on Baugh a n d George Bryce, th e top two qualifi ers, each lost out in th e semis, so Bobby Baker and Gary Falla met on th e fin al run . Bak er was th e number three qualifier. purring hi s Martin Cycle, Star Cycle-sponsored Kawasaki in that pos ition with a 5.03. Falla's spot was based on a 5.06 laid down in th e seco nd round of qualifying on his GP Kaw asak i/Star Cycle-sponsored Kawasaki . In th e run for the money, Baker laid down a 4.98/146.57 on a .529 reacti on time to get the win again st Falta's 5. 12/ 135.54 on a .627 reaction. Th e 1985 Sportsman Rider of the Year. Allen Mueller , won Competilion El iminator with an a lmost p er fect reaction time of .502 (.501 is perfect o n a five-amber, five-tenths tree) for hi s 6.69 o n a 6.55 F/F record. Mu ell er rides a Norton sponsored by Leo Goff Racing. Mueller outran Timothy Matthews and his Performa nce PI us En gi neer ing-sp o n so re d Suzuki for th e win. The ET Bra cket d ivision was won by Rick Men ckow sk i an d h is Pro Cycle/ Rick's Drywall & T aping-spon so red Suzuki with a 6.55 o n a 6.54 d ia l-in. Th e runner -up was J ohn Det.isle. -, •

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