Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Birthday party (Con tin ued from page 7) Larry Maiers (t o p) presents Jeff Ward. Broc Glover (bottom left) and Ron Lechien (botto m right) with awards at the AMA MX banquet. A M A M X awards b an qu et By Kit Palmer ANA H EIM, CA. NOV. 8 The American Motorcyclist Association held its annual motocross awards banquet, this year a t the Anaheim Sheraton Hotel, and presented National Motocross Champions \~ard 's tun er Mike i\,1cAnd rews also p ic ked up Mech a ni c of th e Yea r Awards in the 125 a nd 250cc cla sses. For th e seco nd year in a ro w, H onda clai med th e Manufacturer' s Award with five-time 500cc Wo rld Ch ampi on Rog er DeCoster accepting. Scott Goggles USA representative Bevo Forte pr esented Gl over , Lechi en a nd Frank with wate r skies, ski vests a nd envelopes said to have chec ks insid e; as a joke, there were n o che cks in sid e th e en velopes, Ron L eeh ien , J eff Ward a nd . Brae G lov er With plaq ues, as we ll as hon oring th e 1985 125. R ki f h 250 a n d :>O ee 0 0 res 0 t e O 16 Year : Bill y Fra nk, Scoo ter Sta fford a nd Kevin Foley. Ward also p icked up h is Su pe rcross C ha m pi o ns hi p Award , while the 500cc Mech anic o f the Yea r Awa rd went to Gl over 's long-t im e wrench , J ohn Rosentiel. Lechi en 's mechanic Chris Haines and ...... . . . ... : ~ Dunlop inv ented th e pneumatic tire in 1888) a nd by rela yin g a congra tulatory phone message from Pr esid ent Ronal d Reagan 's Assista nt for Sche d u ling (the Pr esident, th e message said, co u ldn' t a tten d th e banquet because he wa s preparin g for th e su m m it co n fere n ce with Russian lead er Gor ach ov). Congressman Glenn Anderson (DCA ) told the ga thering th at he had raced agains t Ed Kretz (who attended th e banquet ) 50 years ago in sou the rn California dirt track event s. Anderso n started in motorcycling by buying an Indian Chief to ride to work as a postal messen ger; he made hi s postal rounds on foot, then on bicycle, then worked into delivering messages on his motorcycl e. He bought a Harley-Davidson a nd gained fame within th e postal service as the fastest, most reliable messenger in Los Angeles. That 's why he was assigned to carry newsreel film from th e finis h lines of 1932 Olympics events to movie studios, often riding h is Harley orr th e £loor of the L.A. Co liseum a n d through a tunnel before the ' massed crowd, immedi atel y foll ow ing a race fini sh. Anderson cred ited the police in hi s hometown of Hawthorne with getti ng him into racing, The police were too awa re of hi s speed on th e street, located a Super X racer. talked Anderson into bu yin g it. and had th e cit y ma intenance department build a fifth-mil e practi ce track just outside town for Anderson to pra ctice on. The result was Anderson racing five ni ghts a week in sou thern California a t various sho rt tra cks. a nd th e two other nights o f th e week in Visal ia a nd Em eryville, H e ended up with a sq ua d of Crock ers, wh ich were mad e in southern Cal ifornia . a nd signed two teammates to ride with him in th e events . By 1935 th e popularit y of motorcycle d irt track events waned a s midget cars ca me on th e scene and sta rted dr awin g away spec ta tors. And erson sa id. a nd by that tim e he had built up a good bu siness in tuning and main taining poli ce bik es and privatelyo wned motorcycles a nd a u to mo biles. T o that base he added a Willis ca r franch ise a nd open ed a 24-hour gas . station . He ran for city co u nc il a t age 25, in 1938, a nd lost by 18 vot es; th e next year. he won by th e biggest margi n in ci ty h istory a nd beca me Mayor of Hawthorne. That laun ched hi s political career. whi ch saw h im elected to th e U.S. Co ng ress 18 years ago. Anderson told th e cro wd that he still occasion all y rides sma ll tra il bikes, a nd tha t " No t very man y people in government ride mo tor cycles, and if you ha ven 't ridd en , you j us t ca n' t und er stand ." And er son , a sta u nch o pponent of mandat or y hel me t law s, recently a u tho red a bill th at a llows motorcycles in HOV (h ig h-occu pa n t-veh icle, or car-pool) designated urban h ighwa y lan es un less sta te h ighway officia ls certify th at a llo wing mot or cycles in such lanes presented a safety hazard . The problem . And erson said, is that now a si mple, non- substantiated sta teme nt in a leiter to the Secreta ry of T ransportation a llo ws th e excl us io n of mo to rcycles; th at's a lo oph o le he hadn 't ant ici pa ted stal es using, and he's working to clos e it. Meanwhile. his bill HR3129. he sa id. would o ffer in centives to sta tes to focu s speed law enforceme nt on the most £l agr ant viol a tor s. versus bu sting people for travell ing 59 mph o n rural intersta te h ig hways. Anderson a lso revealed h is sup port for legislation that would ra ise the speed limi t to 65 mph on rural interstate highways if a state governor certif ied to th e Secretary of Transportation that rais ing th e speed limit to 65 mph on a gi ven interstate highway would not pr esent a hazard. The key to th e success o f that leg islati on . and o the r legi slation o f in teres t to mor or- : cycl ists, is active sup port from motorcyclis ts, Ander son sa id , in cluding lett ers to Secre tary of T ran sportat ion Elizabeth Dole a nd to Co ngressmen a nd Sena tors. "There a re not a lot o f motorcycl ists in the Co ngress," Anderson sa id, " You need to take an active role o n issues that concern you." Anderson's speec h was followed by a film clip of th e July 4, 1920 Dodge City 300-mile dirt track. run on a dusty, two-mil e o va l in the middle of Kansas wh eat field s in 110° heal. The race was won by Jim Davis, now 85, who was in the audience at the ban quet and added commentary as th e film was show n . He ran th e last of the 150 laps as fast as he did his first. reaching abou t 100 mph, Davis said lat er, wh en introduced by Maiers, and spe nt the whole time sitting in the saddle of his ma chine, ma king pit SlOpS for gas, lire chan ges and a q uic k drink. Wh en he started racing, he was 14, Davi s said , but he told th e referee that he was actually 18. Sho bert joined Davis on th e stage with Mai ers. a nd sa id he was amazed that racer s rod e on suc h skin ny tires, in dust so bad th ey disappeared from view wh en following other riders . Davis wanted to meet Spencer, he told Mai ers, a nd Spen cer came up to meet Davis . Other sh ort films were shown, one recounting Spencer 's 1985Grand Prix seaso n, anot her showing Shobert's successfu l attack on the Camel Pro Seri es and Stroh 's Mile Series. Peter Starr presented Shobert with a check for $20.000 from Stroh Breweri es. AMA Chairman John Hasty presented the AMA's Dud Perkins Award, the associati on 's highest honor, to Bill Bagnall, wh o. in 1969, ope ned up talk s bet ween th e AMA and the FIM . Those talks led to th e AMA becoming the FIM a ffilia te in the U.S. a nd made possible th e successes racked up by Am eri can racers in World C hampionship events. Youngbl ood presented Spencer with FlM go ld meda ls a nd an engraved silver tra y for his 1985 250cc and 500cc Road Racing World Championships, and a lso presented Spencer with a Sil ver Cup for bein g th e AMA Pro Ath lete of the Year. Laws on received hi s FlM silver medal for being seco nd in the 1985 500cc Road Racin g World Championshi p. Ma iers inte rviewed en th usiasts J im Carlto n a nd Ray Behner. who built th eir vers ion o f a replica of the first motorcycle, th e 1885 Reitwagen built by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Ma ybach. The machine. which the pair constructed using a three-byfour-in ch ma gazine photo as a guide, was ridden th e morning befor e the banquet by Spencer, Shobert and Camel Pro Series Roo kie of the Year Chris Carr in a re-enac tme nt of the original 7.5-mile motorcycle rid e. The Carlton/Behner replica is actually betw een 150% a nd 200% scale . and isn ' t a true reproduction, but it stood in very well in th e ab sen ce of the real bike. T he offi cial portion of the banquet was closed by the open ing of champagne as a band p layed "Happy Birthday." The band was sponsored by R .J . Reyn o lds T obacco Co . whi le AMA District 37 sponsor ed the p re-di n ner cockt a ils and Bel-R a y sponsored the £lower a rra ngeme nts on each tab le. The cha m pagne was sponsored by Gary Bang. • I. • • L • •

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