Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

., f3 a .~ America 's m otorcycle newspaper Volume XXV Sharo n Clay to n. Pu blish er Mik e Klin gr:T,Co mpl rollcf Skip j ohnson . Associate Publish er! Na tio na l Sa l~s M ana ger J ack Man gu s. Associate Publish er/ Edit or Rheba Sm ith . Ci rcu latio n Managn Ca rol ine Ge nd ry, Ex ecut ive Secre tary to lh i! Publish er Editorial Kil P a lm er , Associat e Ed ito r II Pau l Carruthers. Associ ate Edit or Farren Willi ams. As sociate Editor Na te Rauba. A ssociate Editor Br ia n Ca tterso n . A ssociat e Ed itor Edwi na Ma ng-us, Calen dar Edit or Advertising Mike C h u rch. Sen ior Sa les M ana!{cr T erry Pra u Sen ior S oles Malla ger Ma rk T home , Wesl n n Sales Manager D Oll Stoeber . Westt"rTI Sol es Man agN Ma rk Mitchell . Ea. tem Sales MarI4,l{ t'T \ Tho mas R. G o m er. Eastern Sales Mana.~ eT Carhv Corrow We-sinn Ad Coo rdinato r C u b Borden . E astern Ad Coordinato r Ton i Do nesk e. A dvert ising As sistant Graphics and Production Ma kol m Wil -.on,P roduclio n Mana( t'T Di;lIla H ilgen berg. Graphic Ar tist Stacev (; U O l , G rap h ic A rtist jimmie O'Dell. Gra phic Artist Ma rio n H ata shi ta. T vpeseuei Ca ro lyn Bra n ha m. T)'~sdtn Den nis Greene. Lob . T ech , Accounting /Data Processing Do nna Bryan . A ccts R eceiva ble Coo rdiruuor Ge neva Repa ss, Assistant Fr~1Il H amwev, C redit Circulation Sarah Tay lor. A ssista n t Alma Anguiano , A ssistant Q ll:r i Cha p ma n. Assistant Ma ril., Ada ms . Assistant Circulation Development Ron Davidson . Managn Want Ads Debbie Winkler, Want Ad Sail'S Service and Support Ch ris Aitrheson . Headquarters R ecep tion ist Leo nard Herring, Serv ice and Support National Headquarters 2201 Cherry Ave.• Long Beach , CA 90806. P.O . Box 49ij, Long Beac h. CA 9080 1·0498 (2 1~ ) 127· 71~3 ; 2 1 ~ /6~6·88-11. FAX (2U) 127·668 5 Eastern Off ice 4190 Fir st Ave., Tucker. GA. 30084: mai ling address P.O. Box 805. Tucker. GA 30085· OH05. (101 ) 931 · 7850. FAX (401 ) 931·3112 Cycle Ne ws (USPS 111· 310) is p u b lis hed wf't"ld y except the fir sl and la st week or th e calenda r yea r Ior S32.50 pe r year by Cycle New s, Inc.. 220 1 Ch erry Avenue. Lon g Beac h , CA 90806 . Seco nd class po stage paid a t Long Beach. CA . a nd addi uon al mailin g of fices. POSTMASTER : Send f or m 3579 to Cycle New• • P.O . Box 498. Long Beech . CA 90801 ·0498. Subscrj pr ion ra tes: O ne year. second class mail . $32.50 . Cycl e News welcomes unsoli cit ed ed itoria l materi al in clu din g nones. ca rtoons, p ho tos, etc, Suc h mat erial . if published, becomes the excl us ive pro~rty of Cycle New s. Such acrepted materia l is subject to revision as is necessar y in th e so le di screti on o r Cycle News. U nso lici ted mat erial which is nor used will be returned i£ acco mpa n ied by a sell addressed stamped en velo pe. Allunsolicited material w ill be handled wnh reasonable ca re. however , Cycle New s ass umes no responsibi lit y for th e safety. 105s or damageto su ch mat eri al . Reprint ing in whol e or part onl y by perm ission or th e publisher. Adver li sin~ ra tes a nd cir cu lation info rmation will be sent upon request . See S.R .D.S. SPA Consumer Audit Division Membership Applied For December. 1986. Copyright" Cycle New• • Inc . 19B8. Trade-mark Cy cle Ne ws registered U.S. Patent Office, All rights reserved. ~ , r. I . Re the letter from jerry McDonald in yo ur May 4 issu e: H a r le yDavidson reworked the big twi n and the n the Sportster (fo r the better) after q uite some tim e with lit tle change. Now I'd call that progress. T hen some ca ll it generic while they ride their Viragos. T he Softail Sp ri nger, 'with the look of yesteryear and . th e ride of today, is the best th in g I've seen come out o f any company ever, yet you pi ck them a part wi th out even givi ng it a cha nce. H arley-David son has a lo ng (1903 . lo ng ) lasting heritage with its cycles a nd its people. Don 't be surp rised to see Fred Wilma, Barney a nd Betty putting arou nd thi s su m mer on a H og or Sporty. Aba da ba doo ! R O N COLLINS Letts, IA For the people. by the people In repl y to jerry McDonald's letter about Harley, I don 't even care what he rides. The "first gen eric rnotorcycle, " a $3995 Sportster, has a proud hi story and can be traded up for the original purchase price. The Harley Bue ll evolved to enter the Pro Twins class in road racing and its earlier 1000cc p redecessor s have been successf ul (as k j ay Spri ngstee n a nd Gene Church). The H arley Sp ringer will not appeal to everyo ne, bu t they will sell th ousands to people who like nostalgia co m bined wi th new tech nology as th ey did wi th th e H eri tage Softa il. H arl ey-Dav idson h a s a proud history th a t nearly va nished , du e to a deteriorating product wh ile o wne d by a megabucks conglo merate. T he tariff hal ted th e im port dumping by the j apanese manufacturers, a nd gave th e last Ame rican motorcycle com pa ny a chance to reorgan ize and bu ild a dependable, a ttractive p rodu ct for its market - the America n p ublic. If we were down to o ne last U.S. au to com pa ny, wo uld you feel the same way ab ou t th em ? I cou ld go on and o n with testimony, based on experience, but let's just say that one of the last American heroes is a live and kicking, for the people, by the people. If you were answered in o ther pro-Harley magazines, you wo ul d probably be called a "wannabe." I prefer to look upon your letter as 'simp le words from a simple mind. FRANK POORES Stewartsville, MO GP support races In the May 4 issue, you responded to a letter from jim Gianatsis abou t su p port ing races a t the Laguna Seca GP by sta ti ng th at " FIM ru les forbid the running of sup port races a t GP events." My questi on basically is, is th is a new FIM pol icy? Every G P I've ever a ttended has had su pport races as part of the program. DO N MEl G u ilford, cr • S 'iV7 4 Aba daba doo II We erred in stating that the FlM forbids the runn ing of suppor t races at GP events. T he FlM Sporting Code forbids the " racing of historic. motorcycles." According to AMA President Ed Youngblood, " T he FlM discourages su pport racesat GP events." Youngblood also said that the I n ternational R acin g T eam s Association (IRTA ), an in fluen tial group fo rmed by GP road race participants, strongly opposes su ppo rt races . . . Editor. A,t this point, in all fairness, I shou ld say that Mr. Stallone is not witho u t blame in this affair. There ' are cou n tless people, a lot o f wh om . are young people, th at look up io him as a ro le mod el. H e should be more carefu l in this typ e o f sit uation, bu t he is no t nor has no t to m y knowled ge, ever wielded th e swo rd of journal istic p rej udice against any particula r grou p of peo ple or objects even if th ey ' are th e devil' s tool. Seei ng Barb ara Walters on a motorcycle in the first p lace scares the hell out of me, but in th is manner lea ves me in cold and abject terr or. I mean, who is she going af ter now? Is' she goi ng to attack them Rambo style on a motorcycle wi th guns blazing, or what? This really is not the kind of image tha t the Ame rican motor cycl ists needs, is it? PA UL LAMBERT Klai spell , MT Prompt refun ds I' d like to ex tend a special thank yo u to SCRAMP and Amer ic an Airl ines. H aving pl anned to a ttend th e Lagu na Seca GP many months in advance, I. was unabl e to a ttend due to the dea th o f m y father. Uns ure if I could be' reimbursed for the tickets, I wrote bo th parties requesting refunds, a nd SC RAM P and Am erican Airli nes respon ded promptly with full refunds. Needless to say, I was shocked, especia lly over the refund [or race tickets. Thanks to SC RAM P for their thoughtfu lness and understanding of my situation. Because of this, I'm making plans to a ttend th e 1~89 Laguna Seca G P. JACK MARTIN Ocala, FL Do as I say, not. This is truly a wo ndrous time tha t we live in , is it no t? I rem ember whe n m y father . brought home hi s first H onda C l IO (that's a 50cc bike for those of you too you ng to reme m ber) . Back then all mo to rcycl ists were branded as outla ws, righ t? I mean in the little pl asti c en velope that th e owne r' s manual ca me in was an ap p lica tion to th e San Berdoo chap ter of the H ell s Angels. T his j us t isn 't tru e an ymore, th ough, what with th e ~enerous help of people like Am encan Express, mo torcyclist s a re portra yed in a much mor e po sitive and rea listic light. In fact just the ot her day while rea ding my local new spape r wha t do you thi nk I shou ld see than a p hoto of Sly Sta llone and Barbara Walters astride a mot orcycle and neith er one . is wearing a he lmet, Correct me if I a m wrong, b ut isn 't Ms. Wa lters a regular on the TV magazi ne show th at so recen tly blas ted ATVs and enlightened the American public to th e fact that they are actually designed and built 'in he ll for the express purpose o f killing the children of careless and irres pon-: sible parents, not to mention drunks, who prefer to ri de wearing shorts, T'-shirts, sandals and no hel mets? Talk abo u t irr esponsibl e journal ism; she gets th e big p rize this month. T his is a very we ll kn own an d influential person. A person who holds th e power of public opinio n in her ha nds or lips or wherever it is she chooses to put it. At a time when all of th e maj or motorcycle ma n ufacturers are serio us ly trying to promote safety in o u r sport , here she I S putting herself in th e nation 's spo tligh t, telling a ll the people gu lli ble enough to believe that she tells th e tru th, the wh ol e truth and nothing bu t, so help me CBS. In fact she loo ks like sh e is en joying herself, and I do n 't need to tell you th at tha t bod es no good for th e motorcycle spo rt. P.S. I think it is safe to 'ass u me that if said phot o was printed in th e local paper in Kalispell , Mon tana , th en it surely saw th e light o f da y in most of th e U.S .A. We' re sure it di d, Paul. Just as we're sure tha t mil/ions of viewers whb wa tched Walters' show on CBS last week saw the pair riding without helmets . . . Editor. Go dspeed, Ted We were deeply saddened to hear of the death of Ted Boody. Many of us grew up and raced with Ted. H e was respected as a fine pe rson and professiona l racer. We a ll cheered him on th ro ug hout his career. O ur only solace in this tragic event is that he died doing something he truly loved. We o ffer our dee pes t sym pathy to his fami ly. Godspeed, Ted, we will mi ss you. THE FREAK BROTHERS Lansing, MI U. S . GP vi deo I'd like to possibly help Mr. j ohn K. Morri s wh o 's lo ok in g for a videotape of th e recent Laguna Seca GP and wrote you concerning informa tion o n its availa bi lity. I r ece ntl y wrote P o w er sp orts Video , a firm that sells videotapes of G ra nd Prix races, a nd th ey said as far as they know a videotape of th e April 10 Laguna Seca GP wo uld be available approximately a month and a half after the even t, . I suggest Mr. Morris and other interested parties contact the following around the middle of j u ne: Ms. J an ie Zaron, Sales Rep, Powersports Video, 15700 Dickens St., Encino, CA 9 1436,818/907-0590. ED L DOERING Mi lwaukee, WI IDITOl'S .: IIIAPIOI'lI Godspeed, Ted The loss of a friend is always hard to deal with, but in the case of T ed Boody, who died as a result of head injuries

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