Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

H arley! He went o n to say that he probabl y would ha ve broken hi s neck when his head hit the curb if he had been wearing a helmet. Well , these statements prove one thi ng , the actor's doctors were dea d wrong when th ey dia gnosed him as not having suffered a ny brain damage. It seems like he is actuall y brain deadl America 's mot o rcy c le newspaper Volume XXVI Sharon Cla yto n , PubliIhn Mike Klinger, Comptroller Skip j ohnson. ASS OCUIU Publi.:lhn l Nationa l SaUoS ManagtT J ack Ma ngus• •Associate PubliJhtT l Editor Rheba Smith. Circulation MO'1ogt't Caroline Gendrv. Executive &CT~lary to th~ Publ isher Ed itori al jask Ma ngu s. Editor Kit Palmer, As.socialt' Editor Paul Carruthers. Associate Editor Na te Rau ba. Associate Editor Brian Ca tterso n. Associate Editor Ken Fa ug ht. Assis u uu Edi to r Edwi na Man gu s. Ca ten dor Editor Advertis ing Skip Johnson . Nat'l Sales Mana~N Mil.e Church. Senior Sales Alflnagn T erry Pra tt , 5Mli01 Sales Manager Mark Thome, Wt'sllT.PI Sa les, Mafi a",", Ron Davidson. Wl'st~ Sa les lUan agn ft.-lark Mi tche ll . Easter n Sa lt's Managn Thomas R. Go mer, Eastern Soles Manag'" Deubie Wdler. Weslt'm Ad Coordinato r . Cub Borden, Eastern .id Coordinator Graphic s and Production Mal cobn wilson. Production ManagtT [knob G reene. La b. Tuh . Stac ey Ouest , G raphic J im m ie O'Dell . Graphic A1't is t Mand y Lo u. GraphiC A1't~1 • Micha el Oru szka. G ra p h iC A rtiu Carol yn Branham. T)'fN$t'tVT An enne T dia'\., TyfN$t'un A,'ut Pres solves problem I don 't often take time to write a lette r thanki ng someone for helping me, but I feel th is o ne, is worth p ub lish in g. I sent a letter to Mr. Ed Youngb lood, presiden t of the America n Mo torcycl ist Ass ociatio n (AMA), compl ai ning that a bill had not been paid by our insu rance com pa ny after a racing acci dent last spring at Road Atla n ta. I fa xed th e letter at 9 a. m, and Mr. You ngblood had th e who le ma tter taken care of by I I a.m. It turns o ut tha t th e medical grou p wh ich had trea ted me had not followed through with th e billing to the insura nce co mpa ny. It was th eir ow n fault. Mr. Youngbloo d sen t me a letter telling me what I had to do a nd wh o to talk to if there were an y more prob lem s. I want to p ublicl y tha n k h im a nd his staff for their efforts. Someone is always wri ting nega tive th ings abo ut th e AMA, a nd I felt it was time for so meo ne to say somet h ing positive. T ha n k you, Mr. Yo ungblood. JOE McKAY West Pa lm Beach , FL Accounting / Data Proce ss ing Donna 8'1'30 . Aerts R t'u iva blt' Coordinat or C eneva Rrpa!>s. ." sst$lanl From H amwev. C"di, Circ ulat ion Sarah Taylo r, A uutant Aim:. Anguiano. Aootant Marua Adams. A.ui$tan t H e-lan e Richmond. Aui$tant Car o l Sca n nell. A.ui$ tant Circulati o n Deve lopment Ron Davi dso n. ManagtT Want Ads Joan Ru ssia n. Want Ad Sal es Service an d S uppo rt Chris AiIChl"YJf1. H t'adquartn $ Re cept ion ist Leonard Her rin g. St'n'lu and Support Nat io na l Headq ua rte rs 2.."01 Olt'rry Ave•• Long Beach . CA -90806. P.O . Box '198. Lo ng Beach , CA 9080 1·0198 (2 13) 127·70133; 213/636· 88H. FAX (2 13) 127·6685 . Eastern Office 4190 Fi rst Ave.• T uc ker, G A. 30084: mai lin g address P.O. Box 805, T uc ker. GA 30085..QR05. (1M) 931·78>0. FAX ( 101) 931-3 112 Cycle Ne ws (US PS 141·340) is published week ly except the firs l a nd last week o f the calendar yea r fo r $.50.00 per year by Cycle News, I nc. , 2'201 Chary Avenu e. Lo ng Beach. CA 90H06. Seco nd cI..ss postage paid at L ong Beach, CA. a nd addmcnal ma il in g o ffices. .i POSTMASTER: Send form 3579 10· Cycle News . P.O. Box 4 9 8 . l o ng Beech. CA 90801 ·049 8. To determine the exp iration date of yoUT lJUblCription. check the four n umbers o n the first line a f your address label . The first two digiu indica te the last issu e nu m beT yo u'lI receive and the last two characters ind iCit e the year of the last i ~ e. Sobscnption rat es: Rat es for the United Slat.n a nd iu, possessions for a nt" year, (50 issues) . 550.00: I'MIO yea rs ( 100 issues). $95.00: ~ix mo nt hs . (25 issu " ). $26.00: tria l sub 115 issu es). $ 19.00. Ca na da a nd Foreign . ont" year (50 IDUes). $90.00; two "ran (100 issues). 5 175.00: six m onths (25 issues), $45.00: u ial sub ( 15 issues). $38.00. Cycle S ew s welcom es u nsolicited editorial ma teria l induding slo rio. Cl MOOns. p hotos. Me. Such ma rer la l. if pubh she d. becomes t he excl usive pWpc:1"ty of Cycle New s. Such accepted • m at erial is su bj("C1. 10 revisio n alii is necessary in th e sole d iscretion o f C)"C")e New s. Un soli cited ma ter ia l which is not used w ilI be ret urned if accompanied b y a se lf add ressed stamped env el o pe . All un so lic ited materi al will be han dl ed wit h reaso nable care. however, C ycle News assumes n o responsibili w for the safely, 1000!lo OT da mage to such ma terial . Rep rinti ng in w hole o r pa r i on l y b y pe rm issi on of th e p ub l ishe r. Adve rtising ra tes a nd circu la tio n in fo rm a tio n wi t! be sen t u pon requ est. See S.R.D.S. WBPA A UDITED CIRCULATION CO PYri9ht~ Cycle News. Inc. 1989. TrademIIrk Cv cle News registered U.S . Patent Offic e . All rights reserved . 4 Open letter t o dirt trackers . It is no secret tha t d irt track raci ng ha s been on the decline for a long tim e now. By 1987 it appeared th at if some body di d no t do some th ing quick., this " born in th e U.S.A." spo rt was never goi ng to ge t proper recognition and could possibly be dead in the not- too-d istant future. To the best of my knowledge, absolu tely no one was doi ng anythi ng su b s ta n tia l a bo ut t h e p robl em regardl ess of th e position, purpose a nd tremendous resour ces tha t were available to some . It was obvious ly go ing to require some effort by someone. After my effort to help dirt track racing th ro ugh th e norm al c h a n n els wa s rej ec ted in 198 7, AMRA -Pro s began to evolve. T his was the "direc t result of th e comm unity effort by th e family of dirt trackers nati onwide. I co uld not a nd wo uld no t have do ne it any o ther way. Everyo ne wh o I ta lked with felt li ke we needed this (AMRA -Pros) and wanted me to organize it. Su bsequentl y, I vol u nteered. T he re were, however, many wo nd erful, dedica ted enth usiasts _nation wide who ha ve helped in many ways, each member of the fam ily help ing and putting in whatev e r he o r s he co u ld . Although I wo ul d love to recognize a nd thank everyone of th em here, space do es not perm it. Every at tem pt th at I have mad e to wor k with , for, or help ot her maj or fa ctions i n th is spo rt ha s been un su ccessfu l. H o wever , it is extremely clear tha t our com m unity effor t has been very successfu l in motiva tin g these facti ons into taking positive steps for o ur sport. Unfor'i u n a tely, mo tiva tin g oth ers h as failed to allow me to earn a livin g like everyone else. I have had to work da y a nd nig h t for th e past year and a half withou t a paych eck, whi le, a t th e same tim e, putting man y thousands of dollars of my own mone y along with( the money of) others int o th is effort for our sport. T he re is an old co untry sayi ng th a t goes like this, " T he re is mo re than o ne way to skin a cat. " Or, in other words , there is more than one way to accomplish something. It cost som eone a whole lo t of time a nd money, th ro ugh whatever mea ns, to see to it that di rt trackers have, for an example, a tot al of n in e races in nine da ys (or amate urs a nd p rofessionals, and almos t $100,000 (in purse mo ney) duri ng Daytona Cycle Week th is year. I would recom mend that everyo ne su p port no t only th e Flori da races, bu t every effort tha t is being ma de for our sport a nd to give that suppo rt witho ut a ny un professio nal, immature criticism and belly ' a ch i n g . R a cin g m oto rcycl es is extreme ly dangero us, co mpe titive, a nd very expensive (or everyone in the la te 1980's. If you can no t afford to or are not willing to pa y th price or a bide by th e exi sting rules, then I would suggest you get. into so me ot her area of th is won derful sport of motorcycling. I have discussed th e options wi th all major su p porters of AMRA-Pros and it has been agreed tha t we should put AMR A-Pros' racing program o n hold (or 1989, ta king a "wait an d see" a ttitude. We cou ld possibly ex pand into.some o ther areas of racing if th e need and op port un ity exists. Many have expressed th e desi re to see us get into othe r areas of racing. In the meantim e. I will be seeki ng a posi tio n in the ind ustry wh ich will allow me to use my 33 years of ind ustry experie nce while o nce again ea rn ing a livi ng in m y field o f endea vor like the rest of vou fin e people. If I ca n be of a ny fu rther ass ista nce to the wonderful fa m ily of m ororcyclists in America, please don't hesi tat e to co ntact me a t the add ress below. ROYAL SH ERBET President, AMRA-Pros P.O . Box 1655 La nd O 'lakes, FL 34639 Tri als bound I a m int erested in a tten ding th e World Cham pio n ship Observ ed Trial s Seri es ro und in Niagra Fall s, Onta rio, Canad a , on June 4. I need more informa tion a bo ut this event. Can you help me? I need a source (or thi s in forma tion. BILL A. CHESTER Atwa ter , O H Conta ct th e Canad ian Mo to rcycle Association, Box 448, S tn . B, CDNH am ilton, Ontario, L 8L 1J4 Canada, phon e number .416 / 5225705 . . . Editor. Freedom of cho ice I recently saw actor Gary Busey in a televis io n intervi ew saying he wo ul d co n tin ue to rid e wi thou t wearing a' helm et. It seems he may 'ha ve suffered so me brain damage after all . G ERRY NICOLETTI New Pro viden ce, PA I just watch ed a n incredibl y dis gusti ng news clip on TV in which actor Gary Busey had the ga ll to sta te on national TV that a helmet would not have provided a ny additio na l pr otection wh en he crashed his M.E. LE O POL D Rod eo, CA Getting t he word out I was pleased and .amazed to read that Sta te Farm has changed its pol icy rega rd ing mo torcycle insurance (Marc h I issue ). If this is the case. none of th eir age n ts here in northern Ca liforn ia are aware of it. I recent ly purchased a bike on thei r "no-no " list a nd was told to send in a pi cture before th ey would consider any coverage. As of today, Ma rch I , my age nt still has not heard of any cha nge in the po licy. I was ready to ca ncel m y a u to and homeowne r insurance an d send a letter off to State Farm President Edward Rust to let him kn o w wha t I thi n k but then I read ther e is no longer any "blackli st. " Wh at gives? Is Sta te Farm dra gging th eir heels not ifying th eir ag ents or are we mo torcyclists getti ng a no the r smoke screen? TONY CERAMI Cupertino, CA We're told that State Farm's hom e office notifies its regional offices of such changes and the region al offices in turn notify agent s. H ave you r agent con tact his/ her regiona l office if he! she hasn't received notification of t he dropp in g of the " black list." . . . Editor. Busey (Con tinued from p age 2) shou ld be pro-cho ice," the 44-yearo ld actor told a n est im a ted 75 m embers of th e media . " Bi ke rs shou ld have a say on wha t they wear o n th eir head. "The re's no th in g like riding in the mo u ntai ns on a wa rm day wit h the wi nd and the smell of nature around yo u," he ex p lained. . H e also claimed th at helm ets "c ut do wn o n peri pheral visio n, hearing a nd neck mo vem ent ." Buseysa id th at hel met use sho uld be though t of, and th e choice made, depend in g o n wea th er a nd tra ffic co nd itio ns. H owever, younger riders fro m 162 1 years of age sho uld be required to wear helmets, a nd inexpe rienced riders sho u ld be trained. Busey sa ys. " Kids ha ve mor e co mpeti tio n in their blood and are mor e li kelv to hurry to their des tina tio ns. . " You're ri gh t .o n th e money," Busey told a reporter whe n as ked if he wo uld su ppo rt Assemb ly Bill 55, which wo u ld provide for ma ndatory helmet use and req uire completion of Cali fornia 's Mot orcycle Safety T rai nin g Pro gram for a ll rid er s under the age of 2 1. " Whe n so meo ne bu ys a .b ike the y shoa ld be ed uca ted," Busey sa id. Busey said ' tha t he p lans to ride aga in this week , a nd if he does n' t wear a helmet o ne will a t leas t be on the back of h is bik e should he decide to use it. He also pl an s to ta ke ad vanced riding co urses fro m the Californ ia Motorcycle Associati on to improve h is rid ing skills. Bu sey's acciden t occurred whe n he hi t a n oily pa tch on the roa d as he negotia ted traffi c, a nd Busey said " I was go ing40 (mp h) wh en I should've been doing 25." . •

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