54
en Chuck and Sharon Oayton
bought Motorcycle Journal
from Roy White, they "inherited" two employees - the late Roxy Rockwood, who wrote the nationals and local
Ascot flat-track happenings, and me. I
covered scrambles and, at times, anything
else that came along.
We worked out of a little house on 19th
Street in Long Beach, with our typesetter,
Marion Hatashita, who had her equipment set up in the kitchen. The rest of us
were scattered around wherever there
was room. "Us" in clud ed the massive
office cat, T.e. (Top Cat), who had a thing
about sleeping in any "in" box he could
find. The one hallway was so narrow that
if your arms were loaded and you met
someone, one person would have to step
into the bathroom to let the other continue
- how things were to change.
By our third edition, we held a contest
for a new title for our paper, and out of 54
entries, Frank Newman was the lucky
winner of the $25 grand prize. His idea?
Cycle News. It was 1%5, and the next five
years were ones of emergence for our
industry. Our main priority was to cover
events on the localleve1. Desert coverage
was scant, for lack of contributors, but I
had scrambles and various other things
covered.
Some odds and ends from the
"dinosaur" decade: Bart Markel clinched
the number-one plate with a fifth-place
finish at the Sacramento Mile. The guaranteed purse was raised from $6000 to
$7500, and Mert LawiII won. The money
also included $20 lap money for the race
leader. Locally, we had masses of scrambles every weekend, numerous desert
events to choose from, a monthly IT, and
weekly half-miles at Ascot (dominated
for one period by the famous BSA Wrecking Crew of Sammy Tanner, Dick Hammer, Al Gunter, et all . If that wasn't
enough for you , Ascot's back section also
offered some pretty rough country for
English trials-riding, including water
holes, hills and other diabolical traps.
Gary Conrad won the Check Chase on
a Greeves, and was master of the desert
u ntil J.N. Ro berts ca m e a lo ng on h is
Husky. To watch J.N. ride was an experience not soon to be forgotten.
One sanctioning group, called the
American Cycle Association and run by
Wes Cooley, was involved in road racing.
They were trying to increase the po pularity of that segment, a lth ough in those
d ays, most people felt that the "asphalt
arabs" were a bit elitist - tha t was soon to
change. ACA also regularly ran a wonderful night of short track at Southgate
Speedway, right off the freeway. There,
future top Class-C Experts like Keith
Mashburn (who later appeared in "On
Any Sunday") were ho ning their skills on
50cc Hondas.
Indoor short track had a terrific season
in Long Beach, and we loved sitting in
comfort, looking down at the racers howling around. An ice track race was also
tried in later years, but didn't make it.
Our readers were discovering that
CN, unlike its competition, was no longer
just a straight competition newspaper.
We started getting political, trying to
right some of the wrongs in the industry
and racing world. Roxy Rockwood was
u s ing hi s col u m n to comment on the
"shameful" income earned by pro riders.
It included a good, hard look at what
expenses were incurred by promoters,
and with some National sanctions being
just $24 in those days, the promotors
were not always fair to the riders.
In 1966, after some nasty happenings
in the desert over the years, the District 37
Sports Committee finally got around to
mandating as ambulance for desert races
(with an extra 25 cents tacked onto the
Their goal was to become a "union" for
racers, which could bargain for a higher
percentage of the ga te fee (promoters
were asking for a 40% share). Also, no
pro riders were allowed at local scrambl es. That rule caused a fuss because
many local riders like Eddie Mulder and
Skip Van Leeuwen liked to come out and
slide around on a Sunday, and up-coming sportsman experts liked the chance to
learn from them.
For the fi rs t time, women w ere
allowed in the pits at a Carlsbad AMA
road race, bringing giggles from the ACA
people. They apparently didn't know that
entries). Believe it or not, there were several arguments from desert rats who
didn't want to pay the extra fee.
Weekly drags were held at the Lions'
Drag Strip and in Irwindale, The AMA,
intrigued by the ACA's success, brought
back Sportsman road racing to California,
and eventual Yamaha tea m manager
Kenny Clark competed on an Ossa.
The war was happening in Vietnam,
and we started seeing some of our racers
heading off to fight. Chuck Clayton really got into politics when he discovered
that the DMV had mailed out incorr ect
information to all 12 million vehicle own-
The early days
~
Motorcycle Journal
VOL. D "O- U
Mert Lawwi II Wins 20-Miler
Markel Takes Hot Point Battle from Mann
NATIONAL SEASO N ENDS
STRONG ON SACTD MILE
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NEW MOTORCYCLE JOURNAL
TO BE V OICE OF CALIFORNIA
Ch ~ rlrl " nd !lto• • on C laylon purI!t1.-..d Ih. MOlor q ' d " J ......n.1 Soop .
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There were no real dealer associations
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together based on which brand they sold.
The little bikes were absolutely booming,
led by the legendary Hodaka. When six
women finally began showing up out in
the desert, (the traditional home of big
Triumph, "Beezer" and Matchless desert
sleds) a Women's 100cc class was born the times, they were a' changin'.
Motorcycle Racers Inc. was formed,
with Neil Keen as the first president.
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WEE KEND WANDERER.
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By Maureen Lee
30 years of C
ycleNews
~
~ NOSTALGIA
and l loppi", . 1
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for lunch. All« riG ...
boll . - - all fiIII l &If .....tdted III . .
IIftload the 1_ hut·
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,
( coo. t m ll ni _
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in European car and motorcycle races,
women had done timing and other pit
work since the '205.
Midway through the first year, we
moved out of the house and in to much
larger quarters on Long Beach Boulevard
- and did we rieed the space! The motorcycle scen e was growing in leaps and
bounds and CN had several dozen contributors, as well as extra staff.
For the first time ever, the ACA
requested an FIM sanction for an international road race, hoping there would be
no bickering from the AMA and the
American Federa tion of Motorcyclists
(AFM). Needless to say, all three groups
were soon firing shots at one another, but
the ACA held firm and Riverside Raceway's Les Richter, eager to make the idea
a reality, ste pped in to offer his facility.
He didn't think the groups should be
behaving so unprofessionally, and when
Richter - an ex-Los Angeles Ram - got a
determined look on his face, it didn't
seem wise to argue; his strong personality
got things done around Riverside. Baron
Von Essen, the Swedish vice president of
the FIM, arrived in due time with all
expenses paid for by Wes Cooley. He
could find no fault with the facilities, and
though he had to be tactful in what he
said, FIM racing was on its way.
The ACA wa s owned b y MICUS,
which was the only FIM- legal body in
America. For a long time you had to go
through MICUS to obtain an FIM license,
which caused some tooth-gnashing at the
AMA headquaters. At the time, the AMA
focused most of their attention on road
riders and some progessional racing, until
they suddenly realized the re were other
people working hard. Drag racing had
already been lost to the American Hot
Rod Association (AHRA) by default, and
the AMA didn't want some of the other
bountiful forms of competition to pass
them by.
A bit of humor broke up the quarreling when the Sidehack Association literally asked for the moon for eventual race
sights. Their president, Gary Weber,
worked for Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He
brought in the first photos of the moon ,
and the terrain looked great for rough
scrambles.
By now there was an outright war
between District 37 and the AMA. Lin
Kuchler left the AMA for NASCAR, and
was replaced by Bill Berry - not jus t a jolly
bike rider, but a good bus inessman as
well.
Bud Waugh p assed away du e to
injuries at Ascot, and we wanted to hold
a benefit for his family at Perris Raceway.
Of course the pro riders said they would
attend the event for one of their own, but
the AMA reminded everyone loud and
dear that no pros should ride in a sportsman event. They jerked the sanction of
the hosting dub and threatened to pull
their license, but the race we nt on anyway an d everyone came to ride an d help
out the Wau gh family. Mysteriously, no
one could be identified in our phot os, .
and th e results contained a n a mazing
number of riders named John and Jane
Doe.
Ohio roared, and out came Mr. Berry
to meet the hot-headed, sun-damaged
Californians. The arguments were marvelous, and the AMA finally had to back
off.
Chuck Oayton was trying to get some
legislation started that would require
instruction from motorcycle riding
schools in order to obtain a license. Early
dealers, happy to be selling bikes, would
teach you to ride if you bought or modified a bike. But with the avalanche of
Japanese machinery being sold at so me
spots, that policy became impossible.
Chuck felt that our industry had a
responsibility to the public.
We received our first reported death
from a rider hitting an unseen chain that
had been strung across a trail - it
wouldn't be the last. Discussion was
starting on helmet legislation, and Chuck
felt that it should be left to the discretion
of the individual; he was aheadof his
time regarding personal rights .
At Southgate Raceway the ACA
brought out two JAP speedway
machines, and it was difficult to find riders willing to learn to lead with the rear
wheel. But speedway soon began to grow
like Jack's Beanstalk.
Cycle News sponsored a road ride and
Grand Prix to Ensenada, and we had no
trouble (apart from the usual malcontents
who gripe if it's too sunny or doesn't
