Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

1970 AMA Grand National Champion Gene Romero By Scott Rousseau W hen former AMA Grand National Champion and 1975 Daytona 200 winner popped up on the other end of the phone line (as he often does) and asked me if I'd be interested in doing an interview, I thought for sure that I was going to get the hairiest "Time Remembered" piece ever to grace the pages of Cycle News. After all, the exploits of the great "Burrito" are well-chronicled but, with time, it has become increasingly difficult to separate the fact from the fiction. Well, here was my chance to do just that - or so I thought. Didn't happen. Rather than wax' nostalgic for the old days, Romero wanted to talk about his burgeoning West Coast Flat Track Series, and tell me of his plans to make the 1999 edition of his traveling dirt track show even more successful than his '98 series, which did quite well, he says. So that's what this is all about. If you were looking for an insight into the restless youngster who graduated from the Expert ranks of the Ascot Half Mile to give Triumph its final AMA GNC title, well, he promises to give us that interview - complete with swear word later, and we will hold him to it. Right now, Romero is attempting something completely different in an effort to ensure that other restless youngsters get the same opportunities he did, as he is trying to develop his vision of grass-roots dirt track racing, where a rider can show up on a Friday or Saturday night, test his skills against the area's best amateurs and experts and maybe make a buck. On to the task at hand. AS far as you are concerned, how did the 1998 . West Coast Flat Track Series do? A-I believe that the series was a total success, and I fibelieve that it was for many reasons. Number one, there's new interest in dirt track racing here in Southern California and on the West Coast. The other reason was that we raced in some very nice venues, the kind of places that some of our riders have never been able to ride before, or if they did, it was several years ago. I also believe that we ran it in such a professional manner. We started on . time, we ended on time, and we treated everybody fairly. Q For 1999, you've come up with a pretty different approach for your race format. What did you learn last year that caused you to make these types of changes? Q c. < 24 The reason that I changed the format was because what I saw last year was that, for the classes that 1 ran - Pro Sports, 600cc Experts and 883s - I had a decent show, but I still didn't have as many riders as I felt that I needed to have to put on a good show at this (professional) level. [ had riders who wanted to go and compete but wouldn't because they didn't have that type of motorcycle or they didn't want to spend $200 for a license just to compete in a few races. Or they didn't want to buy a membership for just one race, like for a mechanic or whatever. I've seen that dirt track has decayed somewhat over the years, but based on what 1 did last year, I know that the interest is there. So now I'm going to come back and open it up some. Now I'm targeting anyone with a helmet, a set of lea.thers, a steel A shoe and a dirt tracker. If you've got a 500 Yamaha or 750 Triumph or an 883 Harley, then come on out and ride. It's all going to come back to rider ability. The way that the rules are set up these days are fine, but there aren't enough participants to fill those classes. QSo it's a pro show? A-Well, yes. Last year, 75 percent of my riders were fiprofessionally licensed riders anyway. But I'm looking for amateur riders to come out and participate, too. Anyone can come out and run in either the Open class or the Open Vintage class, depending upon the age of their equipment. The way it's set up, a vintage rider can participate in the Open show, too. I think that this program will be attractive because they won't have

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