Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Guest Editorial BYTRAC YHAGEN y first Daytona 200 wa s in 1986. I can vivid ly remember being awestruck by th e im mense sca le of th e Speedway and excited to see m o torcy cl e ro ad r acing in a majo rleague setting . The seco nd thing tha t im pressed me about Daytona then, and continues to im press me each year, is the quality of th e a n nounce rs . In re cen t vea rs th e annou ncing cho res ha ve been handled by Daytona's excellent track announcers and former AMA racer Richa rd Ch a mbers, Chris Ca r ter fro m Eng land, and ve tera n free-lan cer Bob Ap plega te. All of th ese me n tal k pass io na tely about r oad raci ng, ca n wa tc h a race a n d under stand wh at is go ing on and know the numbers and nam es from the factory rid ers to the rag-p icked pri va teers. T h e se m en a ll d es erv e a co lu m n pra isin g their efforts ove r the yea rs to make motorcycle road racing an enjoyable s porting event to a tte nd . Gentlemen, I thank you. But for every road race I have been to w he re th e reli able Rich ard Cha m bers called the action, ther e was a no ther race where the fans a nd com pe tito rs had to pu t up w it h co m p letely clue less co mment ators. The re w as th e tim e w hen th e tw o babblin g bu ffoons u sed t he phras es "doo r h a n dl e to door hand le " a n d "b u m per to bum per" over a nd over, a g a in a n d aga in, day afte r d a y , to describe the actio n on the track. The re was the time when the track hired the local horse-racing an no uncer to call a superbike race. Obvious ly unfamiliar wi th the idea of a race wit h mor e tha n one lap , this informationally-chal lenged individual recited lap after lap: "He re he comes (pause) ou t in fron t (pause) your race leader (pause) number 22 (pause) Scott Ru sse ll (pause) fro m Atla n ta; Georgia (pause) on the green Ka w a s aki (p a use) dow n th e fron t stra ig htaway (pause) s tre tch ing it ou t (pa use) a nd putting another lap (pa use) in the reco rd books (long pause)." The re was the tim e w hen th e local track anno uncer refused to an nou nce lap times during timed p ractice and qualifyin g . When o ne o f the team ma nagers asked if the annou ncer would give qu alifying information as lap times ins tead of M a verage mil es per hour, the announcer informed the team manager that it was ou t of the question. "You see, average mph results ha ve two d igits, a decimal point, and three more d igits. Th a t' s a total of six characters . Lap times have a digi t, a colon, two more digits, a decimal point, and th ree more digits. Tha t' s a total of eigh t characters. Those two extra characters means I would be here all da y and night anno uncing the resu lts." There was the time when Mr. Motor Mout h s uggested ove r the publi c a d dress system t ha t th e fan s w ho could n' t hear the PA system could try lUning in on their car AM radios. Those of yo u th at d idn't hear th at , co ns ider yo urself lucky. Th ere was th e tim e w he n"th e local annou ncer asked the local favo rite about what happened to him in his race. "Lost the fro nt end," was the reply, to which th e announ cer add ed , " o h , th a t ' s a tough br eak, having yo u r front w heel fall off." Not as b ad a s ha vin g your brain fall off, sir. Th ere h a ve be en co u n t less time s when we've had complete silence at the track, not for technical d ifficulties, but because the announcer could n't think of anything to say . I ag ree that saying no thing over saying some thi ng wrong is the lesser of tw o ev ils, bu t it's still an evil. And there have bee n cou ntless other limes w hen the race an nou ncers had the ir ow n, uni qu e pron u ncia tion of "Ducati," "Shoei ," and "Pascal Picot te." Od dly enough, and sadly enough, the qua lity of ann ouncers is rather black-andwhite. Either they are very good, meaning that they announce many motorcycle races per yea r, or they are dreadful. The dreadful ones exist beca use the hiring of a nno uncers is the responsibility of the race promot er; i.e., the owner of the track. The AMA will forward recomme nda tions, bu t at the end of the day it's the track's d ecision. Some tracks con trac t their announcers for all specta tor events d uring the yea r. This is a noble a ttempt to esta blish a "com mon voice," and it also probably reduces the hassle of doing business on an event-by-event basis. But the result for mo torcycle roa d racing fans is tha t they have to listen to car guys like the bumper-to-bumper brothers try to talk a bout scoote rs a nd crazies that rid e th em. " Did vo u see that! He alm ost touched the pa vement with his knee!" Give me a break. TI,e dread ful ones also exist because h iring a local announcer for a cou p le hundred dollars is cheaper than flying in Chambers, Applegate, or Big Bill Spencer (I know "d ouble A Ron Yates" so u n d s corn y , but at least Spencer understands mo torcycle racing). On e of those th ree g uys would run $1000 to $1500 dolla rs, depending on how the expenses ru n in that location. Those of you quick a t mat h ca n see that if a pro moter has to spend an extra $1000 for a qu ality annou ncer for a race th a t draws, say, 10,000 payin g spec tators, that works out to 10 cents per ticket. Tha t's right , less than 1 percent of the money a fan spends at the track goes to the guy who sp end s all da y tryin g to inform a fan wh at he is seeing . Now funn y enough, mo st prom ot ers think it's okay to charge five bucks for a race program with ou t-o f-foc us b lack a nd w hite ph otos, 48-p oint type, and ad s for a ll th e nearby cheap beer and burger joints. But earmark a thin d ime from a ticket for a kn o w led g e abl e anno u ncer? Noooo. Like it or not, you race promoters and you su its-a nd -ties, a t the AM A, pro fessional motorcycle racing is an en tertainment busi ness. Die-hard fans will put up w ith id iotic race an no u ncing. Give the cas ual fan an id iotic anno u nce r and he will come once to see the riders in real life and then stay ho m .. and watch Speedvision and listen to Dave Sadowski 's excellent color co m me n ta ry a nd ana lysis. Give him a good, entertaining anno uncer an d he'll be back each yea r. Mo to rcycle roa d ra cin g isn 't like ba seball, th e n ation al s po rt. we a re requ ired to learn a t school. Fro m the pe rspective of imagery, go ing to a road race is li ke go ing to a s trip join t: it ' s visually exci ting stuff for , oh, 15 or 20 minu tes. After that it can get p rett y bor ing, pr ett y qu ickly. That's w he n Chamber s a nd App legate a re worth a ll th e d im es they a re paid. They rove throu gh the pits picking up the la test con troversies , th ey know why the nex t race comi ng u p is a Big Race, th ey know the lates t dirt on the fa ct ory s u pe rs ta rs that w ere e it h e r beaten up or slep t in the gray bar hotel the night before. Okay, maybe Ch ambers doesn't know the difference between ew Zealand and Australia. But if an y of you ever aspire to write a book about the history and /or po litics of road racing in America, your resea rch can begin and end after one conversation with Richard Chambers. And bei ng a former no- mo ney, sleep-in-theva n p rivatee r , Cha mbers knows the nam es and numbers of all the turns of all the tracks, which gears are used in whic h sections of the track, etc. Fun ny story: In the days before there we re television cameras arou nd the race track, Cha mbers and Ap plegate wo u ld lo o k a t th e ir t rus ty egg timer a n d anno unce where the lead grou p was on the track and wh at was go ing on - with so me generous embellishme nt ("ha rd on the brakes into Turn 5, now up the hill to Turn 6, under the brid ge and d ownshi fting on e gea r for the left-hand er.,." ). Applega te to ld m e th at fan s w ere always asking him if he was in a helicopter or so met hing, beca use no matter what corne r they wa tched the race fro m, the annou ncing was spot-on. Gentle read er, if you are a casual fan th in ki ng of a ttending you r fir st road race and wa nt my advice befor e you go, it's this: call the track an d find out who t h e anno uncer will be. If it is not Rich ard Ch ambers, Bob Applega te, or Bill Spencer, then stay home and wa tch the races on television. If the new head honcho of AMA Pro Ra ci n g , Mr. Scott Hollingswo rth, is reading this, then please ma ke hiring of a permanent road racing an nouncer one of yo u r firs t-yea r goals. The person m ust be enthus iastic abo ut road racing, have en cyclo pedic know ledge, a nd be able to talk . Do not even consider candid ates that fail these three Mu st Haves. It all comes down to this: The difference between good announcers and bad annou n ce rs is n' t thi ngs like se nse of humor or cute accents . The bad announcers are no t jus t annoying and irritating. The ba d annou nce rs are not just u ninformed or hav e their facts wrong. Th e bad an no u ncers a re da mag ing the sport of motor cycle road racing in fron t of the general public. eN I Looking Back '-' 30 YE SAGO... AR SEP TEMBER 23, 1969 huck Pal mg ren (Tri) wo n the Sacra mento Mile on a d av when records fell like rain. At the end of the da y: the only"record tha t was left sta nding was the single-lap Expe rt qua lifyi ng record held by the late Fred ix... The Ba st brothers fin ish ed o ne-two at th e Californ ia St ate Speed way Cha mpionship in the Los Angeles Sports Arena . Steve Bast (Jaw) lost the A main to Rick Wo od s (Jaw ), but he managed to amass eno ugh poin ts to stay ah ead I of brother Mi ke Bast a nd tak e the title. So nny Nutter (JAP) was third in th e ch ampion ship li tle r ace ... Tom Po tee t (Bu l) wo n the Shamrocks M.e. Hare & Hound in Cali fornia City , Ca liforn ia ... Tim Hart rod e a pair of Montesas at the Sadd leback Motocros s. Hart w on the 250cc and 500cc Senio r clas ses... Mel I La ch er (H -D ) ou tran the BSA's of I Shorty Seabourne a nd Ralph White to post the win in the A feature at the ! Asco t Park weekly half mile. C 20 Y SAGO.•. EAR SEPTEMBER 19, 1979 teve Morehead (H-D) led a Ha rley- Davi dson factory sweep of the Syracuse Mile in Ne w York... Marla n d W haley (Mon) cli nced the A MA /NATC Nationa l Trials Champio nshi p wh en he won the Blue Rid ge Nationa l Tria l in Blue Rid ge, Arizo na ... Mike Bast (Jaw) edged Hank Basse tt to tak e the win in the Ll.S, Open Speed way Cha mpionsh ip at Cham pio n Speedway in Owego, New York... Ivan Ma uger (jaw) too k a record sixth World Spee d way Ch am pionsh ip wh en he wo n the World Final in Kat owice, Poland ... And finall y, fro m the "same old song" dept., eN re porter Gary Van Voorhis conducted a dir t tra ck ro u n d table whereby many of the spo rt's heav y hitters voiced their op inion on the state of the sport. Perh aps Neil Keen said it best f wh en he s ta ted : ..It is my opinion tha t Am erican dirt tra ck racin g is the most m er cha nd isa b le co m mod it y around. There is nothing around that could have withstood the misha nd ling that dirt track has and still draw some semblance of a crowd." S 10 Y SAGO.., EAR SEPTEMBER 13, 1989 co tt Parker (H- D) record ed h is eig ht h G rand National victory of the season wh en he won the Springfield Mile. T erry Poovey (Suz) was second , and D a n In gram (Ho n) was th ird ... Do ug Ch a n d le r (Ka w ) rea ped th e wi n at th e Heartlan d Par k, To pe ka, Kansas, A MA Superbike N a tional , bu t Jamie Ja mes (Su z) was a ble to harvest th e cha mpio nshi p by pla cin g fou r th .., D a ve Th orpe r (Hon) p ro v ed that h e d e serv ed t o b e World SOOcc MX Cha m pio n by winning his fourth race in a row at the final round of the series in Wolden , Swit z erland .. . Ke v in Sc h w a n tz ba gged hi s fifth SOOcc GP of the season at the Czech G ra nd Priz in Brn o .. . R i ck y Graham (W -R) claimed the Du Quoin Mile 600cc Na tio nal .Ch ampionship victory, but Chri s Carr (H-D ) won the cha mpionsh ip tit le... Greg Searle (Ho n) . grabbed the lead 10 miles from the fini sh a nd won the CIII Wells-to-Wendover Nationa l Hare & Hound . S en en en ~ on :; ~ .c E G> c.. G> en 95

• Cover