Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128319
"MotoGP in 2005 at Barber!? I can only hope!" letters to the editor should be sentto Voices, Cycle News, POBox 5084 , CosioNiese, CA92628-5084; faxed to 714-751-6685 or emoiled to editor@cyclenews.com. Published letters do nolneces50rity refted theposition ofCycle News, Inc. letters should notexceed 200 words, andall are subjedlo editing. Anonymous letters will not beconsidered for publication. All letters should contoin thewriter's nome, address and daytime phone number... Editor. Vance Replies I felt it was important to respo nd personally to Rene LaPrevotte's lett e r regarding the V-Rod's victory at the recent NHRA Gatornationals. First, thanks for your kind words regardi ng Byron Hines' brilliance and accomplishments. Your letter had a cou ple of comments that were very amusing, but not total ly accurate. Hamme ring on Willie G. Davidson for his excitement of the V-Rod program is ou t of line. Sure HarleyDavidson has the "cash pool" to pick and choos e the racing pro grams it wa nts to be involved in. Thankfully, for Vance & Hines, and because it was t he perfect marketing fit for the V-Rod, they wanted to be involved in an NH RA program. But the re was no guaran tee t hat our program would be successful. In fact, t here was a period of time where I was wo ndering what kind of mess I had gotten Byron into. But, honestly Rene, if you th ink Vance & Hines could have gotten the job done without the support of Harley-Davidson, you're wrong. In add ition to the design and styling of the Pro Stock V-Rod, HarleyDavidson w3s involved in a big way from day one. If you ever get the chance to speak to Byron Hines regarding the matter, he 'll explain how the engineering department at Harley-Davidson came to his rescue more than once. Without their direct involvement, we could still be on the outside looking in. In fact, if it wasn't for Harley-Davidson , that "drea m weekend " would have never happened for Vance & Hines. They have a lot more in those race bikes than decals - I promise you. So why wouldn't Willie G. Davidson and the entire Motor Company be excited over t his accomplishment? It's a resu lt of a team effort from both com panies. It's not "plagiarism" on Harley-Davidson's part as you put it - it's passion. It's a racing passion I've on ly see n one othe r time in my career, and that was with Ducati. As for production parts on Andrew Hines' V-Rod? What true production parts are on a Chevrolet Pro Stock Car? Or a NASCAR stock car fo r that matter? Besides, it' s not about production parts it' s about a company with a willingness to take the risk to win. To take the risk to say, "This is our team" and stick it out even w hen the times are tough . Not once, even when we didn't qualify for an entire year, did Harley-Davidson say or even imply that we weren't in th is program together. That integrity alone entitles them to get "giddy" as you called it when the times are good, like at Gainesville. And Rene if at this point you 're th ink- 4 APRIL 14, 2004 • ing I should remove my lips from HarleyDavidso n's butt cheeks, you 're w rong again. After 30 years in the racing bus iness , I rea lly don't nee d to "suck up" at this point. Besides , when you've got loyal customers that'll wait in line to pay "$2S,ooo a pop" for your mo torcycles, your $4 billion dollar co mpany do es n't need anyone to stick up for them . Terry Vance via the Internet Terry Vance is the president Hines Racing... Editor of Vance & Markel Fan Thanks for the excellent Scott Rousseau arti cle on Bart Markel. Th e 1971 Columbus , Oh io, race he me ntione d was my first t rip to a Natio nal. I rode my CL 160 Honda for three hou rs abo ut flatout to get there. Standing in turn one, I was awestruck by the sight, sound and lee l of the riders pitching it sideways and have been a dirt track fan eve r since. Bart wore #32 in his final season instead of the more familiar #4, as that was the misguided year that riders were assigned numbers based on the previous year's standings. T he O hio State Fairgrounds track is gone now, but back then it was a premier stop on the nat ional circu it. Spectacular footage of Mert Lawwill racing there opens the movie On Any Sunday. Thanks for these articles celebrating the riders and events that make up ou r collective racing history. I have been a subscribe r since that year and look fo rward to more Grand Nati onal Championshi p coverage in years to come . Roger Falasco So/on, OH Chicanery Kudos Like fine wine, Henny Ray Abrams gets better with age . He is starting to make so much sense. His last two art icles on the Daytona debacle are great lodder for much-needed de bate. W hile the track is the issue, Daytona, the race , should not be. T he season opener, Bike Week, the history, the fans... Bike Week wou ld not be the sam e without the "feature" race no r would Bike Week draw the same kinds of non-Harley crowds all the manufacturers put so much into. We need a "Daytona" race during Bike Week. Solution: Forget International Speedway Corporation . Forget the "banked oval." Let's get a new track built! There is plenty of land not too far from Daytona - 200 -300 acre s will do it. Farfetched? Maybe . Realistic - perhaps! Let's CYCLE NEWS look at the benefits - fo r the w hole sport and the whole industry. A new and safe ven ue to showcase U.S. (and Australian) talent and bikes. Start from scratch. Get the "Big Four" to chip in a few million apiece . Maybe eve n Harley, maybe eve n the AMA, maybe even t he fans or othe r industry and non industry spo nso rs. Who knows, if we do it right (read: not another Alan Wilson track) we could even sec ur e so me Mo toG P events. No w wouldn't that be a nove l idea? How much mon ey woul d th at bring to t he table? Maybe even a Worl d Supe rbike race? O ne location , one track - one megad isplay of all things mot orcycle . The car dealers seem to have worked it out w ith the 'A uto Malls" and 'Y\uto Miles" - all t he manufacturers wit hin a few square miles of each other. O ne destination ... many choices! You're going to buy anyway, right? Fly in, tes t ride , buy the bike from your local deale r? Q uite easy, really . While th is not ion is somewhat tongu e in cheek at this point, as I write this, it' s all sta rt ing to make sense. Time for bigger minds and deeper pockets to take over. I've sown a few seeds! Gordon King Folly Bea ch, SC MotoGP Ideas Here is what I th ink should be done with the current FIM World Championship Series. The 12Scc and 2S0cc World Championship Series should be 250cc and 500cc four-strokes. And MotoGP should be in the 750-800cc range . Motorcycles that go over 200 mph are awesome, but they shou ld not be on a racetrack with more than four corners. I'd also like to see this reflected in the st reetb ike market. Rem e mbe r in th e 1980s when you cou ld buy high-te ch st reetb ikes under 600 cc? Rem e mber the 500 Interce ptor and the FZR400 and the hot 400s t hat neve r made it to the USA? I, for one, would like to see th ose days again! I don't need 1000cc to prove my manhood! TIm Wright Hummelstown, PA In Defense of Janklow I read in a recent Cycle News so me com ments concerning Bill Janklow 's accident. For those w ho evidently weren't wearing a helmet when they had thei r last accident, I'll type th is slowly - it was not de liberate. It was an accident. Bill Janklow is a fellow motorcyclist - and not the kind who trailered from bar to bar looking for gullible drunks . He got $100,000 for the cyde museum. He enjoyed the short tracks. He has paid a severe penalty - his 40th Anniversary career in politics, loss of his license as an att omey, time behind bars, etc. He is a good man. He is an ex-Marine w ho served many terms as ou r governor and late r as an elected re presentative to Washington . It was an accident . I, and everybody I know in South Dakota are so rry it happe ned , but don't take tha t as an "apo logy." Perso nally, I seldom find it necessary to apo logize for do ing something wrong, and I never apologize if it' s not my fault! The bra in-damaged , w ho can't understand it was not de libe rat e , that it was an accident, deserve noth ing. Having fai led the mental exam, they are invited to not e the mistletoe attach ed to my shirttail. I would encourage them to tow their junke r elsew here and slobbe r in their beer w ith ot her equ ally handicapped losers . Sturgis will survive (nicely) without them. Actually. it may make room for deserving guests who join the 500,000 who come to en joy the biggest motorcycle event on earth. They are always welcome. Jack Hoel Sturgis, SO And Not Most , if not all, of my fellow motorcyclists are familiar with the Janklow case . He was co nvicted for killing Randolph Scott. Those seeking furthe r information can find it in t he American Motorcyclist Magazine. The Janklow sentencing is a travesty of justice . I won 't belabor the point. A furthe r trav esty, in fact an outrage, is the decision by the court to make the public pay for any monetary award to the family of the deceased to be awa rded as the resu lt of a civil suit . Mr. Janklow was not in fact "o n duty " at the time tha t his cr ime , t he murde r of our fellow e nthusiast Rando lph Scott, by t he negligent ope rat io n of a motor vehicle was com mitted . It would seem that the only t hing that would get t he attention of t hose seeki ng to let the ir pal Mr. Janklow slide out of his responsibility to t he public and to the family of Mr. Scot t is mo ney. Sturgis. Take t he annual rally away fro m them. Sheridan, Wyoming, lies approximately 120 miles to the west of St urgis. There is a racetrack in She ridan. There is a National Park there. It would be easy to avoid South Dakota entirely for those of us who co me from the East so that no monies from gas taxes go into the coffers of that state. Co uld we speak more loudly in any other way? Haro ld Ma cDo nald Bonne y Lake, WA