Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"Call me anything you want, but motorcycle riding is more important to me than trusting the government to provide me with anything." Praising Jim Alle n I am writing this letter to share with the rea de rship m y ex pe rience in dealing with J im A ll en, who runs Dun lop Tire Corp 's professional roa d racing division. Mr. Allen has gotte n some negativ e p ress fro m another indu stry p ubl ic at ion in the pa st an d I w ou ld lik e to pres ent anoth er , unsoli c ited sid e to Mr. Allen . First, a little background: I am th e Dir ector of th e Mid -A tlantic Roadrac ing Club ' s Ro ad ra cing sc h ool (M A RRC RRS ) and , a s suc h, I a m re spon sibl e for a ll a s p e c t s of th e sc h o o l. MARRC i s a not -for-profit orga ni zat io n co m p ri se d e n t irely of volunt eers wh o on ly wan t to promote t he sport. Staffi ng th e schoo l w it h h igh -qu ali t y tale nt is al w ay s o ne of the ch allenges we face as o ur instructor s are not paid, and so meti mes give up t heir own va luable track time to help . I contac ted Mr. Allen b ec a u se I wanted to p ro vi d e the MARRC RRS instructors an additional perk for volunteering their time to help teach the school and, at the same time , provide promotional v a l u e to Dunlop Tire Corp . On my initial contact , I was expecting res istance. Mr. Allen deals with racing at the highest levels in this country - factory efforts with seven - o r eight-figure budgets. I was surprised to find him very congen ial and willing to help . I explained the logic behind my initiative and he con curred with the logic . He drew up some terms and conditions and sent them to me. Unfortuna tely , the te rms and con ditions were written to b ind a ll MARRC instructors into using Dunlop tires , which is not possible because the instructo rs are volunteers. I was not optimistic when I contacted my Mr. Allen to explain that I could not make this commitment. I was surprised to find him extremely flexible and amenable to al terations of the agreement. His attitude was " Change it however you l ike , as long as i t makes sense ." We made the changes and Mr. Allen agreed without hesitation. This really showed me his flexibility and desire to help. He could have blown me off at any time by just saying , "So rry, I don 't have the time to deal with this. " But he did not. Instead, he embraced the changes I made to the contract and helped make this deal a reality. Ultimately , the motorcycle road raci ng eco system benefits from this. We attract mo re quality help for the school, with the spiffs , whic h produces m o re st udents that come away bette r trai ned . The more new blood tha t enters the sport, the more m o ney it brings in (and the mo re tires they I want ed the re aders to know the real Jim A ll en . "Ev il T ire B ar o n ? " No t! aire" the other night, one of the questions (which I already knew) was "Wh o wrote in his book in 1992 that he would eliminate the gasoline engine?" The answer, of course, was AI Gore. Call m e anythi ng you want , but motorcycle ri di ng is more im portant to m e tha n tru st ing the government to prov id e m e with an ything. Brlan Summers \l7a the Intem et John Johnson \l7a the Intem et will have to buy ) . That money brings more clout to the sanctioning bodies and great advocacy groups like MARR C, which make racing better and safer for everyone. And Dunlop sells more tires . Can you say "Winwin?" Dead End? Politics II I just finished read ing an on -line edi to rial by Mi cha el Scott and I am hi gh ly d isa ppo inted. He ref ers t o World Superb ikes as a " dea d end" in m otorcycl e rac in g. I th ink th ere ar e man y riders and fan s who wo uld beg to differ, m y self be in g one o f th em . T he World Superbike Cha m pions hip has provide d th e m ost co nsistently exciting racing that I have see n. Even with King Carl do minating the class for so many years, it has been nonstop excitement (and I am not a Foggy fan at all) . If my opinion i sn ' t enough, then just look at the crowds who attend the races - that should say enough . The fans enjoy watching the riders race to the edge on bikes that they can go buy at their local bike shop (with the R7 being the exception) . World Superbike is becoming more popular than 500cc GP , ergo the switch to four-strokes. How can he justify saying it is a "dead end? " have to ag ree w ith Nanc y Tholund in her assessment of th e opposition' s pow e r a n d st re n g t h. I b eli eve ou r problem li es in the fact that we are so fractu re d in our pursuits. Wh en t he powers that be d ec id ed t o ban per sona l wate rc raft in Stat e Par k s here in Minnes ota , I d idn 't li ft a fi nger. I don 't have a per so nal wate rc ra ft . N ow I call my local r e pr es en ta t i v e w h en a motorcycle issue arises, so wh y don 't I do the same when other off-road issues come up? I realized that all peo p le involved i n off -road activity have to get together to support each other , or we'll never get the job done. Do you know that our state is considering the regulation of the number of fishing contests that can be held, because the citizens of the lakes say they are "too disruptive?" Did you ever think fish ing enthusi asts would get the same treatment as personal watercraft users? I've decid ed that we all must unite under the banner "Motorized Off-Road Enthusi asts," or MORE for short. I'm putting this on all of my motorcycles, includ ing my road racer, and pledging to support all motorized activi ty in the various forms . I believe that if we all do this , maybe we'll have a chance against the " sil e n t sport " bunch . Oh , one more thing, the amount of fuel used by one SUV coming from the Minneapolis /St.Paul area to the c an o e area near here , would power my XR600 for ha lf the rid ing season! So much for us ing our resources in the w isest way. Sean Peek MlIMIIe, NJ Another Scott Fan Gosh , Michael Scott has just info rm ed us that two-strokes are only good for "humble scooters and pizza delivery." The wheels are too big for a scooter, so I guess I'll have to use m y 250cc, 40 -horsepower motocrosser for pizza delivery , Brent M eeker \l7 the Intemet a Politics I have been thinking about the letter from the guy who th inks the national debt and social security are more im po rt ant than riding motorcycles. It would be socially inc orrect to call him a clown , so I won 't do that. I suppose these things are important, but nei ther one of the men running for Pres i dent are going to change either these subjects, or abortion , or much of any thing else. I do know that King Clin ton and Prin c e A lbert have already taken steps to harm m y dirt bik e rid ing . The new road less decision by Cli nton doesn't affect h im - on ly us here in t he west . Th at makes me mad. On "Who Wants to be a Million - Les Harkonen Gllb ert,MN Politics III As I write th is , the question of who wil l take the Florida electoral votes is st ill in question . A letter in a recent " V o i c es " seemed to trivial ize the question of whether dirt bike riding is as important as many other issues facing our co untry. I offer th i~ point of view: o ne of t h e biggest problems with this co untry is tha t the federal governme n t h a s a nas ty habit o f interfering in the private lives of its citizens, and in affairs or decisions that rightfully bel o n g to the states . cue I e An y ex trem ist w ith th e tim e to write letter s and ca ll se n a to r s , etc. c a n m ake th is ha ppe n. It isn't just about d irt b ik e rid ing , althoug h that is the most vi sible evi den ce of this government in terf erence in the sport tha t I love. It' s about m y taxes going to pub lic schools where I don't want to send my da ughter, ye t I have no say in how those tax dollars are spent and many federal politicians don 't want me to have th at opportunity . It's about low-flow toilets that are completely unusable jokes, yet I have to buy them bec ause the government says so . It's about having no choice but to buy a car with airbags, even though I wear seatbelts whenever I drive. It's about having no choice of where to invest my m oney in t he government mandated retire ment program , even though m y invest m ent s outside of that p lan are performing beaut ifully . It's a bou t many other examples of the fe de ral government's interference in eve ryday affairs for no particu larly good reason . I would also like to remind the letter wr iter of the attempted federal ban of sportbikes spearheaded by the insurance industry, the massive tariffs levied on street b ikes over 700cc back in the '80 s, the push for a federal helmet law, the attempt by the NHTSA to make seat belts mandatory on street bikes, and the list goes on. I did my part, even as a dirt-only rider, since the repercuss ions would be sport -wide . As Ben Franklin said, " We must all hang together, else we will surely hang separately ." MlkeSmffh North Charleston. sc Defe ndin g Malcolm Rarely in today 's cover-you r-ass corporate/political wor l d is so meo ne wi lling t o put i t a ll o n th e li ne like Malcolm Smit h did in th e "Voices" sect ion (Iss ue #42 , Octobe r 2 5) of Cycle News. My hat' s off to hi m. neVlls Bruce Annsfrong Sonfr:l Barbara.CA NOVEMBER 29. 2000 5

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