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/140924
Writin'around MOTOR VOTERS; US-ISDT CONTROVERSY By Ch arl es.Clayton ·Now th at m ost of us h ave survived a no th er calend ar I th in k it's altogether fi tti ng an d proper that w e take a lo o k a t what's a h ead. "M otor voter" is th e n am e su ggest ed for th e new politics o f 19 72. Russ Sa n ford, th e California lobbyist, says vo te power is th e fastest wa y of unl oc ki ng th e fe nces we are fac ing. N ow with the I S-y ear- olds vo ting , th er e are a t least 111. m illio n motorcycle likers ca p ab le of casting a b allo t this year. We'll be taking a lo o k a t the issue s as it affects us as mo torc ycle rid er s, through Russ's " MO R E fro m the Ca pitol" m essages. Meanwhile, go down to w n, fin d a regist rar, and ma ke su re you are regist ered t o vote. If you moved t o a d iffer ent coun ty o r fail ed to vote in th e last election, you have to re-re gister . Th e d eadline fo r vo ter registratio n is very soon . If yo u are n ' t regist ered , y o u ca n' t vo te. A nd th en yo u' d mi ss much of t he fu n tha t's co ming. "Trail Rid in g" is coming into th e p ic ture in a b ig way through this year an d 1973, when t he A ~IA will h ost the O lympics o f Motorcycl ing, the International 6- Days T rial. "Tra iling " is a n ice , happy medium k in d of ridi ng b et ween English t ir als, on th e o ne e nd an d m oto cross o n th e o ther . Loo k for a con troversy o ver th e AMA 's design at ed site for t he US-ISDT, with AMA a nd TVA favoring Ten nessee's u n t oured Land Be tween the Lake s, wh ile everybody els e r o o ts fo r Las V egas. T he Vegas plan would give o ur guys an advantage, since t he rest of t he wo rld p robabl y does n't rid e desert as well as we do. Cr ucial to the success of America 's first 6-Days w ill be the amo u n t an d q uali ty of suppo rt that th e AMA ca n line up for the event. Nothing less th an th e full cooperation of the U.S. Governme nt will do. (T his m a y b eco m e a cam paign issue, so again I urge yo u, register t o vo te .) "M ore gro und " is th e b etter h al f of the slogan that gui ded 19 7 I m ot orcycl ing and th at w ill be comi ng t rue in a very big way t his year. Las t year saw thousands of ac res o f ridi n g reser ve r e-open ed as a result of the successful a nti-noise ca mpaign. But t he real p ay off comes w ith the beginn ing of off-road regist ra tio n. T his year, beginning .June I, to ri de any p ublic land in Californ ia yo u ha ve t o have a lice nse fo r th e dirt b ik e. A license good fo r two years of unres tricted ridin g costs $ 15 pe r bike (fig u re five d ay s a t the p ar k) and it 's not legal fo r anything b ut off t he road. Bikes with r oad licen ses w ill b e okay off the road , too , th anks to Russ Sa n fo rd , who shep herded t he legis lation th ro ugh . A California license pl a t e entitles you to ride anywhere except privat e property. Most of the off-road lic en se fee will be hand ed to the California State Park & Recreation Dept. with the stipulation (written into law ) that the money be spent solely ' on m oto rcy cle recreatio n. Our only control , as motorcyclists , of how the m o n ey is spent on our behalf is thro ugh our sta te ball o t box. T he Parks Director is ap pointed b y the Governor, and so far, Mr . Reagan can coun t o n this motorcyclist's vote, eve n if he does pay less taxes than me. T hat's o nly three of the thi ngs to lo o k forward to in this new year. Amazing, isn't it, h o w they all t ie t o ge th er ? Voter registration and m o tor registration , motor trails an d trail ridi n g, t he IS DT in ' 73 . Next week t hi s colu mn will lay a couple more h ea vies out for you to contemplate. By Mau reen Lee The new racing season is upon us. Hope you got so me goodies or m oney to b uy some anyway , a nd m a yb e m ad e so me Ne w Year 's reso lu tio ns. I always make so me bu t like all resolutio ns n ever m an age to kee p the m . One t h ing Santa did bring me tha t ca used great joy was something a lo t of us riding gals have needed for a lo ng time. A pair of b o o ts to fit o ur small feet. 'Til n ow we either had t o wear little b oys b o ots wi th no h igh leg protectio n or if w e h ad b ig feet a nd could m anage a p air of men's b o ots it was with th e aid of three p airs of socks and still wa y t o o m uch wiggle room fo r safety . Fu ll Bor e who just has to make th e sexiest looking ri di n g boots in t own has a ran ge of sizes n ow that fi t us p er fectly if you wear a ladies 6 or 6 112 shoe, co me with either mo toc ross or lugge d so le an d th e same q uality as the mens. Needless to say if you're a growing rider you need them too and if you grow o u t o f th em yo u ca n always sell th em t o another t id dler coming u p in th e ran ks a nd t h e leg yo u sa ve m a y be you r own. So , n ow m y feet lo o k li ke Dick Man n's an d Dave Aldana 's, o n ly tro ub le is , I tend t o d o th ings like Dave is famous for a nd I don' t m ean goi ng fast! As usual towards the end of the year there was the in -fightin g that occurs over a n umber one plate. It a lways tickles me a bit and usually the troub le gets stirred up by friends or fa mily of the riders n o t the rider s th em sel ves. Heaven protect us all from fat hers of racers at' ti mes. O ne ste ward I know when confro nted by a n ira te pa always says "Look, you 're not raci ng, let th e kids ge t ou t there a n d ride with ou t yo ur interfere nce," Th is year, o ne gen tl ma n who shall remain nameless was m a kin g co mments that h is budd y was b ei n g beaten because the other rider had a prototype that couldn't be purchased and wasn't approved by the AMA. T hey were going to protest . Wish they had because the other kid would have loved the money ...he knew that it's right in the rule book that scramb les machines don't have to be approved by the AMA . You can run anything you please, a nd what makes this a bi t funnie r was th at his scooter wasn' t a prototype, but just a p lain old stock m o d el breathed o n a b it but ridden by a t rue littl e cham pion. One observatio n we mad e to o u rsel ves last year. Did you n otic e h ow the crowds gr ew a nd gre w at m o t ocro sses? Well, the bi g names have been with us for a few years b u t b ig names alone weren't b ringing out th e really big h ord es, it was t he kno wledge th is year th e boys weren' t playing. T hey wer e all riding for a purse. Th e spectators se nsin g a real shooting m atch, turned o ut to watch th e actio n, no t th e Europeans just p laying around. T he term " sh o otin g m atch" co mes fro m pro wres tling an d is wh at the wrestlers d o when there aren 't a ny specta t o rs o r th er e 's a b it of a gr u dge going. Most of the ti me it's do ne in t he gym a nd w o uld scare Dick Lane to d eath, in formation on this comes from m y d ear h ubby wh o used to go to the Y an d "sh oo t " wi th 'em . For those of you who ca ught th e CBS "Can non " show last week, wasn 't it a stin ker? If you d id n 't, here it is b riefl y and a beautiful knife job for us dirt riders. Ac tio n starts with m o to rcycle cop rushing to aid o f fallen b uddy a nd withou t d eterminin g if any thing is bust ed , d rags him to sitting p osit ion t o ascertain if h e 's hurt a nd who did it. Set the sce ne? We we re then treated t o sce ne of In dian Du nes and dir t riders who, to lo osely q uote o ne of the characters, "Most of th em h old jobs a nd do this fo r fun, b ut a lo t of them are just bums. But one thing, they all belong to the sickle (sic) clan a nd will protect each other," Bananas ! We eve n got o ne dirt rid er who p rod uced th e good o ld chain and put it arou nd h is neck , it was obvious the wri ter (if t he re was one) had seen to o many re-runs o f The Wild One n ot to m en ti o n th e speech cadences used by so me of the (excuse th e expression) actors . But the n one mus t n't expect too m uch fro m a show who the main character is so dam n out of shape he couldn't possibly perform his duties as a p rivate cop in real life even if he is a capable actor, b u t as usual the bikers get a smack in th e chops again. Somewhere th er e mus t b e a producer who would permit a scrip t to be written 'a nd t hen filmed telling it like it is. S hucks, and one of my reso lu ti ons was not t o drag the soap box out too early this year. For two ce n t s I'd chuck it at CBS , wh o jus t b o ught Cycle World, by the way . m.o.r.e , from file ca~ilol' By R uss Sanford Ted Eva ns called it a "corporate progress report". Webco prexy Heinin ger calle d it a "membership round u p". Wes Perry, CMIC's exec utive di rect o r , en deari ng ly referred to it as " th e carpetbaggers". PR m an Harry Whalen referred t o it as " the troupe", or was th at "the troops"? I called it a "roa d show", Bu t , California's motorcycle dealers called it "fantastic", "superb t.. "true pro fessio nali sm ", and a hos t of other superlatives. And, if you were luc ky eno ugh to be one of those dealers that attende d the "road show", you know exactly w hat I m ean . I'm referri ng , of course, to the tw o-w ee k , state w ide tour just co m p le te d by th e CMIC staff w h ich was ably ass isted by th e ten CMI C directors along th e way. Tom Heininger, who is also the nat ional MIC's membership honcho, do nated tw o weeks of his time and a WE BCO van to t ran sp ort the 'team' to San Francisco, Sacrament o , Fresno, Bak er sfield , San Diego, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Co ro na, San ta Bar bar a , and a bunch of ways to ps . The va n wasn ' t a Greyhound, but it did stop at n earl y every fencepost alo ng the way. Especially if th at fencepos t was any whe re near a dealer's place o f business. As many of you already know, th e CMIC has re tained m e t o rep resen t their legislat ive interes ts in Sacram en to . It was w ith a great d eal of p leasure, that 1 accep te d CMIC prex y Evan s' in vit ation to travel with, a nd par t icip ate in, the "road show". I won' t a t temp t t o d escribe the presen ta t io n , excep t to state that it truly was a pro fessional re port to the CMIC m ember s. A report of the tr emen d ous p rogr ess which th e CMIC h as m ade in just six short mon ths. Take m y w o rd fo r it, you can look forwa rd to ou tst a nding results fr om th is te am. For o ne , I am truly proud t o b ecom e a " _ .. ~- member of that team, as must all of the motorcycle dealers who h ave joined in the support of CMIC team efforts. Foll o win g each presentation, the m ee tin gs were thrown open to a coffee-social and a questio n-and-answer period with in dividual team m em b ers. At each of those sessions , at leas t one person asked me , "If you are now w or kin g for the CMIC, wha t's going to happen to MORE?" A lthough the question surprised me init ially, it occurs to me now that the re are probably other members of MORE who are wondering t he same thing. And that co mpels m e t o devote this column to an exp lanation . Pe rhaps one of MORE's biggest shortcomings in that we've never used a 'hard-sell" to gain m emb ers, even though m e mbers have been our ' most important ingredient '. We have always taken th e a t ti t ude that a job needs t o be done, we a re go ing to d o that job, and we are certainly ap preciative of those p er so ns who wish to help us with financial support thro ugh membership. With our nearly 12,000 m em b ers in California, we have become one of the largest mo to rcy cle organizations, anywhere. Bu t , w ith near ly two m illio n mo torcyclists in .Cali fo rn ia, MO RE should be m an y t imes larger than it is. The Sier ra Club , for examp le , boasts 11 0 ,000 me m b ers. I t would ap pear th a t the adverse pressure grou ps are mo re in tere sted in chasing motorcyclists off . th e p ublic lands th an we are in preserving suc h use. .Just like in a ny o ther b usiness, it costs a certai n n umber of dollars 'to open the MO R E doors for b usiness each day'. Although we don't pay salaries, wages, commissions, etc ., there are still fix ed expen ses for prin ti ng, postage, telep hone service, decals, m em b er shi p cards, and nu merous o ther costs. At p resent, our 12,500 mem bers who co n tr ib ute a dollar pe r year for membersh ip , a re help in g us to almost meet th ose fixed expenses. Howe ver , w ith 25,000 members, we could possib ly clear enough over the fixed expenses to pay wages to a ful l-time sec re tary (we now have a full -t ime secretary, but her only pay is that I let her cook m y m eals and raise my ch ildren, when h er MORE work is caught up). One of these days MORE will have a membership of 50 to 100 thousand members and should then be in a position to pay me some sort of a wage or salary fo r my services. But. until th at time my services will continue to be donated. Until February of 19 70 , I worked at a fu ll-time -job and ' op erat ed ' MORE in my spare time. Because my regular job was on night shift, I was able to devote m y days t o the job which needed to be done at the State Ca pitol. T hen in the fall of 1970, I was reassign ed to day shift and t he first problem began to arise. Then, early in 1971 , as the new legislat ive session commenced, it became quite obvious from the multitude of adverse motorcycle legislation being introduced, that defending the sport of m o t o rcy cl in g was going to be a fu ll-time, 24-hour-per-day, 7-day-per-week j ob . Wit h tremendous misgivings, I quit my regu lar job with absolu te ly n o idea of where my f uture livelih o od would b e coming fr om. Four days la ter , t he na tional MIC ' (G od bless 'em) re tained me as a consu ltan t t o t he ir La nd Use Co mmittee. Al though m y major ro le was t o meet wit h lan d-use age ncies in an effort t o keep pub lic lands open to mo torcycling, there was still an opportunity to continue my re lated legis lative pursuits in Sacra mento . There were so me fa lse ru m o rs at that time that MORE was 'fo ldi ng' and that I was 'going to work for the MIC' . Nothing could have been fur ther from th e truth. I . looked u p o n th is arrangement as an o pportunity to assist t he MlC and sim u ltaneo us ly p u t a 'few beans o n the table' . At the same time , our full-time involvement at the State Capitol was earning us the respect and understanding of many of o ur legislators. My six-month tenure with the MIC ended in early September and for t wo long months, I had no income at all. We couldn't truthfully say t hat we were 'unemployed' because we we re probably busier with bad motorcycle legislation than we had ever been in our lives. And then, near the end of October, when it lo o ked as though we couldn't stall the house-payments any longer, and that I might have 't o go to work, the nearly-formed CMIC retained me to rep resent their interests in Sacramen to. I shudder to think of wha t might ha ve happened to MORE and motorcycling in genera l, if the CM IC had n't come t o the rescue w hen it did. Several peop le have asked me if it is possible fo r one person to represent the riders , the dealers, and the ind su try alike? I have yet to find a situatio n wherein there has been any conflict of rep resented interest. If something is good for the riders, it can only help t he dealers and the industry! As a mo torcycle lobby , our success has been mostly attrib utab le to th e comm un ication network which we have develo pe d . Our members througho ut the sta te keep me advised o f their op inions on both legisla tive ma t te rs an d the sit ua tions occu rri ng in th eir o w n local areas. In exchange I rep resen t t h eir interests an d opinions before th e legislature a nd keep the t\IO RE members informed o f t he legis lative happenings in Sacramento and elsewhere. T hrough t\IORE, we have a rider-oriented communication network . The CMIC p rovides -a commu nicatio n network for the mo torcvcle dealers a nd the "IIC provides an industry-oriented communication network fo r its members. Li ke wise, the At\IA an d o ther competi tion-o rien ted o rganizatio ns have (Pl ease t urn t o page 27) N .... m 0:; ~ ~ ~ w ·...J ~ U