Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

..... "o g CYCLE NEWS NAMES,ITS MAN OF THE YEAR c, N ..... m ~ u. '" 3: w We d id n' t know w ha t t o ma ke of Russell March when he f irst t o ok over as Execut ive Director of the Am erica n Motorcycle Associat ion late in 19 70 . He see med much older th a n th e 33 yea rs th at h is p ress release cla imed. He obviously wore a toupee. He'd been ar ound the backb iting, in fight ing mot o rc ycle ind ustry and rise n to t he top, yet he had ma d e no enemi es we cou ld d isco ver . Und er its previo us di rect or, th e AMA was virtually be ing choked to death Membership had no t risen significa ntly duri ng a ll the gro wth years of the sport. T h ere had n ot been mu ch reason wh y anyone should join, aside from wanting to compete in AMA sanctioned races. It wa s a snap for a new Director to do a better job th an the o ld one, but Russell March d o esn' t sat isfy so easy . He came on wi th a whirl acti vit y throughout 1971 that the head lines are sti ll cat chi ng up wit h : he ra ised th e annua l dues and added on participa nt insurance, a Legislat ive Department , and Pub lic Re lat ions Dep artment . Under h im , th e AMA ran off its first fu ll season of FIM affi liation s ucces sfull y . A new Am ateu r Act ivit ies Depa rtment sanctioned 4 ,559 events and hel ped manage the U.S. t o its hi ghest scorin g ever in the I.S. D.T. T hen March went and got t h e 19 73 IS DT fo r the Un ited Stat es. Meanwh ile, the Legislative Dept. was lobb yi ng for motorcycling in several states, the P.R . Dept. wa s ch urn ing out race promot ion and press rele ases , and teach ing clubs how to d o the same. During 19 72 th e Am erican Mo torcy cle A sso ciation will launch a entitled Political new p rogram Fron tiers, based o n a seri es of wo rks hops thro ugh ou t th e Unit ed Stat es design ed to teach co ncerne d motorcylists h ow to op erate effec tively and efficiently in their local p olitcal became a part of staff duties a nd always th ere on the front lines, meeting a nd liste ni ng to the publi c, was Russell March . AMA mem b ersh ip went up to 14 0 ,000 and is st ill rising. As pessimists pr ed icted , raising t he d ues from 52 to 57 caused a lot of members no t to renew . But March cou nts th is no t as a loss to AMA, bu t rather, " a blessing in d isguise." "The person whose only reason for membershi p is that it is cheap is the person whose attitu d e toward h imse lf and his sport is cheap:' says an editorial in the current AMA News. "If we cannot expect th is man to invest more than 52 a year in the future of his sport , we certa inly ca nnot expec t hi m to wri te a letter, attend a club meeting or become invo lved in com munity relat ions." Th e associat ion magazi ne, rena med AMA News, was upgraded, doubling in circulation and producing tw o im po rta nt su pp lements on No ise and La nd Use. T V safety campaigns and personal co m m un icat io n w ith clu bs a nd indivi dua ls Nixon's Campaign Man Now AMA's " Invo lved " is the word th at perh aps best describes where AMA and Russ March a re at . Programs ar e und erwa y for this com ing year tha t w ill hopefu lly invo lve more motorcycl ists in th e futu re o f their sport. The new Po lit ical Front iers p rogram and the You th Divisio n for kids under 16 yea rs of age a re d esigned t o broad en the AMA's service on both end s a nd th e liabili ty and property insurance, as well as th e group life insura nce just announced, continue to p ile b enefit on top of va lue as reasons fo r AMA mem ber ship . Russell March , m ore than anyone else , has earned motorcycl ing's Man of the Year accolad e as far as t his ne ws pa per is concerned . (Or , can.a first-year motocrosser named Bill Low also be the most dynam ic pol it ical strateg ist in the country today ?) arena. Political Frontiers, which will reach nin e major cities in its pil ot series, will be under th e d irectio n of Washington·based p olitical co nsulta nt Bill L ow , and un d er th e coordination of A MA L egislative Director Chet lVinter. A bout th e team effort , lVinter states, "A man lik e Lo w is absolutely essen tial to th is program . His pro f essio nal background i nclude s experien ce with political machin ery fro m th e loc al level to th e t otal opera tio n of a national party, h e has conducted similar programs su ccessf ull y fo r o ther groups , and h e is a d evo ted and ent h usiastic m otorcyclist. " Frontiers Th e A MA s Political program is p oised to begin in March, Ten tative wo rks hop lo catio ns include Hartf ord , A tlan ta, Pittsb urgh , Chicago, St. Lou is, Dallas, Portla nd, San Francisco, an d Lo s Angeles. In each of th ese geograph ical areas, local concerned motorcyclists are in vit ed to learn h ow to influence lo cal politics through basic skills ex posed in a one -day session . At this tim e th e AMA N ews and Public R elatio ns Departm ent is wo rking w ith Win ter and L o w to complet e th e sy llabus and literature that will be used at each wo rkshop. Thr ee broad areas will b e cov ered , including th e m echan ics of govern men t, statesmanship an d diplomac y , and th e p olit ical role of the mo torcy clist and h is national associatio n. In discussing th e m echanics of government , Bill L ow will demonst rate h ow mo torcyclists may influenc e a lo cal elec tion and why it may b e easier t o do than m ost realize. "There a rc h eavy p o litic al overtones professionals through out th e co un try. In less th an a year a t Republican nati on al he adquarters , Bill was in charge of the Committee's entire p oli tical o peration. He d elivere d speech es, conducted meetings, trained semi nars and ran p olitical eval ua tio n sessions in m o st o f as an advisor fo r others w ho o pera te in the fast-paced wo rld of co mpetitive p olitics . His vantage point of extensive involvement has be hind-th e-sc en es enab led him to develop a unique persp ective of th e inner workings of the polit ical process. His professional credentials are impressive. li e directed the Rep ub licans' p olitical and financial operations in two states and, for th ose successful efforts, was ca lled to Wash in gton, D.C . in 19 69 to develop a p oli tcial organizatio n p rogram and ma nageme nt system for the Rep ub lican Nat ional Committee. The resu ltin g program go t h igh praise from elec te d officials an d p olit ical ih e fifty sta tes. A fo rm er co lleag ue identifies him as " th e m ost d yn amic and percep tive political s trategis t in th e co u ntry tod ay." His ra pid rise to th e top in nati onal p olit ics a t 32 years of age is d ramatic for while you th ful can di da te s ar e m u ch in vo gue, the backst age polit ical opera tio ns are Evelto Unveil Skycycle at TlNin Falls Biggie Cham pi onship m o to cro ss racers . young an d o ld , pro fessio nal and 'am ateur , fr om all over the w orld , are: His p ro fessio n is p olit ics. He is in th e bu siness of sh owi n g candi da tes fo r elective office h ow to win an d h e serves gene ra lly h eld b y o lder m inds. Last year Bill opened a p oli tic al adviso ry a nd ca mpa ign co nsu lting office in Wash in gt on. lie h as b een reta ined b y th e AMA to d evelop and direct the new polit ical action p rogram. Na turally his hobby is motor cyc lin g. An av id rid er and no w a first vear mo tocrosser, Bill has become ac ut ely awa re of th e p roblems which co nfront all cylists. li e points o ut: looking forw ard to th e worl d 's richest m otocross race, th e second annual Snake Ri ver Canyon Champ ionsh ip s to b e hel d a t T win Falls, Idah o , May 6 & 7 on the grou nds an d th e site o f th e hu ge ta ke-o ff ramp and runway area , where Evel Kn ievel will attempt the lon gest jump in the w orld with h is n ow fa m ou s "Skycycle X·2". Riders an d spectato rs attendi ng the m o tocr o ss this year will ac tually see th e b ullet -sh ap ed , stream lin ed Sk yc ycle bein g test ed at the ju mp site in prep ar ati on for the day to co me ; th e exact d a te to be an noun ced in th e near future. Prize m on ey fo r the ra ce will be $25,000, p lus co ntinge ncy money ; witho ut a d oubt, th e wo rld 's rich est motocross race . European en tries and others from all over th e United States h ave b een received . T he event will b e sanctio n ed wi th C.l\I.C. and o nly th e p ro s will n eed a co m petition licen se. Amate urs , wh o ra ce on Sa tu rday, Ma y 6 th, will not ne ed a license. All finishers in the Amateur class will receive 10 0% Olympia souvenir trop h ies. Th is event is a c n ~op sponsor parti cipation between Snake River Can yon Ent erp rises, h eaded up b y Evel Kn ievel, Mik e Gre y, a Civic Community lead er in Twin Falls , Idaho , and the Olymp ia Brewing Co., T um wa ter, Wash ington. All riders wh o a tten de d last year's eve nt w ere overw helmed with the Twin Falls country hospitali ty a nd frie ndliness. This event co uld be th e bigges t in mo torcycle sport his tory. When Knievel j um ps th e Can yon, a full week of com p e tit ive sport is p lanne d an d the prize m on ey may b e near th e $ 100,0 00 mark. to virtually every problem facing cylists tod ay . T he ave rage politician views the cy list as publicly unpopular an d, the refo re, c onsid ers hi m a p ol itically desir ab le targe t for criticism. Th e poli tic ian feels that tn e cy nst doesn' t figh t b ac k very o ften a nd wh en he do es it is relatively inefficient. "The goal of the new Al\IA Poli tica l Frontiers Worsh op ·p ro gram is to cha nge things, " says Bill. "First, we mu st expose th e p olitician to the rea l wo rld of cy ling in th e Seventies. The p olitician 's lack of information and understanding abou t cycles and cy lists presents an op p ortu n ity for us. For example, th e 1972 candidates are already fal ling all over each other wit h efforts to a tt rac t the newly enfranchised y o ung voters. Yet h ow many p oli ticians have even thought about th e hi gh p ercen ta ge o f y o ung p eopl e who own, wan t , o r iden ti fy with mo torc ycles? 1I0w ma n y ca ndida tes are a ware of the inten se feeling of ma ny o f us tha t we , as a gro up, are tir ed o f d iscriminat ory treatm ent by o ur public o ffic ials? "W e n eed to b ecom e a viab le p olitica l intere st instea d of waiting aro und to be used as a target for some ca nd idate 's sp eec h , legisla tio n, or a dm inis tra tive order. "We n eed to encourage and equip m o torcyclists to get into p oliti cs on th e ground floor thro u gh involvemen t in cam paigns. \Ve need to recru it , o n a selec tive b asis, fellow cyclists to run for office an d thereby establi sh some knowledgea ble spo kesm en in th e city hal ls and St at e Hou ses. " Most o f all, we need to overcome sit uatio ns wh ere we are constantly o n th e d efen sive. When resp onding to poli tically significant consti tuencies, p oliticians like to use as many '"yeses''' a nd as few '" nos' '' as p ossibl e. The b est way to p ut an end to the opposition an d o utrigh t oppression we have been getting as cycl ists is to develop some "'cl out'.. and to get on seeking the help we need from our public officials: education for autom ob ile drivers, access to ridi ng lands, et c. We will n ever have a better opportunit y than we have this year !" Readers a re invited to keep watching Cycl e News and Al\IA News fo r meet ing tim es and p lace s. T ho se wh o wish to par ticip at e at th is time, AMA memb er or n ot, writ e to Bill Lo w, c{o POLlTlCA L FRONT IE RS, AMA , 56 5 5 N. High sr., Worthington, Ohio 43085 . z W ...J U >- U

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