Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

It) ~ 8:- N .... en ..... Income Tax. Snake bite. Cancer . : They all connote abou t th e sam e : th e feeling yo u 'r e about to b e had and there's not a damn thing you can d o about it. Peop le 's attitu des vary slightly on the subject of taxes. Some don't want to pay because they can't afford it, or it wouId cost them money they fig ured on using forfun. It 's h ard to feel very sorry fo r those types because if they've got enough that income taxes are a problem, they've got a lo t more than many of our citizens who find it difficult to come by three squares a day on a regular ba sis . Others don't like to pay taxes because they feel the government will waste the money, money that th ey 've h ad to work very hard to obtain. No q uarrel here. The amo unt of waste is sta ggering. Familiarity with any factory that is p roducing for t h e G overnment is enough to give o ne a viol en t case of th e p ea-gr een throw-ups. Th e amount of paper work involved in a $3 p roduct from the I.Q. stage (that's information query in Fedeze Doublethink) to t he Q.C. (quali ty control). to the Q.~1. (Quartermaster) would eas ily suffice for a S unday editio n of the L.A. Times. Incidentally, notice the Government's preoccupation with the letter "Q". It's queer. For those victims of the bite, sympathy comes more easily. T hen there are those who feel that, not only does the government waste hard-earned income tax money. it uses it to harm the world. The logic flows easily: Of every tax dollar, 57 cents (at least) goes to the military. Pay a tho usan d dollars in taxes an d yo u've just b ough t $5 70 wo rth of 50 caliber machine gu n shells fo r the less intellige nt memb ers o f o ur society to use o n th e less privileged members of th e world's society . It just abou t By Maureen Lee Las t Friday night was th e evening Distric t 3 7 h onors its Number One plate h olders with the A nnual T ro phy Pre sentat ion. Sorry mo re o f th e gang didn't mak e it . Mo st o f th e Trophy winners did , though but th e sm allness o f th e crowd left mo re of th e goodies fo r t hose of us who did show up. J .N. could n't b e on hand , so me said he was at another tr ophy pre sent at io n and others said h e was o n lo cat ion , b ut hearing h is name brought to mind ano ther one of t hose tales we ge t th rough t he gra pe vine. We 've me nt io ned b efore how that when a man ac hi eves that Num ber On e p late, and how h e achieves it , so meti mes honestly b y his sh eer skill and no monkey business and so metimes, alas, "with a little help fro m his fri ends," there are ru mors. Poor old J.N. got his share th is year. Fi rs t , I chanced in o n a " he should have been disq uali fied fo r t he Barstow to Vegas ." Says I, "W ho?" Says th ey , "J.N. " Asks I, "What the h eck fo r? " . "F or running an eig ht-s peed Husk y . There are clear rul es that gea r b o xes sh all not exceed four sp eeds." As y o u know b y now, me and rules hav e an attract io n for each ot her . so to th e b ooks we went. Yep , the ru le is there but as usu al t he perso ns involved had failed t o re ad it slowly enough and properly enough. T he ruling affects o nly road racing, and bikes fo r dirt or short tr ack eve n t s and on approved mo t orcycles, Bikes for scramb les and desert do not have to b e approv ed, so J .N .' s bike was totally legal. In fac t, y o u'd b uild him a tw o-sp eed gea r b ox, o ne t o get t h ings moving and the o ther fo r t o p sp eed, h e'd still wi n that run. Still, I do rememb er one year b efore this p aper was in exist en ce wh en a ce rtain rid er m ade h is Num ber O ne with a six -speed ro ad racin g gear b o x in h is ligh t w eigh t. (T his was in th e days o f Prado Park an d wh en all b ik es h ad t o b e ap proved.) One day the cat was out of th e b ag when a Sw eepstak es was ru n and there w as th is lightweigh t givin g' fits t o Bill Ril ey's bi g twin which was ki nl( o f Prado and the Goldstar Brigad e headed by Jim Hunte r . Now you scramblers can just have fu n gu ess who it is, 'caus e 1 ain't tellin'! :I . .... I ~... .. ~ _ • Income Taxes: a briefcase full of documents has the same effect on a bureaucrat as a crucifix does on a vampire." U ••• gu aran t ees yo u fin an cial res ponsibility for th e life o f o ne Vie tn amese o r o ne Kent Stat e st uden t. the very th ou ght th at Ch arles Man son mi ght ge t awa y with less than the Stat e' s sup re me vengence is eno ugh to provok e co ld fu ry in hea rts o f most cit izens. But t he Ma nsons o f My La i w e find easy t o forgive, eve n th o ugh t here wa s m ore sla ugh ter and th e vic t im s were chil d re n . Is it because we, through o ur tax mo n ey, bough t and paid for My Lai? \Vhat ever the motivation, most citizens have a keen desire to do the government in the eye at tax time. And mo to rcyclists, racers naturally, look to their hob by and/or business to provide deductions and ease the bite. Racing is an expensive sport; if you can deduct the cost of racing, you can save a lo t on t h e income tax, or deprive the government of a lo t , whichever way yo u loo k at it. But it's not easy. To find out just what could be done without risking jail, I consulted a tax accountant who is knowledgable about the racing game and asked him some hard questions. The answers aren 't terribly encouraging. Easiest , of course, is t he lo t of those who se sole income co mes fro m mo to rcycling. Racers who live on their winnings have no problem. They can deduct everyth ing vaguely rel atinl( to I alway s read Ali ce Rhea' s exc ellent d esert rep orts. Last week she repo rt ed on th e pit racing ac t ivit ies goi ng o n and wish ed th at some o f the clu bs would police o r kick o u t members caught do ing it. One h as , A lice. I just received a letter from Ca ctus Cats to b e read at th e Sports C ommi tt ee meetin g t hat if any of th eir me m bers are caught doing th is they shall b e sus pended fro m the club. Good show, Cats , and I hope to see other clu bs d oing the sa me thing. I have a feeli ng I'll b e h earing from the Lost A ngels, a club who is never behind the eigh tball on doing thi ngs. I get mo re co rrespo ndence from Ch ris Hytten, p ro and con o n co lumns o r suggestions etc., and, let 's face it, p it racing is a b light we can d o without. After last week's column when I took t h e stand against women racing in Class C (oops, pardon me, Al\IA, I mean professional events) along with a few o ther little observations about the female gender, I almost expected to lo o k out my front window some early morn and see some bras being burned, bu t hints h ave b een dropp ed that I'm a bj t we t an d that wo men are as good as me n. Hate to t ell you this, but we' re not . In t he field o f at hletic competition , that is. I b elieve in equal pay for the sam e job , an d m y b oss, Chuck Clayt on, never treat ed me as an yth ing else b ut a jo urnalist wh en it came t o ge t ti ng th e news o u t. But at h letic co m p et iti on is different. To ch ec k this thoro ughly I asked my internist , who is b rilliant in his fie ld . H e dragged this little carcass back when I w as just abo ut three feet u nder and h e's widely resp ected b y his peers. I already had my id eas, but w ere t hey right? Well , accord ing t o Do cto r Sam , I'm sorry , ladies. but try as we may we ca n give 'e m a go . Be as good? No. Of co u rse, a p ro p erly conditioned athletic girl ca n b eat an o ut-of-shape ma n, but, say yo u have a woman standing f iv e -f oo t-se ven, w eigh s abo ut 150 pounds , and a man th e same size (in oth er words, good fla t t rack mat erial ) , th e man w ill still excel. Ph y sically, we canno t b uild as much muscle mass o nt o o ur b o dies as m'aIe. T hat 's why wome n can weight train and not grow mu scl es - o nly a more shape ly b ody - while th e male b ecomes the Mr. a America t y pe. O ur h earts are smaller and t here 's a differen ce in lu ng capacity so when both ar e go ing fu ll-out, using every o unce o f stren gth th ey have , th e ma le is pumping more o xygen into m o re m uscle which gives him q uit e an edge, T hen, to tackle a delicat e su bject delicat ely ...w e have ho rm o nal changes. .The ma le is what he is all thro ugh th e month and year. He has his good and bad days as we all do w hen you're feeling a bit down and things do n't feel right, b ut we have a distinct hormo ne pallern which enables us to bear children. Accordi ng to th e doctor during certain phases of th is physically we are under par , reac tions slower, etc. And not only that (a nd I hat e to admit it) our brains do not work as well . We can still function b ut we ' re just a little slower in making the decisio ns and thinking things out and in p hysical competition that's the difference, right there. So no matter how well you can handle a bike, horse or skis, they're still going to get us . NASA hasn't though t too hard about tr aining women astro nauts. So relax and enjoy it. You can 't do any thi ng about it so just have fun . A nd when yo u t h in k abou t it , what have the militant fem a le libb er s gained when th ey st orm t h e doors o f a men-only b ar ? J ust ano ther b ar. In my eyes, th ey have lo st co nsiderab le pride. And if y o u sh ould be ab le to beat Dic k Mann, J .N ., Joel Rob ert o r an y of th e greats, so w hat? Yes, you've achieved so me th ing but at th e same tim e you've mad e him fe el a b it small. Isn't it a bett er feeling to scrab b le arou nd as hard as yo u can a nd th en have a nice male ann come around your shoulders when yo u're th ro ugh an d a voice say, "Hey kid, you looked pretty good o ut th ere ," th en to hear, " My God , you b lasted me in that sa ndwash?" So, le t th e guys have a sport o r two they can have fun with and w e can have fun with with o ut getting too serious abou t it . Maybe I' ve b een letting out with few secrets all European ra ised women are traught at their mothers' k nee . Let the b o ys be th e b o ys! And in the world of bikes w ome n haven 't do ne so badl y, now have we ? It's jus t th at they're b igger than u s. R ight? By Charles Clayton Hubbub is just starting t o rise over Presid en t Nixon's d eclaration of p o licy r egardi ng off-road veh icl e (read : motorcycle) use of t he m u lt i-million ac res o f lands held in the public t rust. T he S ierra Club jum ped the gu n a little by declari ng , the d ay befor e th e Presid en t 's p ro clamation was read, that th ere was no place on the public lan d fo r motorcycles , as far as th at group o f ultra-conservarionists is co ncerne d. The AMA miss ed its chanc e t o rebut th e Sierra Club 's press releases b y stat ing, as it should have, th at all lands except primit ive and wilderness areas s ho ul d be con si de red ope n t o m ot or c ycl e r id in g ' unless pro ven harmful. Instead , AMA d ecid ed t o co -opera t e with o ther off-road-veh icle inter est (4.wheel drive, snowmobile, etc .] and "take t h e posit ive att it ude th at land is go ing t o b e mad e availab le." AMA plans to ca ll a me eting with t he o the r O RV organiza t io ns, possibl y t he week o f March 6, to decide wh o has the best program t o fo llow. So fa r, AMA seems to favor a p lan drawn up by a group initialed ORVAC some years ago, calling for flexible guidlines to meet local needs. 0 R V AC proposes th ree designations for public lands: I. Open Use to off-road vehicles, with m in im u m regulation, 2. Restricted, seasonal use regulating the class and density of vehicles used in the area and 3. Non-Use areas, where ORV use would be a hazard to safety, outstanding sce nic beauty or wilderness areas. Nothing new there. What probably appeals most to Al\lA is that OR VAC recognizes the legitimacy of o rga nized competition meets and recomme nds p ro visio ns fo r racemeets on the public lands. Special Assistant to t he Secretary of Interior, Jim Roush (a motorcycle ent husiast, thank the Lord) , seems t o believe that we will be acco mmodated reasonably in the President 's land p o licy if we p u t enough p ressure on t he po lit icians to o ffset the pressu re th at the Sierra Cl ub m a in tain s. . Bo b Hic ks, prime m o ver of th e New Engla nd T rail Rid ers Associat ion in th e No rt h east U.S ., says th e Presid ent 's pro clamation is " not go ing to change th in gs very m uc h" in his area. Hicks p o ints o ut t hat t h ere is very little Federal land in New Eng land, b ut he w arn s th at F ed eral poli cies a re so m etimes adop ted as guidelines b y state go vern ments. so what Washingt on , D.C. d ecid es may yet affect Mr . Hicks' baliwick. Bob was recently appointed t o the Massachusetts Governor's Land Use Ad visrory Committee and happily reports that go vernment engineers are now working with "our people" to establish some 450 miles of recreational trails for vehicles. The In terna t io nal Four Owner's Club recognizes th e threat to street riders imp lied in t he Presid ent's proclamation. Road riders are going to need the hel p of dirt riders to keep m o t o rcycle s excernpt from No-Fault Insurance laws and so the I FOA is w o rkin g with us o n this thing. I FOA President Bill Robinson says he plans to apprach the Prisident and his cabinet di rectly through an [ FOA member on the White Ho use Staff. Also , Bill notes that five U.S. S enat o rs are I FOA members an d two of th em, California S enato rs Joh n T u nney and Bob Wilso n, have already pl ed ge t heir help . In ad d it io n , I FOA Washin gt on lo bbyis t Chuck Irw in is wo rki ng o n the case and Robins on plans t o inv olv e th e F ed er al T rade Commi ss i on a n d t he Office of Consu mer Affairs. (If yo u b o ugh t a t ra il b ike an d h ave no plan to ride it , yo u've b een d efrauded, right ?) G over nmen t ab use t ak es many fo rms, wh eth er the govern men t gui lty of ab usi ng its p o wers is a d ict a to rsh ip, democracy, re p ublic or co mm unal. T he wo rst t h ing a government can do is discriminate against a min ori ty . Right no w. mo tor cycle riders are a m inority that is being discriminate d agai nst. But fort unately , in this great Republic of the U .S.A., w e are no t help less t o pro t ec t o ur rights t o th e p urs uit of hap p iness in o ur curious fas hio n. T he major weapon in our ow n defense is the written letter, foll o wed b y th e b allot cast in our o wn enlightened self-in te rest. We can save a lo t of o ur freedo m to ride for 0 urselves and p ost eri t y b y excercizing o ur ci ti zen's tools no w and thro ugh t o u t the co ming six months. It is 0.lfU~I.~. 4'! !~ ., .• ~ ~ :; ~ w Z W ...J U >- U

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