Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

The Colorado Springs two-day Mile National on Ap ril 29 -30, from all reports, will be the bi ggest thing to hit the area in mo torcycling. Promot er Don Brymer is ren ti ng bl eachers anywhere and everywhere due to the overw h elmi ng rush for advan ce tickets . Everybody loves a mile . One suprise on the advance en try list showing that J ody Nicholas , who has been a mainstay on N orto n the past year for dirt track events, is officially entered for the Colorado mile on a Harley-Davidson. T he sponsor is the Wixom Bros., designers and distributors of fairings, and so forth . They are closely tied with former long time H-D t uner Jerry Branch, who has been away fro m actual racing-tuning for a few moons. , It was rumo red that Nic holas was not ove rjoyed with th e offer made b y Norton for '72 , based on his overall res ults at As cot in regular season eve nts last y ear. Dave Aldana was in the Nic holas N orton saddle for the Ascot opener on April 7. Never try to out-guess racers and their mo t o rc ycl es. Cal Rabyorn went two-plus seaso ns in National road racing an d fa iled to finis h a sing le event. He tak es the same model H-D to England and competes six ti mes in three days and runs all the way without mis sing a beat! It is true they tore the engine down every night, but they have b een d oing that to Harleys for y ears. Harl ey gave up ea rly a couple o f year s ago on the o ld and proven sid e valve twins. Maybe th ey also h ave give n u p t oo so o n o n th e recent iron-barrel twins. Rayborn was accl aimed a h er o in Englan d as the watch er s h ad n eve r b efore seen a Yan k d o in , or reall y run wit h, their b o ys. This. co uld be partly d ue to the stories b rought back fr om th e Colo nies each year after Dayt ona as to why Ph il, Paul , Peter and Mike d id no t win . Don Ernde had his very life threatened twice while competing o ver there . F irst he too k a header at abo ut 10 0 per and fell into a small lake. D on we nt co m pletely under the freezing co ld wa te r and his Bell Star is no t built fo r underw at er racing. T hen h e climbed out in the co ld air, findin g th at h is Bates leath ers ar e no t made for swim mi ng . His seco nd close call came after one even t when Phil Read's wife came roaring out of th e st ands and berated ~l1tin' By Chuck Clayt o n CLASS OF HARLEY·DAVIDSON Harley- D avid so n m eans mo to rcy cle in anybody 's language. Last we ek I experien ced tw o co ntrasti ng exam p les of the h yphen ated m o niker's h o ld on Americ an mincls. T h e first, q u it e literal illustratio n ap p ear ed at the Cycle World chrome, p aint and people sho w in t he form of a t attoo upon the p ermanent epidermis of a sw eet young thing. we r e t he words, T he r e "H ar ley·D avidso n" in 19 38 Knucklehead script. Shortly afterward I w as scoffing file t an d quaffin g cappucmo at Harley-David so n 's exp ense in a West Hollywood r estaruant, Young John Davidson himself h ad flo wn in from Milwau kee to honor th e Desert Baja crew and celeb rate their winning eight out of te n top T railb ik e nu mb ers . John represen ts th e co ns ervat ive motorcycle enthusiast. His brother Bill , the mod one, would probably ap preciate the tattooed lady's fan atical cornplirnen t to the family brand, but I think John would h ave b een shocked. He praised the healthy sportsmen (and sportswomen - pretty Lyn n ,Wilso n was there, t o o) and allu d ed to m ore new dirtburners o f t h e Baja breed. For one, you k now the fe w Baja-e ngined l 25s t hat h ave b een seen singeing the motocrosses ~l l f :l ) By Bob F. Read hi m fo r supposedly cu t t ing o ff husband Phil at one poin t during the race , thus proving th at England, as well as America, h ave over-vo cal women who protect their loved ones no matter what. Italy is h olding a re co rd paying road race with reports that Emde will aga in rid e his English-sponsored Nor to n and Nicholas also on his factory Suzuki. Yes, t he gre at Agost ini will be there on his MV. The East is slated for a big non-National weekend of racing on Ap ril 22 and 23 . On Saturday night, the 22nd, a $6,000 half mile at Kingsport, T en n . for Experts and J uniors . The following afternoon, the 23 rd, it is the annual running of the " Billy Huber Memorial" on the h alf mile at Reading, Pa. The event at Kin gsp o rt is a fir st-time major AMA race. We don't know the p ro mo t er but others co uld learn a good lesso n. He h as do ne a first class j ob of advance publicity, eve n go ing to the extent of booking in th e mo vie "On Any Sunday" an d also lining u p Mert Lawwill t o m ak e an appearance in the t heater at the end of the fil m. N ow why didn't Daytona and so me of the future race promoters think of that? T he fil m is still available. In the past many races have been plagued with fast-buck theater owners playing one of the many endless stream of Hells Angel-type fil ms - and they h ave really been coining it. Ano ther · good fli ck is called "The Thrill Is On " with A ldana, Markel, Castro , Rockwood and m any o th er top ra cers; This o ne is brand new and has n o t b een ar o und t he circuit . Recent an n u al elect io ns for pro fessional rid ers to the AMA Con gress find Jim my adorn and Terry Do rsch as th e n ewl y elected individuals. a do rn was ele cted o n t he Natio nal rider t op 20 slate w hile Dor sch replac es J ody Nicho las as the R egion t h ree rider voice. ado rn t akes t he place of Jim Rice. Nic holas w ill aga in serve b ut moves fro m a regio nal rep to a National rid er rep , replacing Mert Lawwill. adorn should be a good sol id choice ' as a voice who will, in fact, represent' the National riders. Past p erforman ces b y so me of th e elected riders h ave fo u nd only individual d esires, o r n o t hing at all, being expressed . On th at same su bject, the Con gress has th eir firs t w oman represen ta ti ve. It 's none other than Dottie Vanino fr om th e Pennsylvania area. Do rries has lo ng had around California lately? It's not a " Ch en ey- Baja" as we have called it . It's going to be the n ew 125 H-D MX. My ears perked u p and I st art ed taking notes. Not o nly that, John David so n continu ed, and, seeing me wri ting he em p hasized these Were only in the "dreami ng stage," Milwaukee is co ns id eri ng a 175cc an d maybe a 2-stroke 25 0. A ll dirt . : Th at Harle y-Davids on is considering more commitment to the dirt b ik e m arket is good news in like th ese when S. l. t imes Hayak awa predicts that Japana, In c. will dominat e t he wo rld econo m y b y 19 9 0 . H arley-David so n is an A merican company, even if their d irt bi k es still come fr o m a subsid iary in Italy . With ' th eir wholeh earted dedication to the sp o rt, as opp osed to merely _ th e busin ess of mo to rcycle m aking, good old Harley-Davidson is bound fo r glory. You never see "S uz uki" tattooed. on anybody, no r do I know of any other manufacturer that invites its winners to din ner. ANOTHER OP'N I NG , A NO THER SHO W T wo major Southern Cali forn ia a tt rac t io ns opened for a new seaso n t he p ast co u p le o f w eeks. First w as Ascot Park, all sh in ed up and resurfaced by its new o wner J .C. Agajanian . People marvelled at th e lavish u se 0 f pain t , p laster and p lumbing. T he fans appreciated it. People eve n scou red o ut the was hbasins after using them! Aggie IS l'J' , I .d'"')' 1 ; I I r">I ; tn, l How to Form an AMA District Sports Committee her o wn little newspaper where she voices opinions on racing, births, deaths, marriages, recipes, advice to the love-lorn , an d other tidbits. The annual meeting in the fall will give Dottie h er first ch ance to h ave an offi cial voice and vote, Every year some promoters try to be the first to put on a half mile event. It finally caught up with the sponsors of the April 2 Springfield, Ohio race. It sn o wed twice during the morning practice and to add to the woes they had 140 Novice rid ers in front of nearly 100 Experts and Juniors . Novices are like the U.S . Mail - " neither rain nor sleet no r snow.. . ". Th~ new AMA racing radio n etw o rk kicked off with t he Atlanta road races. Next in line is the Colorado mile on th e 30th with a 1:30 p .m , (Mountain Time) start. Then t h er e will be the nigh t broadcast of the 11 th annual Ascot TT on Saturday night, May 6, starting at 8:00 p .m . Pacific Daylight Time. Followers of m ile-track racing in t he midwest and th e south will be in store for non-National mile t rack races. Bo th will be in June, one will be at good ol d dusty Livonia outside of Detroit an d the other at the Lakewood mile near downtown Atlanta, Ga. Exact d at es will be forthcoming, Knievel will be doing his th ing at the Atlanta race. Ace r ace photographer Dave Friedman has formed a new racing poster company. His first effort is a winner. It has all of the 1971 National wi n ne rs in action. Und erneat h each picture is the rider's name, brand, town an d wh at Nationals he won in ' 71. T hey 'll be avai lab le at some o f th e Nationals this year and also by mail in t he near future. A great co llec to r's item and th e p ies are o utstand in g. Company is known sim p ly as R ace-Post ers In c . Promo te rs o f t he upcoming San Jose, Ca lifornia Mile National o n May 2 1 report th e ticket requests have b ee n so great th ey co uld have sold all th e seats weeks ago. Mile t rac ks have a hab it of creati ng t hat type o f magic . Promoter had n o t even an nounced t ickets fo r sale wh en the calls and letters started pouring in. Look for infield standing roo m fo r the fi rs t t im e at many o f the Natio nals th is year, especially if it 's a mile. Like I said, everybody loves a mil e. proudly left all the tags on the neat plumbing fixtures and w indowpanes to show h o w n ew they are. Naturally t he racing was terrific o n the new-surface track an d numero us new lo udsp eak ers b lared information in t o every ear. All Aggie ov erl o oked, as previ ous o wners failed to ere ct as well , was a sign that can b e seen fro m the freeways n earby . "See that b lue fe nce ov er there?", the tour guide sh o u ts , " that's t h e famous Asco t!" Some nigh t, after - th e newness h as worn off su ffi ci ently, I am going to skul k over t o As co t Park with a sp ray-can a nd p aint its n am e on the fence lik e graffiti. Honest -t o-G od, Aggie. I swear . T h e second o pen in g was the Cy cle World Motorcycle Show. Nothing n ew there, I am sorry to see, except Wh eelie Wheele r's latest ver sion of th e Great American Motorcycle . It seems like anyone can bolt together a cu st o m ch op per out of accessory catalo gs and wi n a prize these days. T here are some fai rly good-looking customs in th e parking lo t , including somebody's gree n, swinging-arm Vincent that put all the candy-chrome stretcher cases to sham e. Unfo rt unately the industry put abo u t as little enthusiasm into their dis p lays as th e cus t o rnizers. 1 am lold tha t th e Cycle News b ooth wa s "the hit of the show". If th at is true, and if there is a p rize fo r o ur category. 1 do n't want it. Winning's not fun by default . 1i ") ·~6.n l ""tl ,J nu r r ~ IJ~ J'~ l 'j V ' . ,frll ': ""~;' '" " '" 0.. " N ,... en N > ::;: " Ca lifornia 's District 37 has long a ports Committee that is often h eld u a model o f what one should be nquiries have co me from Worthingto to how it runs as t hey we r onsidering passing this info rm at io ong to o th er districts who didn't h av ne o r cou ld n't seem to get theirs o f he ground. Other parts of the count ave Committees, some called b ifferent names, New York has a xcellent o ne, but it's District 37 wh eerns to have come up with the bes nning one. So, for the benefit of those district ho want to k now h o w to ge rganized, Cycle News o ffers t h ackground and the present functio n 0 istriet 37. Special thanks go to Mr ar l Flanders who fille d in th ackgro und of the early days b efo re th nit became the smoothly functionin ne it is toda . ~ w Z W ..I U >- U By Maureen L ee During the war there were still p len ty of motorcycle enthusiasts but the AMA stopped gra nting sanctions for that period of time. However, riders and dealers and the clubs in the district wanted to keep the sport active unt il everything was on an even keel again; men like Aub LeBard, Norm Lee, Jack Horn, Skip Fordyce and, of co urs e , Flanders. They started holding meetings, j u st casually in Flanders ho use and kept the local bike riders busy with ac t ivities like economy runs (" th ere was little gas in th os e days "), field meets, even b eer busts , any o ccasio n to keep the clubs o rga nized and t o co nt ro l t heir ac t ivity . Even the even ts held were carefu lly considered so as not to upset t he AMA when san ct ions did become avai lab le for all o ut racing. Fi nally t he wa r wa s ov er and th e gro up in corporat ed as th e District 3 7 Sp o rts Committee. Incorpora t io n laws may d iffer from state t o st at e and should always be checked o ut wi th a lo cal ' law y er should yo u be cr eat ing your own Spo rt s Co m mi ttee o r a solitary club especially in the realm of l egally becoming a no n-profi t organiza tion. Elections we re held an d A ub LeBard became the firs t Preside n t. Over t he years th e pl aque b earing the names of th e presiden ts has an ap pearanc e o f the Who's Wh o in d istrict bike racin g. In the ear ly d ay s the road riders were also p art of the Comm ittee, but as the com p et itio n-o nly clubs grew in n umber (th ere are now nearly 70) it just wasn 't feasible to keep the groups together. For one thing, th ey just didn't th ink alike and each gro up had its own p lace in th e sun. So the road rid ers and d ir t riders split into separate factio ns an d the road groups h ave their ow n .Co m mit t ee. The way the Sp or ts Committee is set up 'is like th is: Any AMA ch artered club can apply fo r membership. Ap p ro ved by t he Co m mittee, they p ay a $5 fee per year w hich entitles them to a vo ice on the flo or, a b id at the dat e board, etc. Mo re -on this later. Each member club is allowed two representatives , o ne of whom must be the club referee, and two alternates so t hey can always have r ep resentat io n at the mo nthly meeting. At n o time, though , do they get more than two votes. The meetings ar e open, by the wa y, so the riders wh o don't belong to a club y et ride und er th e rules set d own by th e district and th e AMA can always find out what go es o n... if they are that interested . Roll is always called so t h e secret ary knows how m any clubs are pres en t , and should a ro ll,call vote come up, rat h er than a show of hands, an exact count can be made. T he system o f officers for District 3 7 are as follows; Pr esident, Vic e-President, Se c r e t a r y-T r e a su r e r , R ec ording Secretary and, when elected each year, the District Referee. T hese people , as they step down fro m these offices go o n to form the Board of Directors fo r t he District. This wa y the knowledge they gained during their terms of office is always on t ap to guide the d ist rict along, and . th ey still sho w up t o pull their sh ar e of t he load when a b ig event is in the w orks. They also have the final vote on o rganiz at io n al ch anges or changes in th e co nstitu tio n of the Committee. T he officers th ems elves vote only on issues tradit ionally granted officers plus any specified in th e By- laws . At no ( t J ,1 ,: ;. 1,' J ; J ) I I } . ].> bn' l -j" I:.L(:;Z·,~ ~ (:., j l.~ 1 J 1 \ 1 , , r\. " ,:- I • I 1 II [

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