Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

The LA Times has darn near ap ol ogized fo r the n asty things that they said ab ou t th e Elsinore GP. The Elsinore Ch amber o f Comme rce w as at least p ar tially resp o nsible for th e apology. T h e town m ad e $S OO,OOO from the races. The T im es article eve n mo cked th eir own previou s " Wild Weekend" hea dline an d corrected some of their previou s in accuraci es. en " ., '" 0- N .... en M " ..., " c lJJ ;:: * * * got off one of Ron Grant those water cooled Suzook 750 racers recently while testing it. He was doing about 170 mph at the time. The following week , he was back testing it again . * * * Rumor h as it that th e fell ow wh o is riding th at XL-2S0 o ver th e san d dunes ori the Honda billb oards and in th eir ads is J. N. R ob erts. Boy , what an " in " thin g to pull on y our buddies. * * • Suzuki is spending a great deal of time testing at Talladega. It is the next high speed "superbowl" to be used for an AMA N~tional and it gives the Suzy team a chance to develop tires for the 175 mph monsters. Once they get the things AMA-lega l aga in t ires will be their big problem , as at Daytona. * * * Kaw asaki' s R & D de part me nt may be havin g a ball and p ulling everybody's leg t h at large displacement w i th m o tocro sser. Po pular rumor has it tha t it is 490cc. We were talk ing to some body over th ere and men tioned tha t it would be pretty funn y if it turned o ut to be 3S1cc. " We' re laughing already," say s h e. Co uld be that our legs are being yanked good and hard. At one p oin t they picked up so me stickers that said "SOO" an d stuck them on . T hat fruk ("fruk" is the past te nse of " freak") a lot of people o ut. We are pretty sure that the disp lace ment is in excess of 2S0cc.We seriously wonder why it's such a big secret. * * • Gonzales, Ca lifornia proudly announces it is the Home of Corriente Joe . Who or what is Corriente Joe? And why? * * * T he ACA-AME hassle has ren ewed itsel f. T h e ACA has taken over the date for either organization at Saddleback. The AME still has th e d ates at Carl sb ad , ·b u t th at may change in th e future . Stay tuned . • * * Wes Cooley of the ACA informs us that those six and twelve hour endurance production road races will be held on October 28 and 29 at Willow Springs. Bikes up to 200cc will race on Saturday in the six hour race. On Sunday the big race will be he ld. It is a twelve hour go-round wh ich , hopefully , w ill see some factory participation. Last year entry was $50 pe r team, but Wes says that he hopes to be able to attract enough entries so that the fee will be considerably reduced. Th is type of race causes them greater expense: two ambulances, track , insurance, and so on. So get your machinery together. Dealers and man ufacturers would also do well to sponsor somebody : winning t hese things can be a real feather in your helmet. * * * Pip e smoking is a good way to lose friends. Not to mention cigarettes. * * • w * * * * * * • * *~ • . All motorcycles sold in California after January first , 1975 must have a headlight that operates any time the eng ine is runn ing. Bet you didn't know about that one , but that particu lar bill is well on it s way to .beco ming California law. It's already passed the State Senate and has been reported out of committee to the Assembly . The CHP and AAA -No rth backed t he bill as a piece of " ' ty . egi" U~Il' v{'l.~ ill ik8& * * * John DeSoto an d Brad Lackey have made so me arrangeme nt wi th Kawasak i th at apparently includes signatures, b u t getting details out of the m would req uire sodium pentathol. J oh n DeS . retains a co uple of CZ's as does Brad (he st ill is rather closely affiliated with Ame rican Jawa) . John did say th at it was "a m ost satisfactory arrangemen t. " * * * If you turn to page 1 1 you will find some actio n packed photos of and a dy nam ite press re lease about our ad vertising department. Hot dog! * • * Ron H age s t , th e creator of the "Sunse t Tripper", has come up with something new . Cafe racers are co ming of age, and to m ee t th e market Ro n has created the " City Slic ker. " If 'y o u are wo ndering . a cafe racer is a st ree t bike styled along the lines of a road racer with things like racin g seats, perhaps a fairing , and so on. Ron runs T riumph of Burbank and Z happens about this long after the Grand Prix . CN Genera l Manager, Tom Culp, could hard ly wa lk as he was carrying the coveted Cycle News troph ies for Best Performance by a National Number of Fo reign Descent a nd F irst 125 Expert. • * * YEAl KUDOS! APPLAUSEl CHEERS! HURRAYl A.C.E. has broken down and finally decided to require silencers at all Indian Dunes events. For that, they get one big pat on the back from us. You guys done good . Say, Ind ian Dunes, are you beg inning to feel that you are a little out o Ut? Or can 't you hear us? * * • • Saw what may become the " in" th ing of the future while motoring t o a local cycle park. Standing by the side of the road was a hitch -hiker. No big thing, but he had a large sign which said "R ide?" Sitting o n the front of his 400 Husky . J ody Nic holas will be riding one of those super trick alum inum engine Ha rley-Davidsons in half mile and related dirt competition. Not factory sponsore d in the dirt J ody is going to do it wi th a lit tle help from his friends. He sh ould be appearing th is coming Fri day at Ascot. Jerry Branch will probably be d o in g some, or mos t , of the tuning. Helping the San Bernardino Valley MC put on their TT at Elsinore was Desert Ace, Jim Fishback. Steve Nichols also showed up to spectate . * * * • * • First time we can rem em b er a four-s troke in the Novice Main at Ascot since they invoked the 2S 0 ru les: F riday nigh t Rick H utchins m ad e it on a 2S0 Harley-Davi dson Sprint. Texas now has its own Motorcycle Industry Council. The TM IC may be reached at Box 586 , Hurst, Texas 760S3. * * A cafe racer is the road racer's answer to the chopper, and the "City Slicker" is Ron Hagest' s answe r to t he " S¥set Tripper" . All changes are purely cos metic. * We cornered J ohn " Light Brown " Lan cion e , th e AMA's ne w Professional Motocross Referee a t the Ca rlsbad MX last weeken d (or, we should say, he cornered us) and laid this her e card on us . If you ever wondered what an AMA official does when he 's not being an these AMA officials, check ou t sidelines: l"tE w C A;"L. G IR LS CARS WHEEL CHAI~S J URY S R I BE:S , ELEC T I O NS R IGGED DED PA,," S F . H. A . C ON NECTIONS H ORSES BO UGHT A"';O S OLO USED R UGS TRASH low bars, big tank (much more practical than the bitly peanu t tanks on choppers), rear set pegs, high b acked CARPETS GARBAGE: CANS HA UL I NG ARTIFI C IA L BAB Y SITT IN G M A N U RE INSEMINA TION BR OKER L.AWN S MOWED JOHN NELSON LANCIONE FOR EVER YT HI NG YOU NE E O * The Fo ur Aces h ave a memb er who lost h is bi ke and almost lost h is bod down a mi n esh af t in the dese rt last weeken d. He is O K but it leaves h im w ith ou t a ride. The Four Aces; being good guy s, ha ve deci ded to do something. T hey have ob tai n ed about $3 000 worth o f ' donations in merch an dis e fro m peop le around South ern California, an d th ey are go ing to raffle it o ff. Tickets are SO cents ap iece an d are avai lable from an y Fo ur Ace . (Is that right?) Look fo r ihe m at distric t even ts an d like that. They also h ave a member who wo rks a t Cy cle Prod ucts West. It looks lik e everybody should co me ou t ah ead. * * While m aking up a 20-y ard handi cap in the Division 11 Main Eve nt a t Irwindale Sp eedway T hurs day ni gh t, Jeff Sexton go t off ra the r hard an d b roke hi s back. He is p rese n tly co nfined to room S6 of th e Glendora Val ley Co mm unity Hospital with th ree cru shed ver tebrae . His doctors h ave a positive attitude to wards h is co ndition and have chose not to o pe rate . at th is tim e . They h ave pl aced h im in a b race ins tead of t ractio n. Visiti ng h ours are fro m 1 to 8 p .m. and cards and le tters sent to th e . h ospi tal o r to T rack 'N T ravel , 13 13 2 7th St. , Chino, Calif. will be delivered to him . One of our fellow journa lists , Dav id Sw ift, ca lled recently to tell us that he has been able to de termine t hat t here is no truth to the rumor that t he AMA won 't let Evel ju mp the snake river in his Sky-eycle until he has bu ilt 200 copies of the machine . * by taking on fuel in th e wro ng pi t - it Gran t was was Bob by Unser's d ro pp ed to 12 th spot by the officials. built before that date and still operating? If motorists come to associate a headlight with a motorcycle, will they even register when they see a bike with no light? That law could kill a lot of motorcyclists. HOT EL R ESER VATI O NS A B O RTION S BEER A N YT H ING W H O LE S ....L E R AILR OAD T I CKE TS PE R FUME S T he funny th ings is, he d oesn ' t give a p hone number. Hm mm. Next time you see " Light "Bro wn " , af te r p utting yo ur orde r in, ask h im how h e go t th e nickn am e . An interesting story, and he sure knows h o w to tell 'urn. * * If you get a chance (and are old enough to buy it), check out th is month 's Playboy. The interview is with Jackie Stewart of Formu la I fame . Although it deals with cars, the b its about racing are just as true about motorcycle competition. He's got some heady things to say . * BEA T N ICK C O N NEC T; O N S S EALY MAT T R E S S ES BRASS I E R S N YLON HOSE * T E QUI LA K. C . STE A KS * * WATE R M ELONS also h andles Kawasakis so those are th e marqu es th at the "Slicker" I S ava ilable in. There should b e a pic tu re he reabou Is . * * * RANK (AND POPULARITY) HAS. ITS PR IVILEGES: Dick Mann showed up Saturday fo r the National 25 minutes after sign-up had closed . He was allowed to sign up anyway . * * * Joe Barringe r w as going to claim Larry Palmgren 's b ike at L ou isville , but Larry silver-tongued him ont of it so Joe wandered off and tried to claim John . Hateley's, but the officials wouldn't let him. How frustrating. I Chuck Palmgren had a han d in losing Jerry Grant and Dan Gurney $72,000 at the Indy 500. Ch uck was the fellow that * * • turned on the fuel valve when Gran t So m e of us boogalooed up to Els inore pitted with the-lead and 13 laps to go. o n Friday night for the tro ph y . ' 416 vv . told.tA!t+'m.oQ~ "' 'i''':hl'J ~ prJ!Jelltatioft ' 'Ill , e.. ffing t il m We we re disappo inted to see such a small t u rn ou t of Expert ride rs. Vic Han nan was t he o nly Expert in evidence. Th e Elsinore fo lks see med to be a little ta ken abac k by t he small nu mbe rs also. T he street t hat was bl ock ed off was p iled high with eats and dri nks, b ut t he re we ren 't enough bodies there to co nsume it all. Our Ge nera l Man ager t ried his best to ma ke them feel better by drinking several gallo ns of bee r an d t h en d ispensing the trophies. Dave Aldana got t he one for the " Natio nal Num ber, etc ." and Danny LaPorte received the ot h er. Both of t hem mu st have felt that they just we ren't in co nt enti o n for t he CN honors as neither sh o wed up . Boy, have they got some surprises comi ng! * * * Rex Barratt, h eal up and get o u t of th e hospital soon. * • * * * * * • • Several of us have "I like motorcycle" stick les stuck on our cars. Rec ently one of those cars had the following note appear on the w indshield: " I like motorcycles, too. I am an orthopedic surgeon and motorcycles keep me in Caddies." Kee p Cadillacs off the road : do n't crash. According to o ur Eastern fo lks, Don Castro le ft California on Tuesday bu t never "Shoed-up" a t Louisville for th e National. Whe re are you, Don? J im Rice and Dave Aldana didn 't make th e Half-Mile. Jim is still suffe ring fro m a sore shoulde r due to the fac t th at he tried to move a guard rai l over at San J ose. Aldana didn't have the necessary expense money and so stayed in LA and won another Ascot. Jo h n Cooper w ill race a Norton in the Isle of Man t his week , and Ph il Read ..' ''''1\1 titll!'l1 '3!S6 f.1V'!· .' '. '. .. . . .. w -' (J >(J

• Cover