Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

b y R on Sc h neiders m edic a l" p lan in which far few p e ople will be able to c o llec t. Again using h o rse It is no t necessary to wait until all sense lo gic, while w e kn o w that guys co nditions fo r making th e revolution brea k some thing a t alm ost every ra ce, exist ; the insurrection can create the m. re al ly se rious inj u ries don 't occ ur all - Ch e Guev ara -, th at often . Un der th e ne w plan (b asic ) th e guy wh o b reaks a c olla r bone o r a Che died, in 1967 , try in g t o p r omote toe o r frac t u re s a cou ple rib s w ont c ollec t an ything. For the guy wh o re ally a r ev ol u ti o n in Bolivia, a Latin Ame rican cou ntry wh ere "all the ge ts h urt , th ough , th is in suran c e cou ld co n d ition s" did n o t e xist . li te ral ly b e a life -saver an d p os silb y a ho me sav er as w ell . D istri c t 3 7 is now con sid eri n g, th r o u gh its m e mb e r 'cl u b s , a The e x p re sse d a t ti tu de of m an y o f revolutionary a ction, the ending of its th o se that I talked to a t th e m eeting ass ociatio n with the American wa s, " Well we d o n 't n eed it. Keep your Mot 0 rcycle As so ciation. T h e first in s u rance and bring th e d u es b ac k d own skirmish in the re vol u tio n was a ch a o t ic to $ 2 a yea r." The "we d on't n eed it" District m e e tin g in whic h it w a s decided part is questionable enoug h ; there are th a t the d ele grates would ask th ei r clubs undoubtedly a ' lot of guys ra cing wh o for instructions on the q u esti on and . d on ' t h av e any o ther in su rance wh o j ust would c o m e t o th e followi ng meeting mi gh t be t oo proud to stand up and sa y p repared to vote on th e q ue stion . so. But the remainder of the stateme n t, , One ' o f th e fir st problems is - Just the " d u es b ack down t o $2 " bit is pure wh at is th e q uestion ? Everyone was nonsense . Yo u m igh t as well tell th em talkin g abou t "voting the D istrict out of to take th e . " ex tra enriched vitamin s" the A MA ," b ut th is just isn ' t possib le in o u t o f a lo af of b read and brin g it b a ck any real sense b ec ause t he Di stri ct, as an d own to 20 ce nts a lo a f , or take the en ti ty, h as n o le gal ties with th e AMA . filte rs of of cigarettes an d bring the cost A ccord ing t o Bill 'Adams, the Distric t back down t o 18 cents a p ac k. It' ll 19 49 or w a s in c o r po ra t e d in never happen . thereabo uts w ith n o reference in the In all p rob ab ility ( the AMA isn't inc o rporation p ap ers to th e AMA. T he, saying at th e m o men t] the n ew D istric t d id h ave an A MA charter a t one , insu rance pro gr am is going to cost th e ti m e, but this ap prently en ded in the AMA ab out the sam e or less than last rei gn o f Bill Berry . You canno t year's, w hich is to say about $3.50 o f termin ate an as sociation w hich does not e ach $ 12 colle c te d in dues . Again , u se a legally exist. In essenc e, th e cl ubs are bi t of ho rse sense lo gic. How m an y road each individ u all y tied to the AMA and riding m e mbers of the AMA are going to the D istrict acts as a c o o rd in a t o r. pay $ 6 or $ 8 apiece to provide dirt So wha t c ari b e d one ? It w ould see m race rs w ith in su ran ce ? T h e AMA h as to ' th at in order t o sever th e Distric t' s keep the ' cost of the d ir t ri d er's ," rel a ti on sh ip " with th e AMA , the clubs ins urance dow n to the small ch an ge will each h ave to agre e to refrain fro m level on a p er person basis if they are applying for AMA sanctions for th ei r g o in g to k ee p thei r road riding events; to not re quire AMA m emb ershi p members. R ememb er th at m any of the road riders don ' t ri de any kin d of even t as a c ondition o f competition , an d to and d on ' t belong to any cl u b, so it 's give up their in divdual club ch ar ters . Several possiblities exist. 1.) T h e status easy fo r t hem t o not renew their membership . D on ' t th in k the AMA isn't q uo c o u ld prevail, as h as happened several ti mes before . 2 .) A ll o f the cl u bs aware of th is . It mi gh t also be a go o d thing to c o u ld se ver-th ei r relationships with the AMA and the D is tri ct wo uld become an re membe r that th e road ' ri ders a re en tity similar t th e New England Sports p ic k in g up probably h al f the tab for Committee. 3 .) Som e cl u bs could drop whatever in su rance we h ave, wh enever out an d some re main. In this cas e, the y ou' re tempte d to gripe ab o u t the AMA w o ul d have th e n u cl eus of a n ew " h igh " price . The in surance is probably Distric t 3 7, smalle r , but undoubtedly abo ut as good a d e al as yo u ' re ever m o re com m itted. If this h appen e d , th e goi n g to get out o f an insu rance cl u b s outsid e mi ght be in for a pretty com pany, so I d on't think it 's m u ch of tough tim e . Bureaucra cies lik e to d e al an argumen for d roppin g o u t o f th e w ith large organizations an d 1 would bet AMA . Thre e d oll ars an d fi f ty cen ts a that th e Uoutsi d e " cl u bs w o uld h av e y ea r is hard ly going t o break an yone . m u ch greater d iffic u lt y in d ealing with T ha t , h o wev er, d o esn 't me an th at the BLM , th e F orest S erv ic e and th e I 'm full y so ld on th e AMA. T h is year insurance com p an ies t han the AMA th e AMA will extrac t from S outhern a ffil iates. so me t h i ng i n t he C a l i fo r n ia T h e os ten sib le ca use o f the cu rr ent ne igh borhood of a quart er of a m illion fri ction is AMA's 19 73 program wh ich d ollars. May be 25 % of that m one y will tw o h i g hl y inflamm a b l e has b e sp ent on in su ran ce. No argu ment. ch aracteri stics : th e dues were raise d to fro m m e a t leas t , o n tha t. A t le ast 1 $ 12 per ye ar and th e in surance plan w as know w h a t I 'm ge ttin g fo r tha t porti on. sub stan ti ally revis ed in a m a nne r m o st Bu t wh a t abou t the rest? Wh at is ride rs in D istri c t 3 7 d o n ot con side r Sou the rn Cal if o rn ia go ing t o ge t for acce ptable . roughly $I 9 0 ,OOO? Most of the m o ne y is go in g for th e Let's first lo ok at the in surance. T h e AMA i n iti at e d in s u r an c e f or AMA 's expansion program . The AMA is com petitors two y e ars ago with a m oving in to a d o zen new areas and pro gr am o f m o d era te ben efits at an try in g t o d o things th at it h as n ev er done before . T h ey're becoming in vo lve d unreasonably low cost . A n y o n e eve n k n ow l e dg a ble a bou t r e as on abl y in p o lit ic s, legisla tive ac ti on , yo urth m o t orcy cl in g and insurance knew that pro grams, and the promotion of the sp ort and th em sel ves . They a re a lso p ro gr am cou ld n o t la st. It's a rare desert try in g to m a k e this c o un try a first-rate race that d oe s not resu lt in at leas t on e ISDT p ow e r on th e in tern a tional-scene . bro ken bone. A ssume th a t the cost o f How ofte n h ave y ou heard someone rep air o n an average is $1500 . S om e say . "Th e o n ly time we ever see the injuries, of c ourse , run much h igh e r an d AMA is when they c o m e around to m any will cost less b ut th at's a fair e sti m a te fo r the average . As su me for the • collect their mon ey." I've on ly been on th is scene for a few years b u t I 've h eard sake o f e asy arithmetic, that th e re are 100 eve n ts a year and 1 ,000 riders in it a d ozen times o r so . S o hasthe AMA and n ow the y've d one som e th in g abou t the district. T he c os t in claims would be it . They n ow h ave te n "region al staff $8400, w h ile the in com e fr o m the men" riding around the coun try in p remiu m s w ould be abou t $35 0 0 . Eve n if th e assumed figu res are 10 0% off, it ' s bright y ellow vans. With te n vans, ten still ob vio u s th a t the in surance was not ten y ear's expenses , th ey 've salaries a viable proposition fro m th e insu rance "done something about it" t o th e tune com p any 's p oint o f view. o f abou t $ 2 50,000. Wh a t ar e th ese gu y s T he in surance com p an y to o k a bath , going to d o b esides b e "visib le ?" I d on 't losin g cl ose t o $1 ,000,0 00 ac cord in g t o know. Mike Hinshaw is going to b e o ur th e AM A . That seem s abou t righ t . T he h igh ly visible pro o f of the AMA's lov e A MA w ould h ave u s b eliev e th at th e for u s. Mike's a n ice gu y b u t he isn 't a n in su r a n ce c o m p an y just m a d e a e xp e rt in an ythin g and if I'm go ing to " mistak e" b e cause they h ad n o previous pay $25,000 fo r a bright yellow AMA e xperien ce in this fiel d . That h o we ver , o rn amen t, I think I'd rather have s e em s so mewh a t n aive . Ins uran ce R aquel Welc h ridi n g in - it. Eve n b etter com p anies th at m ake million d oll ar th ough , w ould b e a good lobbyist or a mis takes j us t d on ' t e xi st, o r at least n ot sharp lan d u se lawy er. fo r long. It seem s m u ch m ore likely that T h e AMA h as b een getting in volved th ey ga ve us a h igh ly favo rab le package in p olitics . T his is b oth good and ve ry to star t with in o rder to sell the ne cessary . The re a re o ne h ell o f a lo t of prod u ct, m u ch . like a com p any that an ti-moto rcycle p e ople in p ub lic o f fice gives ,you y o u r first b ar o f soap o r tube and if w e d on't get ride of a few o f o f to o thpas te a t 5 0% o ff so that yo u ' ll the m we'll be rid in g o ur bikes in o u r livin g ro oms, (if w e c an ge t them q uie t try it . T he AM A bough t the product an d n ow t he p ri c e is go ing up to full enough ). Bu t ge tting rid o f th em take a n on-partisan e ffo rt, fo cu sing on ly on retail. T h is year the in suranc e com p any has th e p o litician' s a ttitu de tow a rd bikes given th e AMA a program on wh ic h and, t o d a te , th e AMA ~s effort h as b een th ey sho u ld m a k e some m on ey . By an ythin g b ut n on-partisian . havin g $1 ,000 d edu c tible the y have , in I d on 't even lik e to think abou t th e mo n ey th e AMA bl ew try in g to im p re ss essence , tu rn ed the p oli cy in to a "major J ' ana rv ix on , wh o ' s not in a p o sit io n t o d o u s an y good an d h as a lre ady d one a bout all . th e m ischief th at h e c an . S o far I've seen n o e f for t o n b eh alf of p eople who c ou ld rea lly h elp . One h ope fu l n o te is th at Bill Low an d Ch e t Win te r, th e N ix on flun ki es, ar e b o th gon e . Maybe th at's a sign th at times are changin g. On th e legisla ti ve front , th e re , has been littl e of sign ific ance so far . T he AM A has help ed with h elm et legislation in Michigan b u t that's abo ut it . T h eir m an was down h e re in vestigating the E I Cajon -BLM h as sle , but when he spoke to the District he w a s unable to p le dge full support for the cl ub. To m y way of thinking, th e AMA 's ch ie f benefit to us can be the help th ey can p rovid e in figh ti ng these land u se p roblems. When w e 're kic king a quarter m ill ion into their pot, it seems t o m e we shou ld d emand full b ackin g o n o u r land u se problems, e ven if they h a ve to see l Hins haw's y ellow tru ck to pay for it. I n fac t , c on sid erin g the amo unt of moeny th e A MA is ge tting fro m these parts, it would n o t see m a b it unreason able to d eman d that they assign b oth a lan d us e lawyer and a lo b byist to u s, o r perhaps to the Pacific states. If they d ecide t o do this, h o wev er, I h ope they'll buy them a Xe rox machine, a postage me t er an d some address li sts ra ther than yellow truck s! " Some o f the o ther AMA programs are to o n ew to real ly evaluate . They now h ave a youth p rogr am w hich sou nds go od on ' p aper . T hey h ave a roving "good w ill ambassador" doing public rel ations w ork on a m o t o rc y cl e which m igh t p roduce some valuab le u nde r stand they are r e t urns . I d e ve l o pin g a genui n e En duro' Ch amp io n sh ip series that will p rodu ce a real national ch am p . Bob S teffan and I ar e very gla d to he ar that. We really w an t a crack a t th o se E as te rn dudes . T he AMA's m o s n otable success so far h as been with th e IS DT effo rt. We n ow n ot o n ly h ave a com petitive team b ut th e ISDT' for th e .first time , is go ing * ~ *•••••••••••••••••••~•• i' i * R.A.C.E. . MOTOCROSS .~ i' * ' i' * i' Every Saturday Beginners, Juniors, lnt., Seniors, & Mini classes Also the "3V" class (Very Virile Veterans) 32 and older. ~······················t ~ * i' s *. 0 i' i' i' i' i' i' i' i' i' * * * * * * * * * ~ *••••••••••••••••••••••t * ~ Gate $2.00 Enter $3.00 Seniors $8.00 ~ 100% Payback to Seniors ~ ~ i' iC i' * * ~CORONA RACEWAyt * . i' i' *i' ' ... Open 8 :00 A.M. Prac. 8:30 A.M. Race 9 :30 A.M. 1. mile "cTohursWe just reco fnstru c~ed for safet y .a.nd" riding l p 13 easure . e ests most antasnc motocross faC I rt v . 91 Fwy & Buchanan - Corona, Calif. For info: (7 14 ) 735·1705, (714) 688·5484, (714) 645·1082 *¥•••••••••••••••••••••i' •

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