Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

. . . . ... .. co '" " '" . "- M .... ~ O· '" .ci " II. ) ~ ~ ~ gambit ~ W Z W ..J o >o by R on Sch neid ers On Thursd ay , February first, AMA Distri ct 37 h eld it s monthl y mee tin g, th e mee tin g in which th e member clu bs were to decide whe ther or not they w ishe d to continue the . Dis trict's association with the AMA . It had promi sed t o be quite an in te resting evening an d it w as. The AMA w as th ere to presen t " their side of the story" an d t o answer qu est ion s. Representing th e AMA were Ru ss March, Gene Wirwahn , Mike Hin sh aw, an d an insurance co mp any liaison man . Th e last tim e th e AMA h ad visited District 3 7 in an official cap aci ty, th ey m ade a pretty p oor sh o wing . Mike Vancil and several o ther AMA offi cial s cam e t o the annual san cti on me eting and announ ced th at th ey wer e going to take over the meeting. Surp risingly , they su cceed ed . T h ey th en discussed with th eir stunne d aud ience suc h cogent it ems as road rallies , field me et s, treasure hunts, Ea st er egg scra mb les an d othe r suc h trivia. To make matters wor se, they we re dresse d in AMA atten tio n-getting uniform o f b righ t red sp orts j ackets, b lue pan ts, strip ed shir t and, (Perhaps th is was on ly my imaginatio n) a wh ite ca rnation in their lapels. T hey loo ked like ·the adv ance publici ty team for Shakey's Pizza Parl o rs. Someb od y ttimed th e A~ IA o n to psy ch ol o gy . " You go tta understand these gu ys, you kn ow ? Vou go t ta rela te !" So th e AMA "related'.'. Gone were th e red j acke ts th is time and the j aunty, jazzy, su per-hype approach. Instead, th e four represen t a tive s of th e AMA ap pe ared at this me e ting in th e toggery o f th e tout, dull pl aid , mi s-matched checks and ill-fitting suits more suited to a "B" movie producer 's co ncep tio n of a bo okie than .any thin g else I can think of. They sh uffl ed across to their p laces like d istrusting co ns selected fo r a line -u p . Ru ss March did most of the talkin g th rough the even ing an d his speech was wondrous to beh o ld. Now be it note d th at Ru ss March is a capable exe cutive w ho c o uld probab ly address th e Con gress o f the United States with di gni ty and ap lo mb , were he given perhaps ten mi nutes t o p rep ar e his speech . On this o ccasi on how ever , his talk w as laced with petty profanit ies, innumerable grammatic al faux pas and man y so ul-searc hing "0 m y God' s" . His perfo rman ce re all y merited so me kind of awar d and I was pleased, th erefor e , wh en the person sitting next t o me co m m en ted that Gen e Wirwahn really should have been th e AMA's chie f exec u tive b ecause Marsh was "such a clo d." Actually, ·th o ugh , the y mi ssed th eir b est bet. They co uld have. be en really p atronizin g if the y had o nly th ought to bring along a cou ple o f six -pac ks o f Coors and guzzled noi sily th rough th e meeting. In sp ite of his troub le th ou gh, Ru ss Mar ch d id man age to ans we r man y of the questi on s put to h im in wha t I fe lt w as a reasonab le fashi o n . He d id avoi d or side-step a few o f the ques tion s (includi ng one th at I asked) bu t most wer e answere d fai rly well. One in teresting fact th a t was brought out was th at, during the p ast tw o years, for every S 14 th at the AMA has co llec ted in dues fro m Cali f ornia, S 19 h as been paid o u t in insuran ce benefits . I co uld be wr ong, but I tend to believe thi s figu re. I know p erson all y of qui te a few p eople who have co llected and I m y self h ave collected enough t o pay m y membership dues for as lon g as I'm likely t o feel like riding. (I broke a co lla rb on e in an Oregon even t. ] If this is a true figure, we in California ar e now co ns id era b ly ahead of the gam e . In fact, .~*~ ***** ******* • JIM .... ISHBA CK·S DIS~LAY ADVERTISING DEADLINE • : It It It DKW .(@HODKA.BMW 1&i,.y211 9008 Sierra A ve. Fontana, Calif. (7 14) 822 -2252 ";'I~ : It It It • • ***• • * • • • **• * * *• SUZUKI Part s & accessories Send $ 1.00 for catal og OCELOT ENGI N EE R ING 16 31 La Cadera CN R iversid e, Ca lif . 9 250 1 (71 4) 682·7880 3332 RETA ST REET Z l~ core S'1214' / . Attacne s to Frame s of Any • CAR • TRUCK ~ BAG NALL PUBLISHING co. Bo_ 507, Lok e Arrowh ead , Colif , 92352 of California Quality Motorcycle A ccessories BOX-VV . TORRAN CE, CA LIF OR NIA 90508 WHOLESALE ONL Y NEW PRODUCTS FOR '73" (213) 320·9260 ***** ROOM AT THE TOP "# " (Span iSh) BULTACQ 2 5 0 .. •• • •.• • • • • • $2 1. 78 HU SK Y 400 • • .• . . • • • . ••• • .. $35 .2 0 Yo u c an ri de f or less and get m o re re-c cres with T ARABU S I (m anufacturer of or igi n al ecutn . M on t esa & Oss a Pi st ons) . 2 4 H r. U .P .$ . S er v ice . Specif y m od el - ~ij;, . _ , Pursang 5 p ort, Matad or, et c. Write or ca ll Richard Miller MjC , 17 25 E·Z " ON/OFF • TRAILER , LO .D RA MP ' P ~*a\ Tomlinso n St. , Eure ka, Ca. 9 550 1. (70 7) 443-8031. WESTERN STATES Loading Ramp DISTRIBU TOR N~e~,"':~~i~~ll:~: ~EXPERTS ,\~ \~'" '-1 m \'Gt'.c. elo ~I ~ RQl:.~ ;EfR Finall y. • ste p ·bY·ltep Introducti on 10 motorcy cling 's new . co lo rf ul sport M ot o · CrO. 1 n us book tells the begl nrnl r wher e 10 begin. wll h ch . pt ers on Moto · CrOIl Bike A nalYSIS Preparation & M aint ena nce . Phy Sica l . Co nd lho nnl g , W hat To W ur . RaCing Tec hn' Ques. W hat To Eapect . Race $t ra legy. Aac~ ClI y l It' s aU tn ere In th" 1 12 -page , B ' ) ,,1 1" book. cra m med Wit h phOtos and Infor m atIon 1 5 'lou tS. postpaId, for 55 95 IA Od S 1 ,I 1 you W i Sh III " mall s e ,.... c e I O rd e r from MQNTESA 125 . 25 0 & 36 0 ~ ri,J_ 6 ~. Mofo~cl\oss SIZES : .020• .040. .060•. 080 inc h TYPICAL PISTON LIST PRICES In clud in g p ins, clip s & ri n gs : : I , But no t J oh n Townse nd. J oh n has taken th e AMA 's insurance on as so me sort of a hol y war. In th e last tw o Distri ct meet ings he 's b ulli ed, sho ut ed, ins u lted p eople and in general mad e hi mself rather o b no xio us. Voice crac kin g with e moti on , he stands in the b ack of the ro om an d sho u ts. " We d on 't want it ! Can ' t you understand that ? We d on ' t want it !" He says "we" but -h e isn' t speaking for me or for a good many other peop le that I k now. Vet he sounds as if he th inks he has a ma ndate . 10 lead th e p eople of Di strict 37 out of the AMA . See ms like an awf ul lo t of co nviction, emo tion an d rh et oric over a re la tively unimpo rtant matter . So I ask m y self, if Moses wa nts to lead us o u t of th e AMA d oes he ha ve so me promised land in mi nd ? These prophets usual ly d o. If we fall in behind him and slay all the dragon s , we 'll probably find ourselves fo llowing John in to a land flo wing with milk and honey , or maybe beer and BardahI. California Motorcycl e Country ! Kind o f has a ring to it ... Su spi ci ous th ough I am of J ohn Tow nsen d 's crusad e , I have to adm it that he h as some reason for being upset. A t th e last me etin g o f th e District , we voted to tabl e the motion regarding, essentially , o ur co ntin ue d participation in the AMA. It w as to b e auto ma tically brough t from th e tabl e at th is meeting and w e w er e to h ave ins t ructions fro m o ur cl ub s as to h ow to vo te . Town sen d and hi s grou p wan ted a vo te on th e matter whil e the AMA was the re . It became evide nt very q uick ly tha t J ack Hurley , wh o had th e ch air , was n o t go ing t o p ermi t th e questi on t o co me t o a vo te if a t air p o ssibl e. He argue d from th e ch air, misq uo ted th e rules and allowed flagrant vio lations of th e rules when the person was on hi s side and in gen eral d id not behave lik e an imp artial chairman . One of th e most in te restin g techniques he em p loyed was to allow d iscussion onthe motion to bring the motion o ff the table, a cle ar violatio n of P. 35 , Art. 6 of Robert's rul es. Had this been su cces sful, the body would hav e sp ent the re st of the evening deciding wh ether they would talk about the actual question! When we actually got to the point of MA l e C 12 5 . 2 5 0 . 3 6 0 & 4 0 0 aULTAC O 125 .20 0 ,2 50 & 3 6 0 Jr c:.;:.me (213 ) 248 -2850 Fr ankly , I d o n' t unders t an d it . We 'll ea ch p ay $ 75 in land fees and gree n s t ic ky fees for which we'll get absolutely n othin g. Bu t S3 .5 0 fo r insu rance really bums us. Why ? Even if you p ersonally d on't need it, isn 't there a member of your clu b who d oes , o r maybe several members wh o d o ? Are we as a gro u p so selfish th at we can ' t stand th e th ought of p aying $3.50 a year so th at some members o f our group can have som e help wh en th ey need it ? I just really d on't understand it. Th ere 's so me t hin g el se I d on 't understand. Probably 60% o f the riders tha t I kn ow d on 't wan t th e ins urance. Most of th em are only mildly against it , feeling that we d on't ne ed it so wh y should we buy it ? But they realize that it's on ly $ 3 or so a year , so it isn 't all th at imp ortant n o matter wh ich w ay ·it goes. PISTONS . RI NGS. SLEEVES FOR THE FOLLOWI NG :. HUS KY 250. 360 & 400 La Cres.centa, Calif. Postal . Front or R ear T ARABUSI M~I~~7iR~LE D&S G S TRO: .. Most of th em h ave , so me how or other, man aged to collect so me money from us an d n on e of t he m (w it h the so le exception of the Fo rest Se rvice) have done one single th ing for us. We have p a ssi vel y a c c ept ed each b it of harassmen t, and each n ew fee. Nobod y is even b othering t o ask any more if we 're go ing to ge t an ything for o ur money; we just pay . Now alo ng co mes the AMA and it s insuran ce com pan y . an o rga nizatio n tha t h as give n us somethin g. It wa s, I am sure, quite accidental and I am sure tha t th ey have every inten tion of .ge tt in g it . back . But the fa ct remains tha t they gave us something: $ 5 for eve ry AMA memb er in California, net profit t o us. So wh o do we reall y want to get ? Why the AMA of co u rse! Hell, th ey did us so me good. We can ' t let th em get away with that ! . : Yama h a & : : Triumph : : of Fontana : It . X if th ey d on't payo ut any th ing in > ben efits a t all fo r a while , it ' s goi ng t o ta ke the m more th an two years jus t t o get even h ere in California. Durin g th e p ast tw o years, every b ureaucra tic o rganization under the su n has attemp te d to exe rcis e co ntrol over us and , gen erally , to charge us a fee for the p rivilege. T he BLI\I, the Forest Service, th e DOT, the Dep artmen t of Parks and Recr ea tio n, The Dep ar tm en t of M o t o r Veh icles , t he State govern me nt, the co un ty gove rn me nts and th e city gove rn me nts have all tak en a swipe a t us . . • • • Sales Parfs Senice Feb. 28 for issue No.9 on sale Mar. 7 . r ~9 • t\ ~ ~o 71: o{ HARBOR l '

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