Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1424948
F rom 1969 to 1975, Motor Cycle Weekly gave the more established Cycle News a run for its money as this country's weekly journal of motorcycle rac- ing. And during that time Motor Cycle Weekly changed the way racing was covered. Where the focus before was almost exclusively domestic rac- ing, Motor Cycle Weekly gave American readers much more detailed international racing coverage—in addition to the U.S. championships. Under-capital- ized, the paper hit the wall in 1975 after Trippe/Cox went through a tough spell in its racing promo- tions business. Even though the paper didn't survive, it ultimately benefited American readers, with Cycle News dramatically stepping up its product to meet the chal- lenge it faced during the era of the early-to-mid 1970s. Motor Cycle Weekly was the brainchild of Bruce Cox, who along with fellow Brit Gavin Trippe founded the groundbreak- ing promotional group Trippe/ Cox. Already a publishing veteran after having worked as a news- paper and magazine writer since he was 16, Cox came to America during a radical time. "In 1967, I had a bit of money to spare and decided to spend the winter in California," Cox re- membered. "I'd been reading Cy- cle World from the USA, listen- ing to the Beach Boys and Jimi Hendrix, heard about free love and mind-expanding substances in Haight Ashbury so it seemed like the place to be. I wanted to get out there in the sunshine, riding across the desert, surfing in the ocean and doing whatever else was on offer. "I came out with and up-and- coming racer by the name of Rod Gould. He had met Joe Parkhurst of Cycle World at the Isle of Man TT, and typically, Joe—who was one of the most generous and nicest people I've ever met—had told him to stop by the office if we did make the trip. We delivered [rented] a car cross-country from New York and got into Long Beach three days later. Next morning, we were at the Cycle World office...taking care to arrive just before lunch- time. By the end of lunch, I had a job as a Cycle World journalist for the winter and Rod had been fixed up as a mechanic with a local Honda dealer. It was a trip that changed both our lives." While on his trip, Cox hatched the idea of trying to start a new weekly motorcycle newspaper in the U.S. In England, he per- suaded Gavin Trippe (who was at the time motocross beat writer for the British weekly Motorcycle News) and another young jour- nalist Bob Berry (who later ended up as editor of Motorcycle News and then the owner of Classic Racer and Classic Motorcycle Mechanics magazines) to come back with him and give it a go. In 1969 the talented trio traveled back to America and launched Motor Cycle Weekly— starting with less than $10,000 from Trippe and Cox' own sav- ings, as well as investment by Gould and Joe Ward. The paper, with its trademark orange and black masthead, made an imme- diate impact. With flat track the king of motorcycle racing at the time, Motor Cycle Weekly broke the mold by providing a great deal more focus on the rapidly growing segment of road racing. CN III ARCHIVES P106 The Competition: Motor Weekly Takes On Cycle BY LARRY LAWRENCE