Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 5 FEBRUARY 3, 2015 P113 event, but in spite of having a proven record at the Big Bear, LeBard said he could never shake the nerves before the start of the big race. LeBard described his jitters in a 1950 era interview. "I should be able to relax on the morning of a race," he said. "Instead, I'm worse now than on my first run 13 years ago. At breakfast, before the 1951 Big Bear National Championship, my throat was too tight to swallow a mouthful of coffee and I knew if I forced it I'd throw everything up. All I could do was sit around and chew cigarettes and watch the others eat. "We all left for the starting line near Victorville together. I drove the truck because I was too ner- vous to be a passenger. We arrived an hour early because I hate to be hurried at the last minute. "When the ready bomb puffed in the distance, I calmed down. Just knowing my BSA was in top shape helped ease my mind. Most of the race is really run in the shop long before the race dawns. In the last five years of steady competition hare- and-hounding, I've learned that the condition of my machine can win or drop the race, regardless of how well I ride. A patch-up job comes un- patched on the rocks. A weak tire will blow up in your face when you need speed most." LeBard was scrupulous about fortifying his BSAs against the jarring the bike would take in the off-road events, but surprisingly he was never big on hopping up the motors, choosing instead to favor the reliability of a stock powerplant. "My BSA is always running a stock engine," LeBard explained. "A top speed of 85 is all that anybody needs for hare and hounds. The only special work I've done is raise the exhaust above the lower level of the chain guard and chop six inches out of the muffler; fix a safety-wire to the transmission cover plates; bolt in a heavier skid plate. These are all minor adjustments but they've been made to stay. "None of these adjustments are important compared to the real preparation—painstaking, methodical inspection of every joint, every nut, every working part. Examine, test, replace when in doubt—that's the only way to be sure your machine will finish. And the time to do all this is in the day after the race before. Then you've got plenty of time for repairs. I clean and gunk my cycle very slowly after each race, studying each section carefully as it comes clean." LeBard's third-consecutive Big Bear victory in '51 placed him in ads in all the motorcycle maga- zines of the day and made him an all-time legend in off-road racing. That eventually earned him a place in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame. In 1950, Frank Cooper, U.S. Distributor of A.J.S. and Matchless, asked LeBard and Del Kuhn to help scout a possible course on Santa Catalina Island off the coast of Los Angeles. With the help of some other riders, LeBard and Kuhn laid out the famous 10-mile Catalina Grand Prix course. It featured everything from city streets, to rural gravel. LeBard finished second in the 350cc class at Catalina in 1954 on a BSA. After his racing days LeBard continued to mentor young up-and-coming riders. His most famous student turned out to be "Feets" Minert. Minert won the popular Catalina Grand Prix in 1956 and became one of America's first stars in the earliest days of motocross racing. "Aub was the ace off-road rider of the time," Min- ert remembers. "He won the Big Bear three years straight and was a bit of a local legend. He took me under his wing and really taught me how to ride." LeBard passed away in December of 2012, in La Habra, California. He was 91 years old. He'd been a long-time AMA District 37 official, was on the founding board of the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) and was the founding president of the California Motorcycle Dealers Association. For all his accomplishments in motorcycling, LeBard will always be remembered for his magi- cal three-year run of victories in the Big Bear. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives

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