Round Up
ROUND UP
JOE PARKHURST
THE BUREAU AND THE LAND
Motorcycles and the feds played an important part in things this month. I received separate government publications, from two different federal agencies. The United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare has issued a pamphlet entitled “Motorcycles in The United States.” It is primarily a publication designed to acquaint the non-motorcycling public with our sport. It gives some excellent instruction on safe riding, and at the same time advises the automobile driver how to cope with the bikes he might encounter on the road. Quite naturally the advice is largely based on attitudes fostered by the federal government’s Highway Safety Act—particularly when endorsing such things as mandatory helmets, and the use of crashbars.
Many of the statistics on motorcycles are enticing, others are interesting, but misleading. Deaths due to motorcycle accidents are tabulated from 1959 through 1966. The survey fails to list 1967, which showed a decrease in deaths, yet an increase in registrations. The brochure very carefully details the causes of accidents, describing the average age, sex, and degree of experience of riders; shows registrations by states and percentages of increase; and offers a great deal of useful information.
The booklet is for sale: Send 10 cents to Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. The publication number is 999-UIH-7.
The other government publication sent me deals with a very serious situation that faces all off-road users, from motorcycle riders and dune buggy enthusiasts to the four-wheeldrive bunch-the use of “public domain” lands. Public domain is the land not owned by individuals, or state or government agencies. Every trail rider, cross-country racer, and back country riding enthusiast is likely, at one time or another, to have used such land. A booklet entitled “The Motorcycle and Public Land In California,” originates from the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. This fascinating little book deals with a subject dear to my heart, and I’m afraid some sacrifices are going to have to be made among those, like myself, who prefer to ride where others have not, or do not, often ride.
The book carefully describes the problem of a rapidly growing population and, quite naturally, a rapidly growing number of people who make use of public lands. Coupled with this is the even more rapidly growing number of off-road vehicles that charge across the wastelands of the West. This book deals only with the state of California; other states ultimately will face the same situation. The book delves well into the subject, describing the problem fully, and is termed “a report on the demands and impacts of cross-country sport motorcycling on the public domain lands of California.”
J. Russell Penny, Bureau of Land Management director for California, summarizes the situation. He states the impact of this use has not yet been measured. He handles the subject openly, with no malice toward motorcycles or the people who ride them. However, the overriding truth prevails. The BLM believes that, in time, something will have to be done about off-road vehicles. CYCLE WORLD Editor Ivan Wagar is preparing a full study of the situation for publication later. I have believed for some time that trouble is in store for the hare and hound, enduro, trail, and other dirt riders, and that use of some of the lands would one day be restricted. Motorcyclists have lost much land to wilderness areas, state and federal parks, high fire hazard areas, invasions by population, private land acquisition, and even to the pressure groups such as the Sierra Club, the aim of which is to restrict all motor vehicles from countless wild areas. In most cases I have agreed with the people who proposed preservation of wilderness areas. But, the future of the magnificent deserts of the west as playgrounds and recreation areas may one day be in jeopardy.
My single objection to the book is that it pictures the motorcycle as a villain. One picture shows a desert road. Accompanying text purports the photo was taken “six months after a motorcycle event” and adds, “over 600 motorcycles passed through this place.” A close examination of the photograph shows that it depicts a desert road, rutted by four-wheeled vehicles, which probably was a dry wash before they came along, in view of how the undergrowth was cut back. I am not splitting hairs, mistakes like this should not happen when so much is at stake for so many. The material also suggests that the 600 motorcycles, supposedly shown in another photograph, remain 600 abreast as they race across the desert wreaking hovoc as they go, killing and destroying everything that grows in their path. No one can deny that they are leaving a mark in the desert, but really gentlemen!
INTERNATIONAL MOTOCROSS
Promoters of the forthcoming series of motocross races, which will pit the leading European motocross riders against the best U.S. riders we can front, have decided to title the series Inter-Am Motocross Series. InterAm stands for International-American, and it is shaping up fabulously.
Oct. 20 is the opening date of the series. The first event will be at Pepperell, Mass. Cycle Sport magazine’s Bob Hicks and his Inter-Sport organization are the promoters. Next the European competitors will move to mid-Ohio, near Columbus, for an event to be put on by John Penton Oct. 27. Wichita, Kan. is the scene, and Nov. 3 is the date for the next battle. The motocross champions will compete again on Nov. 9 and 10 in Dallas, Tex., then Los Angeles, Calif., for a meeting on Nov. 17, at a yet to be announced location. After that it’s San Diego, then Oakland, and at last (where else), Saddleback Park for the final event of the series, the CYCLE WORLD Grand Prix.
European riders scheduled to ride in the Inter-Am series are: 250 World Champion Torsten Hallman; the fantastic Roger de Coster from Belgium; Joel Robert, presently leading in points for the world championship, and who will conduct a motocross school at Saddleback Park on Dec. 7; Dave Bickers and Vic Eastwood from England; Ake Jonsson, Bengt Aberg, Jef Teuwissen from Sweden; and Czechoslovakian champion Vlastimil Valek. All the organizers are trying to persuade the East German and Russian governments to allow Paul Friedrichs and Victor Arbekov out of their respective countries. And, negotiations with Belgium’s new firecracker, Sylvain Geboers, are nearing completion. Petr Dobry will serve as stand-by rider in the event some untoward situation arises that will not permit one of the other riders to appear. Also, it is hoped that Maico factory rider Adolph Weil will attend the Saddleback race. This stellar lineup contains the finest riders in the world. The series will be one of the most exciting international events ever seen in the U.S. It rivals the best in the world.
Though previous events were, in most cases, battles among the Europeans, because few American riders are as adept at the fine art of motocross riding, things probably will be quite different this year. I have seen quite a bit of evidence to indicate that many dealers, distributors and individual riders have decided to prepare themselves for the coming onslaught. I’ve seen several, Montesa’s Ron Nelson for one, at Saddleback Park, hacking away at the new motocross course in preparation for the fall series. Motocross riding probably is the most strenuous and physically demanding of all motorcycle racing. It requires continuous participation in competition events, and constant physical working out. The practice required, the constant working at the special techniques, make it difficult for Americans to develop the degree of proficiency they can obtain at such things as flat track riding, in which a much greater number of events is scheduled. The U.S. will, of course, one day develop a rider of international caliber. I hope that day is not far away.
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THE KEYS TO THE CITY
A mayor spends a lot of his time giving away the keys to his city. Recently it was turnabout in Los Angeles, when Mayor Sam Yorty was given five sets of keys to five Honda 90 motorcycles.
At a regularly scheduled City Hall press conference, Mayor Yorty discussed jobs for young people, training of the hard-core unemployed, a new camp for kids, Richard M. Nixon for the GOP presidential candidacy, and reported on a local festival. Then he accepted the Hondas from H.G. Nakamura, general manager of American Honda, and his aide, Matt Matsuoka.
Occasion for the official ceremony was the sale of the millionth Honda motorcycle in the U.S. Nakamura made the presentation “on behalf of the more than 1800 Honda dealers throughout the U.S. in appreciation of the hospitality of the city of Los Angeles when Honda first came to the U.S. in 1959.”
Nakamura added, “It was in Los Angeles that the first Honda motorcycle was sold, and it was in Los Angeles that we have achieved our millionth sale.”
Yorty will turn the five sets of keys to the Honda 90s over to people who can use ‘em-city employees at Los Angeles International Airport, the Department of Recreation, the Harbor Department, and the Los Angeles Zoo.
DREAM TRIP
One of the most often repeated types of letters from readers deals with the subject of fully subsidized tours to far off places, with the rider/author submitting regular reports to some mythical manufacturer or distributor, detailing his problems, and furnishing him with reams of “valuable information.” A fool’s dream in most cases. But, a guy by the name of Ike Taylor apparently has unusual powers of persuasion. Taylor is now finishing his report to the BSA/Triumph Company in England, telling of his 28,000-mile, one-year journey on a 650-cc Triumph Trophy. Taylor is from California, but don’t believe all you read about the nutty westerners.
During the more than 11 months he was on the road, he was in constant touch with the factory, submitting reports destined to be elements in a book. The photograph shows Taylor in Mexico City, in front of the main Olympic Stadium. ■
