The Mexican 1000
THE MEXICAN 1000
JOSEPH C. PARKHURST
Parnelli Scores An Astonishing Record-For The Car Proponents.
pIVE VEHICLES finished the 1971 ü Mexican 1000 in under 17 hours. Only one was a motorcycle, finishing 4th, and it was mounted by the incredible Malcolm Smith.
Malcolm rode Husqvarna with Gunnar Nilsson again for distributor Edison Dye. His eight-speed, 400-cc machine was one of two big-bore Huskys entered by Dye. The other, a 420-cc prototype, was ridden by J.N. Roberts. J.N. never made it to El Arco, the halfway point, where old-time Swedish motocross star Rolf Tibblin was waiting to take over. Electrical failure only 25 miles out was the villain.
El Arco is one of several penalties imposed on entrants in the National Off-Road Racing Association’s Baja bash, because if you don’t come prepared with an airplane loaded with food and sleeping gear, the hardest ground in Baja forms your bed.
Local thugs have found El Arco ripe pickings as well. Everything not nailed down is ripped off by gangs of rough miners and workers from labor camps who arrive by the bus-load to take advantage of the chaos and confusion in the night pit stops.
Another disadvantage in finishing the grueling 850-odd-mile marathon is the La Perla Hotel in lovely La Paz. Entrants not favored with connections or reputations to gain them accommodations at one of the three good hotels in town are cast into the La Perla. The La Perla features rooms often assigned to scads of people, hard cots, and bizarre roommates. Still, most are so pleased to have made it that they accept these hardships of racing with alacrity.
Riding like only they can, Malcolm and Gunnar finished in 16 hr. 51 min.,
over 20 min. off last year’s over-all record set by Vic Wilson and Drino Miller in the Dune Buggies and Hot VWs magazine (plug) special, a single seater, 2200-cc, very hot, VW-powered car.
Honda’s remarkable SL350 proved itself again with Billy Silverthorn and Gene Fetty finishing 2nd bike, 7th overall, in 18 hr. 51 min. 23 sec.
Motorcycle riders can rejoice in the fantastic job Triumph rider Bobby Ferro did, driving a VW-powered buggy solo in 15 hr. 16 min. 17 sec. He led eventual winner Parnelli Jones, driving the so-called Ford Bronco, by 30 min. at one point, but dove into a fog bank that eventually slowed all vehicles. The Jones Bronco, with Bill Stroppe shifting gears and Parnelli mercilessly propelling it, finished in only 14 hr. 59 min. 23 sec., an almost unbelievable time. Most felt Ferro had it in the bag until he hit the fog.
Phil Bowers and desert ace Mike Patrick came in 3rd bike on a converted 350 Yamaha street Twin. Dusty Coppage and George Zuber rode a Yamaha 360 into 4th bike spot. The Bishop/ Hansen Kawasaki came in 5th, one of three Kawasaki entries out of four that finished. Hansen followed a buggy in the fog at about 70 mph or better, so close he could feel the heat from the rear-mounted-engine car. Quite different from Bryon Farnsworth, ex-CW staffer, who was knocked off his bike by an unidentified Bronco, too rude to give him space to pull off when he approached from the rear in the fog and dark of the night.
One of the Kawasaki team bikes was ridden by Bill France Jr., head of Daytona Speedway, and Ray Ferguson. Ferguson took a terrible flop, and en-
countered a rock while skidding along on his backside. He finally -stopped skidding, but his leathers, underwear and a good deal of his bottom were virtually destroyed. He removed the foam rubber headlight covers and taped them to the injured area, riding on to hand the bike over to France waiting in El Arco. Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Doug Toms was slated to ride another Kawasaki with Lewis Buchanan, Motorcycle Chief of NHTSA, but he broke his wrist one week before the race on a practice trip, so Vern Hancock took his seat. They finished late and tired.
Motorcyclists fearful of the impend ing specter of the federal government taking one of their infamous long, hard looks at our sport should rest easier, and be grateful, that two such important and influential men in Washington are such avid bike fans. Though not poi ished professionals, both ride very well, and one couldn't meet two more enthu siastic guys.
Howard Utsey and Steve Kirk rode the other Honda SL350 into 6th spot. Their time was 20 hr. 52 mm. 55 sec. Fast, but overshadowed by the Terry Clark/Dean Goldsmith time of 21 hr. 9 mm. 47 sec. on the Harley-Davidson 125-cc Baja. Enthusiastic ravings were heard that an American bike had at last won a class in Baja; I wasn't going to be the one to tell them the Harley-David son Aermacchis are made in Italy. Jeff Heininger waited in El Arco for Bob Hunter to ride in on the DKW 125, but when he arrived the gas tank was split. Jeff borrowed another tank from some one, and went on to finish. That's Baja racing
Bruce Dunford and the young Swede Lars-Erik Johansson introduced the beautiful new Husqvarna 125, but an electrical failure kept them from finishing. International Six Days Trial DKWs, ridden by Gene Cannaday and Max Switzer in both the ISDT and Baja, coughed up their fly-wheels. No discredit to the machines; they were the very same, without overhaul, used in both events!
For the record, and to account for the wounds, a Ford pickup truck finished in 16 hr. 21 min. 18 sec., in 3rd overall spot. They beat the Smith/
Nilsson bike by 30 mm. Primary disad vantages of bikes continue to be a lack of really powerful lighting, though the Honda of Utsey and Kirk was reported to be sporting almost 0.5 million candle power (I find it hard to believe), and top speeds on the 250-odd miles of pavement. I still feel the race should be run entirely off the road, as there are plenty of unpaved sections paralleling the paved roads they are using. Under such conditions, there is little question a bike could win the 1000 again. Tires on bikes are also another vulnerable piece
of equipment; few get through without a flat. Or a bunch of flats.
Perhaps the Baja winner of the future, assuming the race continues on a roughly one-third-pavement course, would be a 500 twoor four-stroke Twin, using road racing tires to the end of the pavement, switching wheels, tires and gearing, then refitting them where the pavement begins again farther south. Over 115 to 120 mph is needed on the pavement, and a bike with the right rider and running really strong could lick any car in the rough. [o]
