Letters

LETTERS

Setting the Manx record straight... again

Your retraction (“Not a first”) in your November, 1984, Letters column is wrong. Just as you had originally reported in your September story entitled “Roper wins at the Isle of Man,” the victory by Team Obsolete’s Dave Roper in the 1984 Historic TT on The Island indeed was the first win by an American rider in the 77-year history of the TT. It was also the first TT win for a Matchless G-50. These facts were “heralded,” to use your word, not only in a Team Obsolete press release, but also by the Auto-Cycle Union, Motor Cycle News, other European publications and our own Motor Cycle Weekly. It is a matter of historical fact that in 1911, Jake de Rosier, the American alleged in your retraction to have won, crashed his Indian while leading the Senior TT, remounted and finished 12th. O.C. Godfrey, his British teammate, won the race. And after the event, de Rosier was disqualified altogether for having received outside assistance to get back on the course after crashing. Any lingering doubts about the validity of these results can be quickly eliminated by a telephone call to the Road Race section of the ACU in Rugby, Warwickshire, England.

Robert T. Iannucci Mgr.,Team Obsolete Brooklyn, New York

We stand corrected,— we hope, for the last time, as far as this subject is concerned. After our original story, we received a number of letters from readers who insisted that de Rosier, not Roper, had been the first Yank to win any sort of race at the TT; and a cheek through an Isle of Man reference book in our library seemed to confirm their claims. But, as it turns out, that book is wrong, for every other piece of reference material we’ve checked since then bears out what you have stated here: That de Rosier was disqualified in 19/1, meaning that Roper truly was the first American ever to win at the TT Our apologies to you, for imp/ring that your claims were less than accurate; to Dave Roper, for unnecessarily tainting the purity of his win; and to our readers, for confusing rather than enlightening them.

And furthermore...

We have seen enough, with the Olympics, of the glamourising by the American media the performances of their countrymen without it entering the world of motorcycling! I refer, of course, to the reference to Roper’s speed in this year’s TT event as against my winning speed in the atrocious conditions of the 1959 Senior conditions in which no event would take place these days and which included not only driving rain but also hailstones that removed a large amount of the paint from my MV’s fairing. So why not keep things in perspective and treat them on their respective merits? Do not try to use my past successes to glamourise what was a good performance by Roper to win at an average speed, considering the track and other factors that prevail today. But he did do what he set out to do namely, to win.

John Surtees

Edenbridge, Kent, England

Our comparison of Roper’s winning speed to yours was not meant to glamorize his achievement nor to demean yours; the intention was to give perspective, rather than distort it, by showing how Roper’s speed on his 1959-model motorcycle compared with that of the winner in the year in which his Matchless was built. Your achievements in motorcycle racing speak for themselves, and we doubt that any knowledgeable motorcyclist here in America believes that, all other things being equal, Roper would have outrun you—in 1959 or in 1984.

Going Nova in Durango

I just got back from a three-day drunk, my dog died and my ol' lady got five more hideous tattoos. This all happened because we read of Harley’s plight (“The 15 million dollar motorcycle”) with its Nova project in your November issue. How does one obtain a tariff for over700cc motorcycles yet fail to scrape up a lousy $15 million? Sounds like a commie conspiracy by parlor pinkos. Next, the creators of dinosaurs will demand a Chrysler loan from “Uncle Sugar.”

R.E. Norfleet

Durango, Colorado

Rollie Free posters

In Cycle World’s June, 1983 issue, your story on Rollie Free (“I Was A Little Nutty, Of Course”) had a memorable photograph of Rollie on his Vincent at the Salt Flats. The Southern California Vincent Owners Club now has posters available made from this photo. Interested parties can write to S.C.V.O.C., 1061 E. Providence St., Burbank, CA 91501 for prices and information.

F.J. Doherty

Hawthorne, California E3