25 Years Ago August, 1970
25 YEARS AGO AUGUST, 1970
ROUNDUP
"The Dragster: How and Why" took the cover this month. Inside was a day-in-the-life story about Californian Boris Murray and his 9-second, twin-engined Triumph dragbike as he prepared to take on the powerhouse East Coast racers. Aided by a potent mix of nitromethane, Murray's self-built rig, bored to 1500cc, churned out an amazing 225 horsepower.
• Publisher Joe Parkhurst had discovered a group, the Ecology-Syntechnics, dedicated to preserving nature and actively doing something about it. He suggested that motorcyclists join up and become part of the movement, predicting land closures and a blizzard of government regulations that most people saw only as a distant threat at the time. Boy, if we only knew....
• The “slow, but friendly" Triumph 250 Trophy was the issue’s main testbike. “For the guy...who needs to prove nothing,” we said of the Trophy’s lackluster performance, which apparently was just potent enough to get the bike from Point A to Point B.
• Two new 10Occ Hodakas delighted the staff with “excellent construction and amazing reliability." The Super Rat was for racers, the 100B was a street-going version, both built around the Ace 100 motor.
• Yamaha’s AT-1 125-in dual-purpose and MX versions-had been an instant success in the marketplace. Both bikes were backordered for at least a month. CWs editors gave a clue to the bikes’ popularity, saying that the AT-1 had a “forethought of design seen in only the best European products costing $100 more."
-Jimmy Lewis
