Canadian Scene

CANADIAN SCENE

EVE WHITE

ONE OF THE MOST interesting experiments in International motorcycle co-operation may come to an end this year, if the F.I.M. moves to ratify the suggestions made at the Spring Congress that the friendly interchange between the A.M.A. and C.M.A. must cease.

This would indeed be a tragic thing for the riders who cross from one country to another to enjoy their sport. Back in 1957 the C.M.A. and A.M.A. came to an agreement saying that riders could compete in the opposite countries providing they joined the association concerned and kept to the rules. This ended years of “tribal warfare,” where silly things occurred, such as the fact that we were not allowed to let Canadians ride in our own events if they held A.M.A. licenses and such like. This agreement opened the way for the fine and exciting competition which has followed.

Strictly speaking, we should not have made this agreement with the A.M.A. for we are affiliated to the F.I.M. Yet shortly afterwards, the F.I.M. President and other officials met with some of our executives and not only agreed that we should continue this arrangement, but even encouraged and sanctioned the friendship, in the hope that the A.M.A. would affiliate with the F.I.M. in the future. In our opinion, once this compliance was down in writing, then the agreement was in fact “legal” to the F.I.M.

Things went along very well and the A.M.A. attitude was certainly much more tending towards affiliation with the F.I.M., but in the meantime, the United States Motorcycle Club appeared on the scene and began to get strong backing from the F.I.M. Despite the fact that they organize little if anything apart from the one International at Daytona, this body has, through MICUS (the Motorcycling International Committee of the United States) become the F.I.M. affiliate in the States.

This poses an awkward problem, for as far as the A.M.A. is concerned, the USMC events are “outlaw” and riders are suspended for participating in them. In addition, riders who do follow the USMC have virtually nowhere to run their machines, except in Canada, where our rules are the more open F.I.M. type, allowing Manx Nortons, G-50’s, and specials too. Sidecar racing also has become an established part of the racing programme here, and this is not an accepted class in A.M.A. events.

If you had a Manx or other such real racing machinery, would you not want to run it as often as possible? Would you not seek to enter races which suit your type of machine, and your type of riding? This is what is happening, of course, and many little offshoots are springing up which try to organize the open class of racing. The riders who participate in these events often feel bitter that it will make them ineligible for A.M.A. competition. Although a few of them may just be malcontents who will not like any kind of rules except their own, the large majority of these riders are genuine sportsmen, keen riders, and as I know personally, they support and participate in events for the sheer fun, often travelling hundreds of miles with the lure of a trophy at the end. Not big prize money, not great fame, but the fun of a good ride against fellows like themselves and machines like theirs.

Now, I ask, why is it not possible for the A.M.A. to allow this type of racing as an appendage to their rules? Why cannot these events be A.M.A. sanctioned, even if the A.M.A. would want to issue a special license for an “X” class, so that the sportsmen class, as presently constituted, will not be interfered with if a little prize money comes the way of a light-weight rider.

I mentioned earlier in the article that we have “fine and exciting competition” as a result of the interchange of riders, and the recently run National Championship Road races are a good example. About half the entry was from the States, and the quality of these entries was extremely high.

Many of the riders have been known personally to me for upwards of 10 to 15 years, and I have no hesitation in saying that they make a fine group of friends, and about the only “beef” I’ve heard in all these years is that we don’t run enough races for them. (I may say now as an organizer, that we run just about all a human can run as a part time voluntary occupation.)

Now is all this to end? The losers will be the riders themselves, and we who have had the pleasure of watching them race. Who will gain? No one that I can see. Motorcycling, as a whole throughout the world is a declining sport, due partly to the increased standards of living which bring cars within the reach of many more people, and partly because the lunatic fringe favours motorcycles, and the press favours them with coverage, so scaring the more decent rider off his two wheels. Anything which can be done to keep the sport alive and healthy and which will give the riders the races they want, is to my way of thinking, of first importance.

Perhaps we can hear from the riders? A few words in print will often carry a lot of weight, and there must be some solution to this problem. Mine? That the A.M.A. should join MICUS, sanction races for a racing class, and so give the riders the chances they want to run their machines, and at the same time keep them “in the fold.” f

As a final thought, what country do you know, other than the U.S.A., where participation in one international event means that you have to hang up your “Norton” for the rest of the year? What country do you know, other than the U.S.A., is about to hold a World Championship race, which will be an event banned to that country’s top expert riders?