3 West Coast Nationals
3 West Coast Nationals
IVAN J. WAGAR
ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING places in the world for a race enthusiast has to be California in mid-September. For three consecutive hectic weekends, the world's most versatile riders battle for AMA championship honors, and this year must rate as the best ever, mainly because three men are scrapping for the coveted No. 1 plate.
It would be difficult to measure the value, financial or otherwise, of being rated the top rider in the U. S., but there can be little doubt that a race promoter is likely to dig a bit deeper to have Mr. Number One on hand for an event to help ensure a good gate. So, there is only one real target to shoot for if a rider plans to make racing a career.
Gary Nixon started the year off in great style when he scored a decisive victory at Daytona, and for the first half of 1967 he continued to build up points in a manner which left few skeptics. However, mechanical failure at Indianapolis robbed him of valuable points, and was the beginning of a bad luck sequence that has made him work very hard for everything he receives.
Popular Mert Lawwill scored an important win at the Castle Rock 30-lap TT and, coupled with very consistent placings throughout the season, came within striking distance of Nixon. Unfortunately, a spill at Carlsbad, during unofficial practice on the Thursday before the race, resulted in a broken collar bone, and destruction of Mert's bid for the crown.
While Mert and Gary dueled for the title, George Roeder (affectionately known as"Roeder Rooter"by his innumerable fans, because of his hard charging style on a dirt oval) moved within striking distance, again through consistency, and a win at the San Jose 7-mile. This is the first time in the history of the AMA plate No. 1 that three riders have been in good position to win, all three capable of winning any of the remaining four races.
There were favorites for the three Golden State classics, but experts did not expect an Ascot win for any of the contenders. The "Nation's Fastest Half-Mile" is virtually owned by the regulars who ply their trade there every Friday night for three seasons each year. Very few out-oftowners, regardless of how good they may be, stand much chance against riders such as Tanner, Lacher, Haaby, Jones and Nicholson.
Second in the series, and just as breathtaking as Ascot, is the 25-lap bash at Sacramento's famous mile oval. There are no local specialists, however, because the track is used only once a year for motorcycle races. All three contenders are good milers and a win by any one of them was not only possible, but also expected.
Carlsbad is third in the series but, while it isn't "owned" by a gang of specialists, Cal Rayborn is virtually unbeatable on the slippery, twisty, bumpy, slightly more than a mile road race circuit. Cal's task at Carlsbad was to see that Gary collected as few points as possible, and that George went home with as many as he could manage. Except for Cal, Gary was favored to win Carlsbad, but Thursday's practice showed Cal was able to knock 4 sec. off his old record on his new, better-handling Low Boy factory Harley frame.
With these things in mind the three West Coast nationals promised a good deal of drama and tension for all concerned. Careers hung iii the balance, because it is an open secret that Gary Nixon has been offered a pair of factory Yamaha Fours for the Japan Grand Prix in October. If he does well on these he may be offered an opportunity to go to Europe next year as a Yamaha Team rider. Gary, quite naturally, has an added reason for desiring AMA No. 1. Whether he stays here or goes abroad, he is bound to earn considerably more money if the title is his.
ASCOT
The major question in everyone's mind was whether Sammy Tanner could still pull off an 8-mile win. Last year, Sammy ran a little below par during the ordinary Friday night scraps, but at the one that really mattered he tooled the C.R. Axtel BSA to a crushing victory. This season he has been defeated quite regularly.
Qualifying times showed Dan Haaby, Shorty Seabourne, Chuck Jones, and Jimmy Nicholson to be the ones to beat. But, after a brilliant start and early lead by Lacher, the old pro moved from mid-field to his customary up-front spot. Then an inspired Dan Haaby pulled from the pack to challenge, and eventually passed Lacher in his pursuit of the "Flying Flea." The race was between these three fine riders — spectators ignored everyone else on the track — both Haaby and Lacher had never won a national, and this was their chance. Sammy had won no less than four previous 8-mile championships (1959, 1964, 1965 and 1966), and he was not about to lose without giving one of the best fights of his long career.
Sammy's incredibly violent full-throttle peeloffs came to an end at mid-distance, when he slowed slightly, because of loss of the edge of his rear tire. As Sammy slowed, ever so slightly, Haaby and Lacher became even more determined to win, and forged ahead like there was no tomorrow. A novice spectator, however, could see that either Mel Lacher or Dan Haaby would win a national.
Behind the leaders, Jim Nicholson on a Harley was giving people their money's worth, with fabulous slides. Even farther back, two of the contenders for the national title tried their utmost to stay on the same lap. Roeder was, for all intents and purposes, in last place. Mert was a little better off, a few places up, in a really tight bash with Ralph White.
But, no matter which way it's cut, there was no way that Dan Haaby, on the super fast Gary Bray BSA, could be caught, and he crossed the line in a way that made everyone know he deserved the win. Mel, in sheer determination, was right with his good friend Sammy as they crossed the line almost exactly side by side, with the verdict going to Sam.
Lawwill eventually bested Ralph White to finish 7th, and earn 8 valuable championship points. George Roeder could manage no better than 9th, but picked up a point in his bid for the crown. Gary, on the other hand, was unfortunate enough to be placed in a heat with some of the Ascot specialists, almost unknown nationwide, and finished 5th, which eliminated him from the main event. Thus it was at Ascot: The point race had altered only fractionally, and all eyes were turned to Sacramento.
SACRAMENTO
Still the granddad of all American racing, this year's 25-mile National proved to be the best in the 9-year history of the race. It would be extremely difficult to describe one-mile racing to someone who has never seen the hair raising full-power slides at well over 100 mph. And Sacramento remains the best place in the world to see what it's all about.
Mile tracks are sort of Harley Heaven. The big twins thunder their way around at an alarming rate of knots, and the riders appear always to have another handful to break the rear wheel loose when required. Hairiest of the H-D brigade was Roeder, who brought everyone to the edge of their seats during practice, as he "backed" into the first turn. George left little doubt in anyone's mind as to what he intended to do about the national points situation.
The most graceful slide artist, however, was Nixon. At the end of the straight, as he flicked the machine into the turn, the engine picked up a few hundred rpm as the rear wheel broke traction. Then, feet up, Gary would drive one third of the way into the turn at a right angle to the inside rail, both wheels sliding.
Qualifying brought frowns from the spectators, as lap times were disappointing. There was considerable speculation about this state of affairs. Some said there hadn't been enough water put on the track the week before. Others claimed everything would get sorted out as soon as the groove was established, and a coating of rubber started to form. Others were sure it had to do with the abscence of a rotary sweeper, and the presence of "marbles" in the groove. How Aggie was able to obtain a master link, from a nearby industrial plant on a Sunday morning, to repair the sweeper, remains a mystery to most.
The big surprise of qualifying had to be Dick Mann. Dick and his BSA Gold Star went around as if he were road racing. Calm and unspectacular, the maestro tied with George Roeder for fastest qualifying time, and didn't even work up a sweat.
Heat races produced some national championship drama when Mert Lawwill, who ran into engine trouble, failed to qualify for the main event. Thus Mert unfortunately was left to watch his chance for the AMA plate No. 1 slowly fade away. San Diego's Mel Lacher, one of the saintly seven that qualified in the 42-sec. bracket, had a terrifying crash coming onto the front straight and, though unhurt, was not able to continue.
Only a matter of seconds was required for Freddie Nix to take the lead when the flag dropped to start the riders on their 25 laps. Roeder was forced to work his way past a half-dozen riders to win a clear shot at the leader, but by Lap 3 had settled down to Nix and Roeder with hammer-and-tongs activity going on between Mann and Nixon for 3rd. By the 14th lap, Roeder had closed the gap on Nix and was seeking a hole to get a wheel by. From that point on Roeder and Nix put on a fantastic display of high speed formation flying. Never more than feet apart, the Harley duo had their own little race, as they pulled away from the entire field, passing each other two or three times a lap.
The duel for third continued, and even became more frenzied as laps reeled by. To Gary the difference between 3rd and 4th not only meant money, but also seven valuable national points. To Dick, who is riding as well as ever, the placing meant a chance to disprove some of those silly rumors about his getting old. All came to an end for Gary, however, as his rear tire started to go flat with only 4 laps remaining. Despite a gallant effort to continue, he was unable to finish in the points and, for the first time this year, Gary was passed in the national standings.. Roeder led by 40 points.
After Gary's retirement, Dick was able to tour home in 3rd place, because of the lead that had been built up during the duel. Ascot star Jimmy Nicholson managed to get the better of Sammy Tanner, his adversary for most of the race, and finished in 4th place.
The amateur winner was Jan Crawford, a good name to remember. Crawford not only set fastest qualifying time and fastest heat, but also ran off and hid from everyone in the 12-lap final, and looked better than the majority of the experts in the bargain. Jan came to the race without his familiar BSA Gold Star, but fortunately Dick O'Brien of Harley-Davidson has had his eye on Jan for some time, and arranged a ride on Roger Reiman's spare machine. In a few laps, Jan was riding as if he had grown up on Harley KRs. Given a good ride, he is a youngster who will be very difficult to beat.
CARLSBAD
Strategy was the keyword at the 75-mile National. The Harley scheme was for Cal Rayborn to win, or at least run Nixon's Triumph ragged and destroy Gary's chance to win the precious points. Triumph brought out the heavy artillery in the form of Dick Hammer and Buddy Elmore to squeeze as many machines in front of Roeder as possible, thus restricting the number of points he might win.
During the final practice session Cal experienced a miraculous escape when his front brake cable broke on the approach to the first turn. Traveling at something near 120 mph, into a dead-end corner, Cal locked the rear brake, brought the machine around sideways and stepped off. Although the "Low Boy" almost was destroyed Cal escaped with slight cuts on his hands. Fortunately there was a spare Leonard Andres Harley, and Cal promptly went out and won his heat over Nixon, Reiman, Skip Van Leeuwan, Ralph White and Don Vesco.
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In the opening expert heat, Dick Hammer beat out Roeder and Elmore. Warren Flickinger locked his front brake on the approach to turn one, and was pitched to the left, where he bounced and skidded along the steel guard rail, breaking an arm and leg. Straw bales would prevent a similar thing, or worse, from happening next year.
The 75-Mile National started with a terrible roar and free-for-all into the skinny first turn. Fortunately everyone made it through, though there were all sorts of bumping, shunting, and nudging. Dick Hammer, Cal Rayborn and Gary Nixon, in that order, led the pack out of the turn and down the hill. These three started to pull away from Reiman, Van Leeuwan, Nix, Roeder, Vesco and Elmore.
On the 8th lap Cal slid off at the hairpin, pulled into the pits, rejoined the leaders a lap late, and the whole thing was on again right where they left off. A terrific wheel-to-wheel duel was joined for 9th place, between Ralph White on the Norm Lee Triumph and Buddy Elmore on one of this year's Daytona racers. Don Vesco was doing a very creditable job on his BSA twin as he worked his way to 6th.
The leaders were having a real ding donger. Seldom were Hammer and Nixon more than a bike length apart, and all the while Rayborn shadowed them. On the 16th tour the leaders lapped Roeder and were hard after Nix. Reiman held a very consistent 3rd, and was the fastest Harley rider left in the race, as Rayborn had made another pit stop and was unable to hold the Triumph pair any longer.
Ralph White went on one cylinder due to the breaker point cover coming off and jamming one set of points closed. After losing a lap he got back into the fray, but out of serious contention. It was ignition trouble that eliminated Ralph at Indianapolis, where he was also doing a terrific job on the same machine.
With five laps to go, and a certain 2nd place, Dick Hammer started running on one cylinder — ignition trouble! Now fingers were crossed for Gary, because it was ignition trouble that put him out while leading the Indianapolis road race. But his machine made it across the line for Gary's 5th National win this year, a feat only previously achieved by two men, Joe Leonard and Bart Markel.
All eyes were on the amateur race. The Indy battle between Baumann, Honda, and Fulton, H-D, was about to be continued. Fulton made no mistake about getting off the line, and went down to turn one like a bomb, with the screaming Precision Machining Honda hot on his tail. At the end of the first lap Fulton led by almost 100 yards, but the leaders had a quarter of a straightaway lead on 3rd place. Then Baumann shocked everyone by passing Fulton into turn one, making up a city block in the process. On Lap 2 there was a repeat performance, but from then on Baumann never was headed as he steadily pulled away from Fulton. The Honda never missed a beat. Art kept a perfectly cool head, and rode a beautiful race.
Running the 250s at the end of the program was somewhat of an anti-climax. Most of the riders tired themselves out in the 75-miler, and were not keen about going out again. Favorites were Nixon and Newell on Yamaha Team bikes, Hammer and Grant on Suzukis, and, for the first time in true contention at an AMA National, the Kawasaki, ridden by Ralph White. Ralph scored a very decisive win in his heat race, over Hammer and Baumann, the fastest 250 heat of the day. Baumann was riding a TDI-C Yamaha fitted with 5-port cylinders, as was Ron Pierce, the extremely talented 19-year old amateur from Bakersfield.
Through turn one, on the first lap it was Newell and Pierce, but Baumann was flying through the pack after a slow start. Next time around it was still Newell and Pierce, inches apart, followed by Fulton, Suzuki, White, Kawasaki, and Baumann. Ralph's Kawasaki was not running as cleanly as it had been in the heat race, and it was later learned that the mechanics had decided to put in fatter jets, making it over-rich.
By the tenth lap, Baumann had worked his way into 2nd spot, and for the remainder of the race the two amateurs steadily drew away from the field. Nixon had crashed in the opening stages, and Dickie Newell was plagued by selector troubles for the last half of the race. The lead pair were doing a repeat of the Hammer/Nixon duel as they constantly swapped the lead. For most of the last quarter of the race, Pierce seemed content to sit on Baumann's tail. On the final lap, Pierce made sure of a tow as he jumped into Baumann's slipstream, and made his bid just before the finish line. The two young aces were dead abreast as they crossed the line. Most people thought Baumann had won, but will never really know for sure, as there was no photographer on hand for such an occasion. Both riders deserved to win and the race should have been scored a tie. As one wag put it, "That little red hat suddenly gives the wearer supernatural eyesight."
Thus ended the three West Coast classics. Gary's convincing win put him back in the national point lead, but his prang in the 250 race resulted in a broken thumb socket, which had to be pinned and the hand put in plaster. How ridiculous it is that there is no national status for lightweight racing. The risks and speeds are so similar to the large displacement machines that surely it is time to re-evaluate the situation. Had Gary been running for more than a few dollars prize money in the 250 race, the prang might have been worthwhile. Unfortunately Gary* was forced to compete at Oklahoma City the week after Carlsbad — plaster and all — to ensure his championship crown. For, if Roeder had won, Gary would have had to finish fifth or better. ■
