The Scene

THE SCENE

IVAN J. WAGAR

DAYTONA, the big one, is over for another year. There will be other AMA road race nationals (granted, not enough) but all of them put together will not equal the prestige of Daytona. And the arguments and ill feelings over the one-week postponement of the 200-miler will be debated in bench racing sessions for many months to come.

At the time of the cancellation, though, things were pretty serious. I saw Dick Mann during morning practice on the scheduled Sunday, and asked how he felt about racing in the wet at Daytona. Dick said he did not particularly mind the situation, because he had been down on power all week, and the rain would be the equalizer. But, after several riders hammered away about the dangers of racing in the rain at Daytona, Dick Mann, as an AMA Competition Congress member, took the matter to the referee. Dick’s presentation was beautiful. Not once did he mention that he, personally, did not mind going in the rain. The facts were presented in an articulate manner, and Mann is to be congratulated for doing exactly the job he was voted to thecongressto perform: rider representation without personal preference.

Mann’s calculation of the number of riders who did not want to compete in the rain was something like 85 percent of the field. This figure, by the way, is a very realistic one, but was sparked by only a few riders. Both Gary Nixon and Cal Rayborn remembered the terrible first lap around the banking when it rained in 1965, and wanted no part of a repeat. England’s Rod Gould vividly recollected the two crashes last year, at well over 100 mph and with no simple explanation, and voiced his negative opinion about wet racing at Daytona.

Some people are laughing up their sleeves about the AMA “sissies” at Daytona, and the postponement due to rain. I, personally, believe they are people who have never raced on that circuit in the wet. It is true that when it rains, it rains for everyone, and expert, professional, or top caliber riders should be able to race under any circumstances. But Daytona has a very close-grained surface, retarding drainage, that frequently presents puddles as wide as the complete roadway, and can cause aquaplaning problems.

It is fine to say European races are run in the rain, but their tracks’ surface compounds are very different from that at Daytona. Some circuits (the Dundrod course used for Ireland’s Ulster Grand Prix is an example) can be lapped almost as quickly and safely in pouring rain as in the dry.

Faced with the combined strength of Cal Rayborn, last year’s Daytona winner, our National No. 1, and the English rider who placed 4th in the 250-cc world championship last year, referee Charlie Watson had no choice but to back up to a top level decision from the AMA and the promoter. A closed, topbrass meeting ensued, and all the facts were considered.

At this point it was obvious, even to the most novice witness, that someone, the AMA officials in this case, had the proverbial bear by the tail. The riders who rode in the wet Daytona of 1965 did so out of ignorance, because they knew the Europeans raced on rainy days. After they left the grid, and only the front half dozen riders could see anything, they realized that something must be different. Old Charlie even remembers the quaking AMA officials as they watched a hundred motorcycles plunge around the oval in a blinding spray, praying that someone at the front of the pack would not suddenly crash or seize up. (I’m not going to tell the AMA about the safety of bump starts, because they were doing clutch starts 30 years before I was born. Why change now just because it’s safer?)

This is 1969. We now have the power of democracy. Riders are saying to ol’ Charley, “Baby, it’s my butt I’m going to break, and you only gotta stand there and watch me break it, and those fat cats in the stands only paid $3 to see it happen. But my butt’s worth a so-andso lot more than three lousy bucks, baby.” Suddenly the bear starts to growl. Charlie and the other AMA officials must be starting to realize that if they lay down the iron hand and start the race, and a rider is killed, it could mean the complete end of fascism within the organization. In fact, it could very well mean the end of the AMA.

Charlie carried the full burden of the affair on his shoulders, and wisely left the decision of a rematch in the hands of Bill France Jr. The AMA, anxious to recoup some lost face in the incident and also to stay in the good graces of the promoter, has issued a news release stating it was the AMA’s decision to postpone the race. Under the circumstances, that is a pretty dumb news release; either the referee is a referee, or the referee is not a referee. If the referee is a referee, he alone has the power to cancel or postpone a race. The promoter and course owner must settle the matter of a new date.

In this case, the new date was a whole week later and that is when the moans and groans started. Team managers started to total up the dollars to keep riders and mechanics in the land of sunshine for an additional week. Not only that, Daytona traditionally is taken over by vacationing students during Easter holidays, and the thought of all those virile, young racers in the presence of all those well-equipped college girls from the northern states did not appeal to the various accounting departments, whether racing came under advertising or sales. So, on the night of the postponed race, while team managers haggled with accounting departments, riders gathered for a “so'dy” at the bar. The only place to gather for a sody during Speedweek is the bar which features the Webco broadcast. This year, the nightly, half-hour, Webco-sponsored radio program was held at the Castaways Hotel, which is a pretty good place to hold anything, because the Castaways is where it’s at during Speedweek, except at breakfast time—but that’s a different story.

This year the MC of the Webco broadcast was, as always, Roxy Rockwood. For the final show of the week, the one everyone thought would feature all of the winners, three riders were interviewed over the air. Roxy’s method of choosing people for the broadcast is quite cunning; he walks through the room and listens for the loudest argument. On this particular Sunday night, he made his usual rounds five minutes before the signal to go on the air, and discovered an argument of brawl proportions going on between Ralph White and Dave (“Scotty”) Scott. At the same table, smiling up a storm, was the guy who blew world champion Phil Read right into the weeds when the rain started last year, Bobby Winters. Now, Bobby’s not much on words and he just shucks a lot while everybody else mouths off. This night it was his turn to have first word, and he made it quite clear he was glad the race was not held in the rain. Ralph believed if one life was saved by not racing that day, all the hardship was worthwhile. Both of these riders had competed

Then it was Scotty’s turn and, like a true Scot, there was a very brief speech on being completely appalled at the thought of the race being put off due to rain. We should mention at this point that Scotty has never raced at Daytona in the rain but, like the other Europeans, he has raced hundreds of miles in the wet. Ironically, when the race was held a week later, Scotty went on his head, so we know why he wanted to race in the rain.

All three riders, despite their widely separated views, received loud cheers from the audience, thus proving that even the fans were divided in their feelings.