Round Up

ROUND UP

JOE PARKHURST

FINAL ANECDOTE to this year's running of the Mexican 1000, or Baja 1000 if you prefer, was the recovery of Team CYCLE WORLD's fabled 750 Norton. In the 1968 Baja, Jerry Platt rode a Norton 750 P-11, entered by CYCLE WORLD and ZDS Motors (then Norton distributor in the West). He had to abandon the bike in the wilds north of Punta Prieta, hundreds of miles from the start—and civilization—when the rear tire went flat, for the second time, and could not be repaired. Platt was lucky to get a ride with Mary McGee in her Datsun truck. When he returned the next day to repair the tire, the Norton was missing, and later was proven to be stolen. Rumors concerning the missing bike found their way to CYCLE WORLD several times during the year, and a thorough search was conducted during the Baja 500, which was run over portions of the same course in February. Finally, hopes of recovering it were given up, all expecting the bike must be in Calexico, Tijuana, or somewhere, disguised as a Chevrolet.

Several weeks before this year’s race we received a call from Pat Owens of Johnson Motors (Triumph distributor). Owens is a builder of race bikes and a long-time friend of CYCLE WORLD. Owens claimed he saw the Norton in Ensenada, sporting a Triumph tank, replete with a sissy bar and looking very used. Platt, who has long felt guilty for leaving the Norton alone off the road, and another CW staffer headed for Ensenada. In a bicycle shop there, they spotted a 4.00-19 Dunlop Sport knobby in the window. Thinking it a curious item for a bicycle shop(!), they drove around to the back, and, like Alice in Wonderland, lo, there it was! Tired, bent, 7000 miles older, it was still intact, and still fitted with a dirty, old bungee cord to hold up the brake lever that Platt had installed the day of the race over a year ago.

Our Baja Norton is now a symbol. It will be rebuilt and, in 1970, will return to Baja, if not for racing, at least to tour the fabulous wilds of the last frontier in

the Southwest. It now is in that same bicycle shop for repair. The “owner” had not returned for four months, so because we had the legal ownership papers, the shop operator let us have it for payment of the previous bill—$6! It is in remarkable shape, considering it had been ridden for that length of time without any service. No air cleaner, oil filler cap missing, dust covers on the forks long gone, and in a land where only 10 percent of the roads are paved. Quite a tribute to Norton. We love the old tank.

THOMPSON MOVES

I rarely use this page for industry news, but a friend of CYCLE WORLD has made a move. John R. Thompson, former advertising director for American Safety Equipment Corp., maker of Buco helmets among other things, has

joined the advertising firm of Bennett & Robinson, Johnston, Inc., as its vice president. Thompson will direct B&R’s expanding activities in the motorcycle and high performance automotive markets.

"TIGER" NELSON PASSES AWAY

A few weeks ago I got a call from Neis “Tiger” Nelson, Hodaka distributor, who said he was going into the hospital for a “valve job”. He was referring to the surgery of replacing a valve in his heart with an artificial one. He didn’t survive the operation, and motorcycling lost one of its staunchest supporters and grand old guys. Neis was only 62, and very active.

When I started CYCLE WORLD back in 1961, I wanted to test the then new Matchless G-50CS, a road frame with a road racing 500-cc ohc engine. They were rare and valuable at the time, probably priceless now. Neis was the head of the Matchless/Indian Company then, and he let me have the bike. I never forgot the trust and support he gave us, at a time when we were strangers to the very inbred motorcycle industry. Industry people trusted no one, especially a new, smart-ass, upstart magazine.

Nelson, after Indian folded, became involved with many other facets in the industry, and finally settled with Tiger Distributing Co., which carries a full line of parts and accessories, plus handling Hodaka in the West. He is survived by his wife, Irene, two daughters, a son and five grandchildren. He will be genuinely missed around CW. [O]