Professionals At the Vetter Run

Professionals at the Vetter Run

Economy is becoming a sport, and maybe a genuine form of competition. The photo shows the top qualifiers in Craig Vetter’s Third Annual Economy Run, held in conjunction with the AMA/Camel Pro road race at Laguna Seca. As indicated, the high-mileage crowd is doing a lot of serious preparation and thinking.

Winner, for the second straight year, was the Rifle Fairing Yamaha, second from right, ridden by Rifle's Charly Perethian, the bearded man on the right. Perethian turned the best result in the 66-mi. qualifier run, 372.22 mpg, and circled the Laguna Seca track 7.53 times on a nickel’s worth of gasoline, for 365.93 mpg.

Second was Dan Hannebrink in the enclosed streamliner third from the right, at 364.52 mpg, and Matt Guzzeta was third, 256.92 mpg on (in?) the Vesco Products streamliner,

barely visible below the Arco sign.

Just as in racing, there’s the matter of rules and luck. Actual best mpg turned during the event was 429, from the Dacron-enclosed Honda 100 at extreme right. Rider Eric Blickenstaff was disqualified because he finished the run two minutes over the time limit. The same problem eliminated the Honda entry ridden by Russ Collins surely the first time he ever made the mistake of going too slow. And one other entry not only came in past the limit, he got a ticket for slow riding.

All this is fun, and business. The best of the entries have sponsorship, and Perethian won $3000 as well as valuable publicity for Rifle.

At the other end of the sport, craft and cunning are still in demand. The HarleyDavidson class was won by Otto Hofmann, with 94.3 mpg. You don't think the big Harley will do that? Probably not. Hofmann rode his 350cc Sprint. The class for makes whose makers didn’t post a prize went to Harvey Vanderloo ... on a BSA Gold Star, with 88.3 mpg. And perhaps the best reason to enter is that in 1983 nobody won the class for Yamaha, 751cc and up, because nobody entered.

Overall, there were factory bikes, people out for a ride, vintage show guys using the economy run as an excuse to clear out the cobwebs. Twice as many entries took part this year, the target 300 mpg was easily beaten, and because the top entries went around the track so often on a nickel, next year’s final will be with two cents’ worth of gas.