Ups & Downs

Ups & Downs

ROUNDUP

PHOTO BY WALLY KRAINER

UP: To the Travel Channel, for its American Icons-series documentary, “Vietnam Memorial: Wall of Courage.”

Part of the special focuses on the museum where thousands of gifts and artifacts left at the wall have been catalogued and carefully preserved. Among the most famous offerings is the custom Harley-Davidson chopper built by a group of Wisconsin veterans and left at the wall on Memorial Day, 1995. The story of the bike’s creation and its journey to the wall is remarkable.

DOWN: To everyone connected with the fiasco that should have been the 2002 Motocross des Nations. Originally scheduled to be held at the new Competition Park in San Jacinto, California, the event was doomed from the start when promoter Malcolm McCassy somehow convinced representatives from Dorna, the FIM and the AMA to let him hold the race at a track that had yet to be built. Matters worsened when it was learned that the Soboba Indian tribesman from whom the track operators had leased the land had no legal right to do so. And it all went to hell in a handbasket shortly after the track opened when a member of the tribe was killed while practicing there. Fearing legal action and the loss of federal subsidies, tribal officials stepped in and padlocked the facility just one week before the MXdN was scheduled to take place. The race was promptly cancelled and rescheduled for the following month in Spain.

UP: To the creators of the World Cup of Motocross, for helping America save face. Led by Rick Doughty of Vintage Iron and Team USA Manager Roger DeCoster, organizers raised $100,000 and put together a major international race on the MXdN’s original date in just seven days. In the end, the American team got trounced by their Australian counterparts, but 12,000 fans enjoyed a first-class day of racing at Southern California’s Glen Helen Raceway.