If you’ve posted comments here before just signup using the same email address and you should be good to go. Otherwise you can signup and submit your comment, I just have to approve the first one before it appears.

Sorry for the inconvenience but that’s the way the interwebs have moved. Comment spammers were overwhelming me and my only alternative was to close all the old posts. I hope many of the articles here will be interesting to people for weeks, months, or even years after they’re written. That’s one of the great things about vintage bikes and racing topics — they’re sort of timeless. So closing off comments after a few weeks isn’t good.

A couple of things made my decision easier. Over the past year or so most of the major mx/dirt bike sites have gone to requiring registration before you can comment, so I think it’s not the perceived barrier it once was. Most everyone knows comment spammers ruin “open” sites, and I think we’ve all gotten used to the idea we have to register.

Secondly, I was getting hundreds of spam comments per day. A while back I closed all the old posts to comments but that defeats my purpose.

I may get hundreds of spam users now. We’ll see. But at least this way legitimate readers can comment on any post they want. It’s a better tradeoff.

The answer is no. I went to the HRPSports website and looked around a little. Hmm. Flak Jak chest protectors.  HRP lightning bolt jerseys. But hold on… On the History page the owners of HRPSports provide a clear explanation of the relationship (or lack thereof) between HRPSports, Hannah Racing Products, and Bob and Terri Hannah. In short, there is no relationship. According to the HRPSports site the owners bought all the assets of Hannah Racing Products out of bankruptcy court in 1989 and have run the company ever since.

In 2007 Bob and Terri established Hannah Racing Products LLC to sell Bob Hannah memorabilia. This created some understandable confusion. The companies seems to have worked out an  agreement whereby they sell similar, but not identical, “replica” jerseys. But that seems to be the only overlap. If you want an updated, “old school” Flak Jak chest protector or other protective gear visit HRPSports. If you want Bob Hannah’s signature or some Bob Hannah DVDs visit Hannah Racing Products.

Anyway, Paul’s dad was buried in the same municipal cemetery as my parents. We were standing around reminiscing about our dads before the service and I said, “Hey, you want to see something hard core? My Dad has a Guzzi on his tombstone.”

Whenever I tell people about my Dad I always say he loved two things — fast cars and motorcycles. If you don’t believe me just look at his tombstone. My Mom picked that out after he died in 2003 because — besides her, my brother, and me — those were the two things he loved most. And when I think about it now I realize just how hard-core he was.

Dad toured all 48 contiguous states on his Moto Guzzi baggers. He was one of those “Iron Butt” guys who liked to do 1,000 miles per day. That may not sound like much to a guy who can cruise 1,000 miles on a modern, air-conditioned Goldwing, but Dad did it on archaic, ’70s-era Guzzis. He loved those bikes, and rode them everywhere until he had a stroke (while riding) and a bad single-vehicle crash in 1992. He still rode a little after that, but not much. And not very far.

Like it says in the “About” section on this site, my first memory of motorcycles was riding on the back of Dad’s Electra Glide at four or five years old, making a 250-mile trek to my grandparents. In the early ’70s Dad switched from Harleys to BMWs. Then he bought a Ducati — a beautiful 900 Darma SS — but somewhere around ’75 or so he discovered Moto Guzzis and fell in love. From that point on Guzzis were all he owned. When he died he had five plus a tractor-trailer storage unit full of parts.

Imagine, if you will, doing 1,000-mile days on one of these with a full fairing, saddle bags, and a small pop-up camping trailer hitched to the back. Many times I watched my Mom and Dad (yes, Mom got into the act too) head off to some rally two or three states away for a camping weekend. If Mom didn’t want to go Dad went by himself, and would stay gone as long as he thought his business could survive without him (which often wasn’t very long.)

Oh, Dad had all the luxuries of the time — radio in the fairing, crude helmet radios, etc. — but the ’70s didn’t really have much in the way of luxury for motorcyclists. Nevertheless, these beautiful, classic bikes took him all over these great United States.

Now Dad had nary a tattoo — didn’t have much use for them unless you were in the Navy or the Merchant Marine — wore a crew-cut most of his life, and went to church on Sundays. He would never have been confused with a character on Sons of Anarchy. But he was a hard-core biker.

The other day I was talking with my business partner Ty. He’s a lawyer and the closest he’s ever been to a motorcycle is when he walks through my shop. He had just watched (again) the TV special “Smartest Guys in the Room” about the Enron debacle. There’s a scene in the show where Fastow and Shilling and some other ersatz bigwigs are out on some adventure ride in the desert jumping their shiny, expensive dirt bike toys off little hills to prove their manhood — like tribal scream therapy for rich guys.

Ty’s comment was something like, “How stupid. Grown men playing action sports trying to prove how tough they are.”

I said, “Hey. Just a minute. I’ve been doing stuff like that my whole life.”

He said, “Yeah, but the difference is I know you’ve been doing it your whole life. You didn’t do it once just to brag about it.”

Thanks. I guess. I’m not sure but I guess he has a point. I’ve been at it my whole life but I haven’t done nearly enough of it the last 20 years. So here’s to you, Dad. I might not get it on my tombstone, but I’m going to do a lot more of it in the future.

Got a great email from motocross historian, CZ aficionado, and all-round good guy Reese Dengler. Reese attended the very first AMA MX National at Washougal, WA in 1980. In honor of the 2010 National he dug through his personal archives and pulled out some great photos. Here’s what Reese had to say:

On the occasion of the 2010 Washougal national I’ve dug thru my old slides and posted a few of my shots, (34), from the first Washougal national in 1980. You can see the shots on this web page,

http://www.ahrmanw.com/Stuff.htm

Some of these shots have never been seen before except by me and a few of my old moto-cross buddies.

There’s some great pics here. There aren’t any captions but if you use Microsoft Internet Explorer to view the thumbnail page you’ll see a title/description pop-up (this doesn’t work in Firefox.) Click the link above or click the photo to visit Reese’s photo page.

In case you don’t know, launching a privateer effort into the AMA Lucas Oil Outdoor Motocross Championships is a daunting proposition – especially if you’ve never done it before. Especially if you’re developing a brand new bike with some brand new technology. Especially if your whole team is a grassroots effort pulled together with some buddies.

So the team has had a few missteps and setbacks. They missed Freestone because they just weren’t ready. They missed Budds Creek because they didn’t get their entry in on time. Then at Red Bud they suffered a freak mechanical on the first lap of practice that ruined their day.

But the team is staying on task and on track to make their debut at Unadilla, followed by appearances at Southwick and Steel City. It would be great if they could get in more than three rounds this year, but budget is the biggest barrier. It’s really expensive to travel cross-country to make rounds in the western half of the US.

Still, the team has the chance to make an impact and get some attention. Based on the interview there are plans to add more riders for next year. Who knows, with the economy the way it is, there will likely be some excellent talent without a seat when the silly season music stops.

A top privateer like Kyle Regal just might be looking for a ride. You never know.

Wouldn’t it be great to see a Team Warthog-style privateer effort based on two-strokes? The only option today, given the AMA’s homologation rules, is the YZ250, but that could change.

In any case, it will be exciting to see the two-smoker on the track. Best wishes to Mike, John, and Todd at Unadilla.

It is targeted at the thousands of foreign manufacturers who ship electronics, toys, clothing, and consumer goods into the US. It is intended to make those companies subject to, and easily accessible by, the US tort system. It also includes any suppliers to those companies – such as companies that make boxes, pallets, packaging materials, straps, plastics, etc.

We, the vintage dirt bikers, are just a little invisible community that will be squashed if this bill passes.

I read an interesting quote today from the folks at Downsize DC, an activist group fighting for smaller government:

Politicians and bureaucrats constantly speak with a forked tongue…

• They claim they’re protecting “the little guy” from “the fat cats,” when in reality…
• The State actually works for the fat cats (though in an unreliable Mafia kind of way).

This is quite perceptive, and is what is actually occurring with H.R.4678. The bureaucrats and politicians push out one more sweeping piece of legislation, under the guise of protecting us, that incidentally crushes the small guys while offering barely a hurdle to the billion-dollar corporations.

Here is a sad, relevant tale of collateral damage under the CPSIA – the story of small-but-growing home business crushed under the weight of legislation which big corporations are now using to browbeat their small suppliers.

To address the reams of similar horror stories that have emerged from CPSIA, H.R.4678 contains provisions for rule-making on the “minimum amount” that triggers the need to register — a process that, ostensibly, will relieve the burden on small businesses. But how will that work? Let’s look at one observer’s analysis — Rick Woldenberg of CPSIA blog:

And consider how this rule might be applied. To determine whether you are above or below the threshold, you must disclose your revenues and volumes to the government for their scrutiny and approval. This is remarkably invasive and is reason enough for many factories to concentrate on sales to South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Who needs this nonsense?

[And if registration is unavoidable, the registration process itself is also tedious and requires the disgorgement of lots of detailed information - which not only will discourage participation but also sets up the foreign manufacturers for liability to the government for "false" statements if they make errors. We have 1500 catalog items, so I can identify with the problems that this kind of requirement might create. It's nothing more than a bureaucratic set-up for regulators to accumulate causes of action to use as they see fit.]

There are people, some of them knowledgeable, who disagree with Woldenberg. But to his point, how else will the US Government or Agency know that you are under its threshold for registration if you don’t disclose all the relevant information?

If you are GMC of Australia, or Sammy Miller Products of the UK, or that guy in Australia who re-pops rubber carb boots and such out of his shed, are you going to hire a solicitor in your country to guide you through this process? Are you going to turn over your books to the US Government? What if you’re Northwest Maico/CZ, or AMS Racing? Are you going to get all your suppliers certified with the government?

What about individuals, can we order something from overseas even if it isn’t imported? Are we then importers? Will the item be allowed through Customs? I do not know the answers to these questions.

What I do know is that if this piece of legislation passes, rule-making or no, it is a potential nightmare for our hobby. The only way we can fight back is to contact our Congressmen now and let them know the serious impact this could have, and that their solution to the problem is inadequate.

This bill has 63 cosponsors ( list available at Thomas.gov) and if your representative is on this list it is critically important you make your views known now, early in the process. If you are importing parts, you should contact your Congressman now.

We are unlikely to get support from any of our organizations. We are too few, too quiet, and too easily dismissed. We must stand up for ourselves, before it is too late.

Announcement at RacerX Online

For more detail read the entire post at the link above, but here is an excerpt:

In an unprecedented move Spring Creek MX Park, home to the Millville National Pro Motocross race, has teamed up with the Mayo Clinic of Rochester to study motocross injuries – specifically concussions.  In a study done at the Mayo Clinic last year, it was discovered that roughly thirty percent of the injuries in motocross are concussions.  The goals  of the study are to study concussion occurrence and set up protocols for  returning to racing safely. The factor that makes this so ground breaking is the fact that this study team consists of an old but avid motocross racer, orthopedic surgeons that are interested in the sport,  and one of the countries’ leading concussion specialists…

This is great news. For far too long we — riders, racers, managers, promoters, and fans — have simply accepted injuries in the sport and, it seems to me, purposely avoided looking at them too closely due to a misguided  fear of liability.

I just don’t see how that’s a viable approach in this day and age, given all the technology and tools available to us. I’m very excited to see this new effort launched. Let’s hope there are more.

A couple of years ago the motorcycle industry was caught by surprise when Congress enacted, and then deployed, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) — almost immediately wiping out a $1 billion youth motorcycle and atv industry. Over the ensuing two years the CPSIA proved to be a massive screw job for all sorts of small businesses.

On Wednesday, June 30, 2010 the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed (by voice vote) another piece of legislation that could be equally devastating to the vintage dirt bike scene — the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act of 2010, H.R. 4678. The bill now moves to the larger Ways and Means Committee or perhaps to the floor for a vote.

This act is aimed at forcing foreign manufacturers into the US tort system for liability law suits. Like most laws, that sounds great in a sound byte on the news – force all those big Chinese and Taiwanese companies to be accessible to our thousands of personal injury lawyers.

The truth is that if you’re a vintage dirt bike fan and you buy or use any part that’s made in the UK, China, Taiwan, Australia, or Europe by a small manufacturer you may well find that part is no longer available to you. Those cool CZ parts Bertus brings in from Czechoslovakia? Not gonna happen if this bill passes. Nifty trials parts for your Ty250 or TL125 from Great Britain? Kiss them goodbye. Replica frames from GMC in Australia? Adios, amigo.

To get a little more insight into this bill I called Paul Vitrano, General Counsel for the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) and the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF), to discuss it.

According to Paul, the MIC currently has no official position on the bill and has not been involved at the draft stage. However, he did offer some comments based on his reading of the bill text and previous experience with the CPSIA.

My first question to Paul was whether this bill was actually as ominous as it seemed, and whether people like me — vintage bike hobbyists — should be concerned. His answer? A definite Yes, with a couple of caveats.

As currently written the bill does not encompass products that are otherwise covered by the Department of Transportation (DOT). What this means is that manufacturers of parts, pieces, and materials that are DOT-approved for street use should not be subject to the new regulations. Essentially the street bike crowd should be relatively safe. But if you’re into performance (non-DOT) parts for vintage road racing you’re vulnerable.

As for us dirt bike guys, almost none of our stuff is DOT-approved. There may be some parts for early dual-purpose bikes, but I’m not aware of anything. Typically, everything that comes in from overseas for dirt bikes is stamped “For Competition Use Only” specifically as a way of avoiding liability. None of this stuff will be allowed through customs unless the manufacturer has  complied with the onerous registration, agency, and disclosure requirements of the bill.

Paul’s second caveat was that the bill does allow for rule-making after passage. He sees this as a good thing, as the main problem with the CPSIA was that limits were set in the law itself, allowing for little or no flexibility on the part of the bureaucrats responsible for implementation.

Specifically, the bill provides for the administrative bureaucrats to determine the minimum size of the manufacturers to be regulated, based on dollar volume, unit volume, and number of incoming shipments. This means there is the potential for certain small businesses to be exempt, but I fail to see any incentive for the bureaucrats to exempt them. Small, cottage businesses in foreign countries don’t have any political representation in this country, and can’t pay lobbyists to fight on their behalf.

I am not any more comfortable with idiot bureaucrats making laws than I am idiot Congressmen but, to Paul’s point, at least that allows for some input by the affected parties — however difficult and expensive that input may be. With CPSIA there was no input mechanism at all and the result was a legal quagmire of historic proportions.

Paul’s closing comment was that there are some benefits to the bill, in terms of making large foreign manufacturers more accountable, but it definitely bears watching and could  pose serious problems to the vintage hobby.

I first became aware of the bill here, at the Learning Resources, Inc. blog. Editor Rick Woldenberg has posted additional commentary on the bill, specifically on the rule-making and minimum size aspects, here.

If you’re interested I have posted a Government Printing Office PDF of the bill, or you can track it at Thomas.gov using HR4678 for your search. (Note: If you open the PDF it may appear to hang for a minute as it goes out to the GPO site to validate authenticity of the document.)

In summary, I think this is going to be another bad piece of legislation and, unless we are very careful and proactive, the vintage dirt bike hobby could take a real beating on this deal. Few, if any, of the vintage parts guys are members of the MIC (as far as I know) and cannot expect to be represented by them. As to whether the AMA or AHRMA will take a position on this, I do not know.  I will keep you updated here as I learn more.

It looked like we’d get the track back about 5:30 when a break in the rains came, but no sooner did they get it back in shape when another cloud burst hit and had rivers running through the course again. The red clay that makes up all the night track just doesn’t do well when you get that much water at once, and the night race had to be canceled.

The upside was that the track was perfect for Sunday. While the clay turns to snot immediately after so much rain, it only takes a few hours for it to turn around and be in primo condition.

Over 450 rider entries were signed up for Sunday, and it was the best racing I’ve seen so far this year. There was a decent Pro class turnout as well, with a couple of local boys — Scotty Wennerstrom (250) and Bobby Moore (450) — taking top honors.

Note to #17 in the 125/250F Novice class — you da man! I don’t know who you are, but I watched as you turned around backwards at the starting gate and then worked your way through the pack both motos. A crash in Moto 1 kept you from finishing very high, and I didn’t see where you finished in Moto 2, but I’m pretty sure you were Top 5 out of 20+ riders. Way to go. That’s a real racer.

At first I thought “cherry picker.” But I was wrong. There are a lot of reasons why you stay in a class — especially if you signed up in Novice for something like Loretta’s early in the year. Whoever this kid was, he was working it and gunning to make himself better. I admire that. Good job.

Note to the College Boy rider running in 12th or 14th or whatever — the one doing feeble nac-nacs off the table top. Last time I checked no one awarded style points for racing, and you wouldn’t have won any anyway. Do yourself a favor — put your bike in the back of your truck, put your flat-bill hat on, and go to the club where you can pretend you’re a racer. At least there the chicks may wonder if your lying, but they won’t know for sure. Oh, and next time you take a break from playing MX vs. ATV on your X-Box go read this.

Also of note, there was a bad-ass 45+ rider on a YZ250. I don’t remember his name, but he was from Conroe, TX. Number 255. The dude rode 35+ (1-1), 40+ (1-1) and 45+ (2-DNS). There was some competition in those classes, too. He was battling with 3-4 guys in each class for the top spot. In the heat. So he bailed on his sixth moto of the day. Who cares. This guy’s an iron man. I didn’t do anything but stand around waving flags all day in that heat, and I was beat.

All-in-all it was a good weekend. No ambulance runs, no big get-offs. Looked like everyone had a good time. See you next month for Round 2 on August 14-15.