Letters to the Editor
May 2000

	I DIDN'T KNOW YOUR LAST NAME... Sherri and Steve: Just received a copy of SDOR. Was impressed with your publication and would like to subscribe. Sign me up for three years. Thank you also for reprinting Craig Anderson's article about our SVRG (Southwest Vintage Racing Group) Phoenix race. Hopefully more will follow. Will enclose a calendar of SVRG 2000 with events listed. Upon reading I was surprised to discover your last name was Kukla. Having spent much of my youth in Chula Vista and attending Castle Park I knew of Steve. First time I heard of him I was riding with a friend by the two green water tanks on the east side of C.V. We were two-up on a Honda Trail 90 step-thru (not a real cool machine, but all we had) when this guy on a Yam 125 comes straight at us from the other way and passes us doing a wheelie. My friend informed me, "That's Steve Kukla." At 13 and second time on a motorcycle I was suitably impressed. Years later at Castle Park Steve became our (dirt riders) sort of folk hero after hearing about his flattracking around the football field at homecoming (?) and escaping down multiple flights of stairs at the southwest corner of the field. Believe they booted him out for that one or so the story went. A few years ago I worked an AHRMA race at Carlsbad put on by John Lefevre (Vintage Husky), as I was on the injured list and couldn't race. At this event we also ran a TT style race and some members of the San Diego Flat Track Association rode. At the start line, Bob Nielsen was calling out entrants names and he called Steve. This pulled the cobwebs out of my memory and I said hello to Steve. He said he remembered me from school and shook hands. Race got started and I got busy and never had a chance to say much else. However I did manage to let fellow race workers know "Hey, that's the guy who flattracked homecoming in high school," bringing laughs and comments like "How cool." If Steve hasn't been too spoiled by these new soft suspension, long travel new bikes, maybe he would be interested in checking out some of our events, even trying a vintage ride-reliving youth-all that. Best wishes to you both, DAVE SCOURFIELD Valley Center CA

THEY LOVE US IN PENNSYLVANIA Dear Mrs. Kukla: Greetings from the other side. I am the man you sent the free issues. You included the yellow pages for body shops. Thank you, thank you, thank you. My cousin's shop was on the first page, Chapparone Auto Body. I can't believe you have so much going on out on your side. We haven't anything like that over here. I read each page with envy, even the ads. I can't wait to come out and race on your deserts. That would be the cream on my espresso! Unlike my cousins I am only half Italian. Could I interest you in some paragraphs for your magazine? I have included a few I wrote for our district paper. I would think it fun to tell your readers what's going on over here. I am new to this. I did some flattracking back in the 70's but this motocross and hare scrambles is really a blast. I'm also enclosing a copy of a picture I have for your consideration on your "Name the Rider." Please notify me when the freebies run out. I don't want to miss anything. Been passing it around here, could possibly start a mass exodus. Sincerely, JOSEPH P. PURSCHOCK, III Coplay, PA

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES Hi Sherri: Thank you, I really enjoyed your 100-year issue (January 2000). Such great times we had. I can't believe it was so many years ago. I believe future issues of your magazine will be very enjoyable. I have not figured out the date of the photo (above) but I do know the other sinner's name is Dick Legas, the one on the starting line next to Roy Samson. It's good to know someone has all those old photos. By the way the bike on the hack, was a Velocete 30.50 single belonging to Roy, purchased from Lou Branch MC Shop. As I'm writing this I'm wondering where the old racing friends are today. It sure would be interesting to hear where their lives have taken them. I will extend my subscription for at least a year. Thanks again for your dedication to this super sport. Truly yours, RAY PRETTYMAN Costa Mesa CA

TRIVIA EXTREME WINNER Sherri: Thank you so much for calling me yesterday and letting me know that I won the Trivia Extreme contest! Wow! How exciting, I've never won anything before. I would like the certificate from Express Muffler & Hitch. Thank you so much. You just made my week! MARCI CLARKE El Cajon CA

COOPER JANCIC: STILL RACING IN OUR HEARTS Steve and Sherri: I, like many others (including your publication), who had the privilege to know and consider Cooper Jancic as a friend, would like to keep his memory with us. As a token of this respect and taking a little from the Danny Hamel stickers, I created my own tribute for Cooper on my helmet visor. I would like to share a picture of my visor with you and your readers. I also believe that anyone who knew Cooper from the deserts and race tracks will most likely share the same feelings, for he touched many of us with his always go-lucky attitude with everyone. Thank you for providing a terrific magazine for the entire local off road readers. ED KETCHUM San Diego CA

TOO MUCH TRASH IN THE DESERT SDOR: I live in the Central Valley Delta area. My wife and I rode Quads for 10 years all over the west coast with our three children, ending about eight years ago. After a recent purchase of a 2000 Warrior, we traveled to the desert and got back into the thrill of off roading. WE enjoy riding the dunes and trails of the Borrego Desert. Your newspaper is very informative and easy to read. I try to pick up a copy whenever I am in the desert. While riding around the Borrego Desert, I noticed a lot of beer and soda bottles and cans in the sand. Some of the bottles were broken creating a flat tire hazard. Please impress on your readers if you haul it in, haul it out! No one wants a flat tire to ruin their fun in the sun. I kept several plastic bags with me and picked up other's garbage so we won't get a flat. Keep up the good work. STEVE BALDI Oakley CA

THANKS GUYS! SDOR: We want to congratulate you for your magazine and also to thank you for the subscription that you gave us at ZR crew. We want to thank you also for printing our pictures and articles about our races in Mexico by the ZR Promotions crew. Its a great job you guys are doing about our events and we hope you keep using our material that we will send you in the future. We, at ZR Promotions, want to send out greetings to our friend Martin Bejarano #10, who suffered a horrible crash at our past event, the Mexicali Y2K Grand Prix, and because of the injuries was not able to participate at the SCORE San Felipe 250. Bejarano, who in the past 1999 SCORE Baja 1000 won second place Class 21 is now physically getting better for the coming events. See you at the desert, Martin. We hope to keep with the support from the San Diego Off Road Magazine for the Y2K series. Thank you, ZR RENE MONTANO Mexicali, BC Mex

This page last updated on 6 September 2000