From the Archives: Racing News, June/July 1995

 

Unless there is another one hidden away somewhere I am not aware of, I only have two copies of the once ubiquitous Racing News in my possession. That is too bad because they were full of local racing history. Paging back through those two issues I can see what races were taking place, where, who was sponsoring, what teams were holding them, what the prize lists were like, etc. Flipping a little further along you can see who placed where in the races from the previous month or so. Then there were various other features as well; the June / July 1995 issue, for instance, contained a few excerpts from club newsletters - Chevrolet / LA Sheriff, Coastline Racing, Lighting Velo, Santa Clarita Velo, and San Diego Bicycle Club, in this case. Issues were filled out with various other notes and ads and, since everything was still done through the US Postal Service, an Athlete's Entry and Release Form that you could photocopy, fill out and mail with your entry fee for which ever race(s) were coming up.

It was not unusual to read front to back as soon as an issue arrived in the mail, starting with the upcoming race flyers, writing the dates of the one you were interested in on the calendar so you wouldn't forget, get up to get another bowl of spaghetti, and then scan the results pages to see if you placed in some race you didn't know about, check whether your buddy really did podium or was just BSing you, and who did what in all those races you would have raced if only you had the time and money to do so.

The Racing News was good stuff, and while you can still find all the same information at SoCalCycling.com, your post-ride sweaty fingers aren't going to get that tell-tale newsprint ink all over them (he says as he notices his own fingertips now). A select few pages from the issue;

It is still fun to look back at the names in the results, recognize the names of teammates, friends, well-known pros, up and coming pros, even people you didn't know at the time but, due to the whole small world thing, later came to know:

ah yes, the Chums Tour of Hurricane from 1995 - that 10th place should have been top five, if not top three, if not for flatting in the road race

Steve Hegg topping the Pro/1/2, John Wike up there, Miguel Meza, Mark Whitehead. also people who would be teammates a couple years later - Kelly Feagans, Jamie Pinal. there's Fred Pierce, Darryl Scalla, and how about that - there's Rigo Meza, winning the Junior 10-12 race - a lot of you might remember him from Coates Cyclery, and of course now the owner of Stage 2 Cyclery in Murrieta

John Lieswyn won the Cucamonga Crit in '95, and there's Kirk Willett, Jeff Evanshine - whatever happened to him, Fast Freddy Rodriguez, etc. How about Sugi, remember him from Team Ape - and always out at the Rose Bowl on Tuesdays and Thursdays

Look at that, Chris Horner won San Luis Rey that year, of course he would go on to win the third of the grand tours - the Vuelta Espana, in 2013. the results also included a very brief write-up: