Hey Wes,
I laughed my monkey-butt off when I read your post and the excerpt from Super Hunky’s book. Vic Krause of Krause Racing and I went to California in January of 1981 for the Anaheim Motorcycle Show and Daisy/Hi-Torque advertiser banquet. I was in the offices of Dirt Bike the day when Rolland Hinz walked through the door and was introduced to everyone as a financial trouble-shooter. At the time we didn’t know he was the new owner, Bill Golden didn’t drop that bombshell until the middle of the banquet. The banquet was held in a room at Chasen’s, a posh Beverly Hills restaurant. The banquet room for the motorcycle crowd looked a White Trash Bash! What a clash with the movie star set. When we were all leaving, Krause and Hunky pulled off one of the funniest stunts that caused a bit of embarrassment for Hinz among the Hollywood set, but everybody who saw it in the dirt bike business got a good laugh out of it. Perhaps Rick left it out of his book because the rouse involved a popular Hollywood starlet, but I can tell the story because this is DRN.
Imagine this scene, the stairway of Chasen’s is flanked with paparazzi photographers looking for famous people to take pictures of. Krause and Hunky come up with a rouse that involves all three of us. Hunky staged his 1963 white Cadillac in the alley in site of the staircase, Krause and I stood in the exit foyer, Hollywood types are staging to walk out smiling getting their pictures taken. Krause wants me to walk out with a starlet so he distracts this director guy who was paired with her and I staged with Donna Dixon a popular actress who at the time starred with Tom Hanks in a TV sitcom, a former Miss Virginia beauty queen, and future wife of SNL legend Dan Akroyd. I walked her down the stairs holding her hand without her realizing we pulled the switch. Hunky saw me and I signaled him, he whips out of the alley and butts to the front of the line of Rolls Royces to the front of Chasen’s. He’s got Frank Frankovic polka hits blaring at 11 on the 8-track. The paparazzi swings their cameras at Hunky who is hanging out the window smiling with that signature handlebar mustache and he’s yelling “get it!” Miss Dixon was a bit shocked and looked at me in horror and said “who are you guys?”. I turned around to look for Krause and Hinz was behind him looking at us shaking his head in disapproval.
We piled in the Caddy and I said “Way to break in your new boss Hunky!”
Within a few years the talent drain started with Super Hunky going to an off-road truck mag and Dick Miller, the best editor MXA ever had, moved on too. It’s been 25 years since I’ve subscribed to MXA.
I think that Mr. Hinz successfully adapted a style of efficently running a consumer magazine publishing company in the same style as Tiger Beat, the mag he came from. You have the same thing in MXA, sensationalistic headlines with empty articles, its what a lot of people want from a motorcycle magazine. I will hand this to the guy, he's the king of collection. I've seen him handle deadbeat advertisers and he's good.