GREAT write up!
Brings back MANY memories, as cycling was MY sport from age 14 on (intermediate class), and I could not give a **** about the other popular, 'Murrican stick and ball sports everyone else claimed I HAD TO 'love'. (Eddy Merckx was MY 'idol' and I could not tell you the names of even the MOST popular 'mainstream' sports stars at that time.
)
Funny you should mention the Campy 'peanut butter' wrench, as I have a 50 year old one sitting in my pencil cup on my desk currently (as you know, they also fit the center retaining bolt on very 'old school' Campy cranks as well
).
I remember competing against Gibby Hatton (yes, THAT one, the future American keirin star) on the quarter mile track at Kissena, N.Y. for the 1970 Amateur Bicycle League of America National Championships, and no one was as quick as he was, even on those tiny, mandated, 78 gear inch limits set for the intermediate class.
I watched Chis Vande Velde's dad, John, win the National 4K Individual Pursuit event that year, at that event.
That track was so rough and bumpy that we dared not ride #3 Clements (let alone those tissue paper thin, slick, white treaded, Tipo #1s!
), and used the file tread, 220 gram, Clement Criterium Setas instead.
(I got 6th at the road Nationals that year as an intermediate, in the uphill 72nd street sprint, held on the Central Park course.)
MUCH later on (after starting up cycling again after college and marriage), I was actually on the starting line at that same Central Park course with Greg LeMond, who was already riding for La Vie Claire at that point, (if I remember the jersey correctly) for the G.S. Mengoni Classic 50 miler at the end of the season in October.
I believe LeMond showed up for this by invitation/request from Mengoni himself, as Fred was a mentor in Greg's early career, and a life long friend.
I remember all of those names you've mentioned, including Ian Jones, and their less talented predecessors, like John Allis, Stan Swaim, and Dave Chauner, plus Jackie Simes III who was retired from amateur racing by the time I started.
Road cycling is still pretty big, especially the 'grand tours', but sadly, track cycling has all but died, save for the Olympics (it is almost impossible to see the World Championships, let alone any World Cup track events in this country now
).
The UCI put that final nail in (non-Olympic) track cycling's coffin when they separated the World Championship road events from the track Worlds by 5 months, and totally different locales, back about 23 years ago now.