Editor’s Note: We’re pleased to bring you another story of Salt Flats Speed Trials glory. This will be a three part series from J&P Cycles and follow their streamliner through two years of racing. Hang On!–Wrench
I have been fortunate to be selected as part of the crew for the J&P Cycles Express Harley-Davidson powered Streamliner. What is a Streamliner? It is a vehicle designed for all out acceleration in a straight line. Unlike a drag racer, this type vehicle is designed to run on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Wendover, Utah. Sustained high-speed runs are possible due to the smooth salt surface. A revival in interest in the Flats has to be attributed to Sir Anthony Hopkins portrayal of Burt Munroe in “The Worlds Fastest Indian.” A fine movie that chronicles a New Zealanders quest to set a record. Plus Bikernet.com’s land speed record attempts and coverage, over the last two years.
John Parham bought the Streamliner in the spring of ‘06 at the Las Vegas motorcycle auction. Kent Riches (owner of Airtech motorcycle bodywork) was the previous owner
When John asked me to be a part of this effort I was thrilled. Jeff Wiley, Harry Bunker and myself all made prior trips to Bonneville with our own individual projects. Paul Gomez was brought aboard for his industry contacts to assist in obtaining sponsorship. Under John’s guidance we had a team.
One of the first things decided was what event we wanted to attend. Bonneville contains a variety of land speed record events during the late summer sponsored by a couple of different racing associations. After some discussion we chose the International Speed Trials sponsored by Bub Exhaust, now Bubs Motorcycle Speed Trials. Boy, am I glad this was our choice! This meet was designed for motorcycles only and the fastest bikes on the planet were going to be there.
What an unprecedented, exciting Meet! Until this meet, the worlds motorcycle land speed record had changed hands 2 times in 28 years. On August 25th 1978 Don Vesco set the motorcycle record at 318.598 Miles per hour in a Kawasaki powered streamliner. On July 14, 1990 Dave Campos of Easyriders, upped this mark to 322.150 MPH in a twin engine Harley streamliner. Bandit, Bikernet.com boss, was a member of his team.
While at the Bub Speed trials at the Bonneville Salt Flats Sept 3rd to the 7th, 2006, the record changed hands twice! First to the twin-engine turbo-charged Hayabusa Suzuki of Mike Akatiff, dubbed the Ack-Attack. It unloaded off the trailer and laid a blistering pass of 344.673. Wow!! 20 mph over the existing record!!!!
In order to be recognized as an actual world record, a return run (in the opposite direction) must be completed within two hours. Their return run was not quite as quick, 340.922 mph. However, this established a world record of 342.797. Talk about throwing down the gauntlet! Dennis Manning, owner of Bub, has been chasing this record for a very long time.
Dennis’ ‘liner piloted by AMA flat tracker, Chris Carr, was brought to the line a few days later. A stout 354 mph pass rocked the motorcycle world, backed by a 347 set the new record at 350.998. A third streamliner, Sam Wheeler’s EZ-Hook Kawasaki was up next. This bike was the fastest of them all with a run of 355………unfortunately during this run the bike blew a tire and crashed. While no one was hurt and the bike not horribly damaged, it was enough to put him on the trailer. I was damn glad to be there for this historic event.
I told you the story of the “Big Dogs”, now let’s fill you in on what we did. After choosing the Bub meet, we decided to run a 79 Cu. in. Sportster Motor in our new liner. This put us in a 1350 CC engine class. Having not run in a few years, there were lots of details to update and attend to in order to be legal to run. After an entire summer of effort, we left for Wendover on August 31st.
The trip from Anamosa took 26 hrs. On the salt on Saturday the 2nd, we established our pits and prepared for inspection. Sunday turned up bright and sunny, a wonderful day to race! During the late afternoon, the inspectors from the AMA came to look us over. Having never had this bike through an inspection we were on pins and needles. Our fears were for naught as the bike passed with flying colors, but the wind picked up ,and we decided Monday would be the day.
Clear and still on Monday, we got in line. Our turn. Having never attempted to ride this bike, we thought our rider Jeff would be able to drive it off the line from a dead stop. Boy, were we wrong!!!! When Jeff tried this he immediately went off course. In addition we had accidental deployment of one parachute. Tough to accelerate with a chute open, catching air.
We faced issues with the skids, so Harry and I dug into the dash wiring. We found a crossed wire making life more complicated. After regrouping, we took the liner off to the side and practiced dead engine, “tow & release.” We would tow the bike up to 60 mph and release the towline (with the engine off). Each time we tried, the run became more stable. Talk about a learning curve.
John decided to try another rider who had experience riding this particular bike; So Leo Hess, of Sioux Falls, was asked to try it out, back to tow & release. We worked with Leo to improve the handling. Suddenly it was Wednesday afternoon, one day left. We got in line, and when it was our turn, we towed up to speed and released.
This time, she shot right down the alley…………… we listen intently to the radio, and we heard he turned out before reaching the timing trap. We were disappointed but hurried down to collect our pilot and access damages.
We didn’t realize, the track was gusting a sidewind of over 6 mph. With a body length of 22 feet, the wind pushed him off course. Too late to try again, we had just one day left.
Thursday dawn was still as can be, and I could barely contain my excitement. We jammed to the track and into line we went. We are third in line. Finally we were up. Tow strap hooked up, rider strapped in, canopy down, time to Go! Accelerating, the liner stood up on its wheels early! RELEASE! Gosh, she looked and sounded beautiful as she flew by…Ear glued to the Radio… the announcer came on and Sez, “a very nice first pass for the J&P Cycles Streamliner Kilo 181.384, Mile 181.092.”
At that moment, all the work, the missed nights with my family, the work learning on the salt and all the other scrambling to reach that point become validated. What a stupendous feeling! We rushed down to collect the liner and head for impound. In order for this to become a record, we had to make a return run.
When in impound, we were allowed to service the bike but make no mechanical changes. Service went quickly, and we pull her down for the return run. Waiting was tough, and the wind seemed to pick up… we watched a 50 CC streamliner on the course go by, engine in a shriek. He posted a time of 133 mph out of a tiny 3 cu. inch., 50 cc engine (How cool is that?).
Our turn again, hooked up, waiting… Go! We pull up faster, released. I got chills as I saw the bike sing past, bellowing. You could tell he was really on it. The radio crackled, “J&P Cycles return run Kilo 179.609, Mile 176.805. “
Time to go back to impound. This time we are all smiles because we need to tear down the engine. We didn’t mind this, because the only reason is to confirm displacement, when you set a record. We set up a canopy and stripped the top end off the engine. The official measured our motor, and it was legal for our class. Whew!
That established a J&P Streamliner record in the S/PG-1350 class of Kilo 180.4965 and Mile 178.9485. Later we just received word the AMA recognized this speed as the current national records in our class. What a great feeling! Till next time.
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