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...........................................................--- The Story ---........
Man what a meet!! I got there Sat. afternoon and kind of hung around Ack's,
Jon's and Larry's bikes as they were all together. First I was going to leave for home on Tuesday and then Wed.,
but with all the drama I stayed until the last minute on Thursday when I heard the official tell Denis that the
meet was officially over sometime after 12 noon down at the zero mile.
Since I wasn't really tied to any one vehicle at this meet I got to roam around some, so here is some of what I
remembered for what it is worth.
..............................
Driving out to the pits was kind of what I thought it would be like in 1991 when I went to my first Speed Week. Then I was expecting a small group of racers out on the salt, but found lots of racers spectators and flagging. At Bub as you can see above it was a smaller group of racers in a pit that just spread itself along the small amount of flagging that separated the pits from the "return road".
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Saturday was pit set-up and inspections (above) for everyone.
....................
The meet got off to a big start with Ack upping the FMI record by about 20 mph to 342.797 mph on September 3rd
. This was a great achievement by Mike and his crew, but in retrospect Mike regretted his initial decision to not
put much HP in the liner at that point. He left a lot on the table HP wise and later in an interview with Dave
Despain he mentioned he wished he would have put more boost into it to begin with. He felt that a 340 mph speed
might have been the limit to traction and that more HP would have just resulted in more tire slip. But the salt
was putting out lots of traction (if it is the same at the end of the month Tom Burkland could maybe lay down a
really large number).
.......................
So Ack gets the record and things look good for them, until the next day when Manning brings the Bub liner to the
line and Chris Carr lays down two runs that moves the record up to 350.884 mph. They ended up with rear tire problem
after the runs that resulted in them needing to mount and balance a new tire. This didn't go well as they weren't
able to get the tire mounted on the salt. I guess they finally mounted it by putting a tube in it and getting it
up on the bead on one side and then pulling the tube and getting it to seat on the other side. Next was the balance
problem. At this point it is a day or so later and Mike is trying everything they can do to get a good run in with
Ack Attack, which has made a couple high speed runs but not good enough to attack the new 350 mph record and ending
with various problems. So Mike is trying to make his liner better, but takes an hour out or so to try and balance
the rear tire of Manning's liner his major competitor at this point. Mike had a tire balancer and tried hard to
balance the tire, but the last I looked something strange was happening with the balancer that was related to being
hooked up to a generator for supply voltage. The tire went back to Denis and I don't know if it ever was successfully
balanced.
Just a couple notes here and I might not have this all straight as it is confusing and you get lots of different
stories. Running FIM (and only a few at the meet had paid and submitted to run FIM) is different that what most
of us that run SCTA are use to. First you don't have to qualify on an existing record to make the second run. The
two runs are averaged and that average has to be 1% over the old record (about 3.5 mph on a 350 mph record). So
you could make a down run at 100 mph and a return run at 600 mph and have a 350 average and maybe a record. Not
likely, but you have to decide if you want to use the run or throw it away. Mike threw some away. One last thing
is that the course was 11 miles long. You ran from the 0 to the 5 and then were timed between the 5 and the 6 with
the kilo in the middle of the 5 and 6. Then there was a 5 mile shut down, which became the 0 to the 5 going the
other way. They also had a short course within the long course. The return road was the long course at Speed Week
and the BUB course was parallel to it and a few hundred yards to the east. Going down (to the north) at the 3 mile
they had a station setup between the return road and the course where the "short course" bikes would
stage. When they ran a short course bike it would run east from the stage area over to the track and make a left
and then pickup speed and run 2 miles to the 5 mile and get timed from the 5 to the 6. The same type staging was
used coming back if the bike was running back for an AMA or FIM record and had to return. So this all resulted
in bikes running "long" and "short" courses on the same course and if one qualified FIM it
had to do the return in 2 hours time, so you had "long" and "short" course bikes running back
the other way also all on the same course. All of this resulted in not very many runs per hour, especially the
first couple days. I'm also happy to report that they never once screwed up and had bikes coming down the course
from opposite directions or the same direction at the same time. I'm sure they did their best, but after being
at SCTA events it was pretty slow and this event would have made you appreciate Glen and the rest of the SCTA guys
and how organized they are even more. From what I could tell most of the bikes only got in about 1 run per day
the first couple days. Manning did notify everyone that streamlines were going to get special treatment and would
not have to stay in the staging lanes and could go right down course and prepare to run and then the other runs
would halt when they were ready. The same with them coming back.
The flagging on the course was very confusing and more than one bike didn't know where the measured mile was and
would run hard before it or way after it, but not in it. Also there was suppose to be communication for the crews
and such via an FM radio station. Something happened that didn't let that happen. Finally they set-up on channel
1 on the CB, but the radio they were using wasn't very good and they had different announcers, but failed to get
a lot of the times out, so often you didn't know what was going on. It also appeared at least the first couple
days there was no time slips printed out anywhere, so you would have to ask one of the workers that had an event
radio to call and get your time if you were running. I do want to thank the crew that did manage the CB radio for
the info they did get out and at the end of the week they did report the majority of the runs.
So I was at the point where Ack had set the record only to be broken by the Bub liner, which had a new rear tire
installed, but didn't run. It seemed they were happy with their record speed and only planned on running if it
was broken.
.......................
So about Tuesday Sam Wheeler arrives with his 1150 cc liner and starts setting up his pits in no real hurry. I
soon find out there is no real hurry as they have one front tire mounted and only expect it to make 2 runs before
it is ruined. So Sam's effort is going to be a "go for broke" effort right from the beginning. As I understand
it his front tire was designed for Shirley Muldowney's dragsters and is no longer available. It is very narrow
and seemed to work good up to 300 mph, but over 325 seems to come apart very quickly, even shaved. It also takes
over 12 hours to get the front wheel/tire out of the liner and get a new one mounted and aligned. They did have
what appeared to be one last new one with them that had not been shaved yet. So if the tire went then so went their
attempt. Personally after seen this liner before I felt 340 was probably the limit of the little motor they were
using. I was proved wrong. When they finally made their run it was an amazing 355 mph one way for the fast time
of the meet, but and a big but, the front tire blew on the first run, not the second, so they were done. Sam feels
the tire blew at speed, but didn't really know it until he was going fairly slow with the chute out and then the
liner when over on it's side without really hurting it or Sam. This liner might have a little more in it as it
is now. One of the crew mentioned to me that he felt if "all the stars were in proper alignment" there
might be a 360 mph in the car.
.....................
The problem is the front tire and that isn't an easy problem to fix. Even
if someone started to build 300 mph tires they probably wouldn't fit in the car. The only solution I see and it
isn't an easy one is a redesign of the car. It that was to take place it might be time to also make the car longer
to also accommodate an intercooler. These are just my view though and I have no idea what Sam has planned for the
liner.
If these three liners would have been running SCTA they would have all been running in different classes. Ack is
in the 3000 cc running blown gas with an intercooler (although at this meet he didn't seal the tank and was considered
fuel).
............
Bub running a completely one off (he has a couple) designed V-4 was running
blown fuel (alcohol) without an intercooler. The EZ-Hook liner is running 1350 cc blown fuel (alcohol) and no intercooler.
Under FIM I'm pretty sure Ack and Bub were running the same class -- streamliner and maybe EZ-Hook was also in
the same class. The only thing that really mattered is they all wanted the fastest FIM motorcycle absolute record
and only one ended up with it. I'm sure you have seen a game where you wanted both sides to win and no one to loose.
At the end of the week this was my feelings and in the end they all were winners and will have memories that will
be with them and those of us that watched forever.
I was ready to leave Wed. night (the "closed" sign had already been out on our store door back at home
for one day) when Mike told me they were going to turn the boost up Thursday morning and put about 200 more HP
in the liner. I decided to stay one more night at the "bend in the road" in my teardrop. It was lonely
out there with only 2 other campers, but at least quiet and I got way more sleep than during Speed Week.
.................
So Thursday morning Ack tows up early to the zero mile marker around 8 am and prepares to run. There is one problem
at this point. On a previous run the Ack was hurt. One of the intermediate shafts that transmits the power from
the rear motor's output shaft to the common jack-shaft with chains on both sides going to the rear wheel/tire is
broke in such a fashion that it is only being supported by a bearing on one side. So how much HP can it handle
and when is it going to let go is the big question??? The liner stages with the BUB liner staged right behind it
and goes only a short way down the course before Rocky is blown off course. Bub doesn't elect to run and Ack pushes
push back to the line and restages. Rocky takes off again with the BUB liner still waiting on the results and at
about the 3 mile there is problems. Rocky coasts off to the return road and they bring the liner back to the pits
and for a while call it a day thinking the output shaft has finally gone south.
..............
Finally they decide to pull the case and look at the damage. What they find is the the chain drive's sprocket's
nut had backed off and the chain went out of alignment and was destroyed. Actually it looked like metal mush. The
two sprockets where still ok, but still had the damaged shaft problem. Now it is twenty to eleven and you had to
run by 12 noon before the FIM part of the meet was ended Mike says lets do it and the Ack team hustled and got
a new chain installed, the intercooler loaded with ice, the liner to the starting line 6 miles away, and got Rocky
belted into the car and ready to run by 12 noon with a few minutes to spare. Bub again lined up behind them. The
run didn't go well with Rocky exiting the course after the final Kilo timer, but before the final mile clock, so
they were ineligible to make a return run in the 2 hour time limit and with the slow 100 mph speed in the kilo
it would have been pretty futile to try and attempt it. I didn't find out what the final problem with Ack was,
but they sure gave it their best effort all week until the last moment and Mike was wishing in the end that he
would have turned the boost up for the first couple runs, but hindsight is easy. I'm sure they aren't done yet
and we will probably be seeing them again. As the Bub liner never ran again who knows what it's limits might be.
At about 12:30 one of the officials declared the FIM part of the meet over down at the zero mile where I was still
hanging afraid to miss something. With his announcement I headed 1FATGMC and the teardrop towards the interstate
and the 450 mile ride home. Lots of rain on the way home helped get most of the salt off and I was home about 8:00
p.m. tired, but very glad I had gone.
c ya, Sum........