Results and News
--- October 2004 ---
Here it is, nearly November 1, and the 2004 All Harley Drag Racing Association season is finally at an end. Although there were a few disappointments, overall its been a fun year.
We're just back from the last two races, the Sacramento Fun Drags in California and the AHDRA season finals in Las Vegas. This has always been one of our favorite trips because we get to race twice, plus spend a few days in the sun in southern Nevada.
Things started well in Sacramento. Becky qualified 4th in Pro Gas and I was 3rd in Pro Dragster. We both had good matchups for Sunday's finals but unfortunately we were rained out. The other bad news was fellow dragster pilot Chris Kirby's crash. Just about the time you get comfortable doing something dangerous, something like this will make you stop and think. Its like choking down a few big mouthfuls of sea water when you're body surfing and realizing you could actually drown doing something fun. Chris has been fighting tire spin problems all year and in qualifying on Saturday, he did the same just off the start line. The spin flopped his bike over on its side and him on the pavement. Although he has several broken ribs, a broken shoulder blade and some kidney bruising which have kept him in the hospital for a couple days, he should be fine. Maybe a little sore. O.K. maybe a lot sore.
We left for Las Vegas and ran into nothing but rain for 4 days. We finally got a break in the weather on Friday so the weekend looked promising. There was the biggest field of bikes in the history of the AHDRA on hand for the race, with 14 bikes in Becky's class and 20 something in mine. Becky fought clutch problems all day Saturday and when the smoke cleared, she qualified 9th. Unfortunately they decided to run only an 8 bike field on Sunday, so she was sitting out. Naturally we sorted out the clutch problems Sunday morning, after it was too late.
Things went a bit better for the dragster. Although I had a couple minor issues to deal with, like a broken drive belt, I still managed to qualify 10th. During the first round of Sunday's finals, the bike ran its quickest pass ever, a 7.8. We'd run our fastest mph the previous weekend, in Sacramento at 170, so things looked pretty good.
In the second round of the finals I had to run Scott Truett, who is the national champion. I made some changes and although we left the line faster then he did, I spun all the teeth out of the drive belt about 250 feet out and coasted through the lights at something like 10 seconds. So, we were done. Still, anytime you set a personal best, you can't be disappointed.
Some of
the highights of the race were watching some of the NHRA pro stock bike guys
do some testing for next week's NHRA race at the same track. Chip Ellis, Craig
Treble and Mike Lozano were there and it was fun seeing them. Also got to chat
with George Bryce and George Smith who those who follow racing may recognize
as the owners of Star Racing and S & S Performance. Both are legends in motorcycle
performance circles and are the developers of the new G Squared engine which
is doing so well in the NHRA this year.
The low light was me making a total dope of myself in front of the TV guys. On my 7.8 pass I knew it had been good and as I pulled around the end of the track I ended up stopped next to Scott Truett who I knew I'd be facing in the next round. Scott and I are friends and I instantly pulled my helmet off started into my smack talk routine, sprinkled with lots of X rated stuff. After a few seconds I noticed that the crew from "Inside Drag Racing", a show that airs on ESPN, was standing by filming. About all I could manage was "Hey..you're the TV guys. Bet you're not going to show that little tirade." They just smiled. So....I missed my 15 seconds of fame. Hey. I'll be ready for them next time.
As far as how the year itself went, there were some positives and negatives. Becky's year was the roughest. We struggled with the clutch setup on her bike all year and that, coupled with her time off for medical issues kept her from having the year she was looking for. Despite all that, she made some great gains on her Pro Gas bike and should be in line to do well next year.
After a couple miserable years, we finally had some success with the dragster and ended the season ranked 5th nationally, which is a great improvement. That, coupled with running our fastest and quickest times during the last races of the season, make for a short winter layoff.
We're bouncing around several ideas for some changes and improvements for next season so hopefully, come next March the news will be even better. See you next year.
--- August 2004 ---
So here's the latest from the track, courtesy of CourtJesterRacing. This last weekend was the Woodburn, Oregon stop on the AHDRA racing schedule, practically a home race for us since we're only about 3 hours from the track.
I'd best describe this as one full of good times and lots of fun, but plagued by, shall we say, outhouse luck. (being polite here...it will become clear later.
The whole weekend started out on a sour note when we found out that the new Fast Cat engine had pooped out on us. For those less mechanically challenged..the rods had about .100 end play in them... bad juju. So, out with that engine since there was no time to get repair parts, dust off last year's engine and toss it in the bike. This is one sad looking, tired old engine, but at least it would allow us to have some fun, if it would run. We didn't even have a chance to test fire it before we packed up and headed south.
We should have guessed what kind of things would happen. Even though the weather was great, tons of folks turned out to race and visit and spectate and I even got to race, and spank, a Top Fuel bike, (Those are the 220 mph guys....I'm a 175 mph guy) we still had enough problems for 3 race teams.
Started out in qualifying. Becky's bike broke the front belt sprocket on her second qualifying pass. It was beyond repair and put her on the trailer for the rest of the event. When we tried to fire my bike, the starter broke. Now this starter is a full size semi truck starter operating on 36 volts. Weighs a ton and it just doesn't look like something you'd ever need to start a motorcycle, much less something that would break. But it did. So, I scuttle around and find some of the rich Pro Stock bike guys who have an extra starter. These are the guys with the $200,000.00 transporter rigs. They've got spare everythings.
Well sure, the new starter craps out after two starts. Now I'm off begging again. FINALLY find anouther starter and at least this made it though the weekend. So, back to qualifying. Our first pass on the nitro bike was an effort to find some clutch adjustment on this engine, and we smoked the clutch all the way down the track to a 8.70 run. Ick. Next pass was at least headed in the right direction. Again smoked the clutch, but improved to an 8.5.
Let me take a moment to describe smoking a clutch. For the non drag bike folks, the clutch is made up, in my case, of 6 plates about 6" in diameter, about .140 thick, made up of kind of a sintered iron stuff. Looks kind of like thick dirty sandpaper. In between are 5 steel plates of varying thicknesses. When ya smoke da clutch, it gets so hot it can melt the drive belt and stays hot enough for the next half hour or so that you can only handle it with gloves. Its hot enough that all the steel plates are junk...look like blue wavy potato chips. More bad juju.
On the third pass in qualifying, the bike took off great, for about 10 feet. At that point all of the teeth on the primary belt got peeled off. In the words of a visitor to the pits..."Holy shit man... no teeth..jus like me!" That's kind of the opposite of smoking the clutch...too much clutch causing the belt to disintegrate. So now its back to the drawing board.
By the end of the day, we were qualified 7th, out of I think 13 bikes that were present, although some never made it down the track. In the first round of eliminations, we had to run Steve Huff, who was the national runner up a couple years ago. We did a bit better this time, made it about 20 feet before we snapped the belt clean in half. At least I got a nice round of applause from the crowd. I think it was pity.
The good news is that when you don't qualify on a fuel bike, or lose in the first round of competition like I did, they drop you into what they call an "outlaw fuel class". They lump all the nitro methane powered bikes together and you get to run more for bragging rights then points, but its still fun. We used it for some testing and in the first pass ran 8.2, so we were again headed in the right direction. It was frustrating though, since I couldn't force myself to hold the throttle all the way.
Here's what that's all about. When the bike leaves the line, the front wheel comes off the ground, and stays up there for about 300-500 feet. So, you're only steering is by leaning...body english. If the bike gets off line, you can make it come back, but it does it kind of gradual, like throwing a curve ball in bowling only faster paced. You're hoping you don't end up in the gutter. Sometimes, even though you're pretty sure you'll get it pulled around, reason and self preservation overcome your best intentions and you can't make yourself hold that throttle pegged wide open no matter how hard you want to. Other times, even though your front wheel isn't on the ground, you start cranking on the bars, again kind of like running to the side of the lane in bowling to make your ball go where you want... but faster. When you do that and the front end comes down with the wheel pointed in the wrong direction, the bike shakes pretty hard until you get things straitened out. In my case, it shook hard enough for my feet to come off the pegs. So, I chickened out. That's what made the 8.2 second pass so frustrating. Could have done better.
So, in the last round, I managed to run against a top fuel bike and kicked his butt. Never picked up the time slip, but it was somewhere around a 7.8 or 7.9. (See, now this is like fishing....its the one that got away..no time slip. By this time next year it will have been a 7.30)
The rest was cake. Packed up and headed home. Motorhome broke down on the freeway and it took me about 2 hours to fix the broken diesel fuel line. Then got about an hour from home and Sally the dog couldn't wait. Pooped all over that motor home. Diesel and dog poop are my life today, but its all good.
Time to fix the Fast Cat, stuff the old motor back under the bench and get Becky's bike up and running again so we can head off to Mission BC in a couple weeks and do it all again.
--- January 2004 ---
So here's the latest from the track.
Although last season was somewhat disappointing, we had some successes and are looking forward to the coming season. Becky continued to improve on her Pro Gas bike and set personal best time in the season final at Las Vegas.
The nitro dragster continued with some problems, but the major issues seem to be behind us. Like Becky's bike, the dragster continued improving its times as the season progressed.
Although we were both down in points in the United States, we both finished 4th in our respective classes in Canada and hope for continued improvements in both countries.
CHANGES!!! Yes, we have lots of changes in store for 2004. We have some additional sponsors on board with help from Nitrous Express, Primo Belt Drives and Rivera Engineering. The team has generated lots of excitement driven primarily by Becky's status as one of only a few women professional Harley drag racers in the world. There was a feature article detailing Becky and her bike in the local Tacoma Weekly newspaper and both she and her bike were showcased at a recent event at the Tacoma, WA Sheraton.
We are finishing up the final assembly of a new Fast Cat motor for the nitro bike. That, plus the new Heidner clutch we installed toward the end of last year should allow for some real improvements both in elapsed times and mph. Our goal for this year, besides a championship, is to make runs in the mid 7 second range at approximately 175 mph.
We have also finished installing a new nitrous system on Becky's bike. That should enable her to reach speeds of approximately 150 mph and times in the mid 8 second range.
We should have our 2004 schedule posted here on our web site shortly. Keep checking back for adjustments or additions.
Finally, a special thanks to Mark Flynn, Lee Urich of JARZ Perfomance, Carl Pelletier of COMPETITION MOTORCYCLES, Mike Bauer of BAUER SOFTWARE DESIGN, Steve Heidner of LIBERTY MACHINE and Doug Krekow for their help at the track and in the shop. See you at the track!!!
Results Archives