So near, and yet so far?.
Chapter #6
We Qualified,
Please Honk.
Other qualifiers honked loudly and frequently, so we made it to impound on time. Other campers were NOT amused??.
This was ?The gathering of Eagles !?
In those days, ONLY record- qualified racers were allowed at the start line. Record runs were run in both directions, and the reverse direction ran through the original starting line. So folks waiting to qualify were kept back in the pits, and to not be in the way if somebody ?went long.?
The ONLY folks in this group were ?the anointed;? those faster than the existing records !
This was rarefied air at the Mount Olympus of speed. Would we mere mortals be allowed even to breath that same air ? Would we be found worthy ?
We HAD qualified on the ?first? attempt,
but would glory be ours ?
There was a ANOTHER problem, Houston !...............
Over the winter and spring of 1972-73, I spent so much
time on the bike and van that I did not notice the
(unannounced) elimination of the 883cc class.
I would have to run against the 1000cc bikes.
And, as Ry Cooder might have said, THIS particular black cloud did NOT have a silver lining!
I was not the only competitor caught unawares. Also surprised were the riders in the 200cc, 600cc and the 700 cc classes, whose records ?disappeared? in the re-calibration of the rule / record book.
Interestingly, there were relatively few classes for larger bikes. There was of course the imposing 1000cc class, the next up category was the 1,200cc division. The only remaining category was the maximum class of 3,000cc.
NO 1350cc, NO 1650cc, and NO 2,000cc classes. Those would appear later. So, if you had an 80 cubic inch Harley, you had to run in the 3,000cc class???
1973, in addition to the new, all-inclusive 1,000cc class, brought the appearance of the Kawasaki 903cc double - over- head cam bike (code named in development by Kawasaki as the New York Steak).
Last year, I would have been safely in the 883cc class, and I did NOT look forward to competing against a full-factory team in my first efforts, especially while giving away overhead cams and more than 10% of my displacement !..
The new Z-1 Kawasaki, was perfect for the new 1000cc class, with 903cc, double over-head cams, and unlimited funds for development, and press introduction at Bonneville.
(photo)
The Yoshimura Kawasaki Z-1, 1973
1973 also brought ?Pops? Yoshimura to Bonneville.
(photo)
POPS AT WORK in the 1970?s. Note the ball cap turned a
little sideways in ?pre hip-hop? style.
A legend among US soldiers in Viet Nam period Japan, Pops would go on to dominate motorcycle road racing in the USA, and gain world-wide respect. Pop?s Kawasaki Z-1 was a true factory bike, with everything done that could be done.
Plus, ?the Z? was ridden by a real racer, an AMA expert, named Dale Alexander, a retired Indian factory rider, and professional pilot who flew for the ?Flying Tigers? in WW2.
The Yoshimura team had been very clever, having hired as riders both Dale Alexander, an AMA Professional rider, and Bruce Flanders, son of the Earl Flanders ? the AMA steward for the race meeting. ( Handsome Earl Flanders, born in 1911, and a champion rider himself, supervised the first over 200 MPH record at Bonneville speed week in 1956) If THEY didn?t know how to run a Bonneville race program, than nobody did !
(photo)
Flanders Co. Earl is 4th from right
(Actually, 4th from left)
Their experience and knowledge of racing was beyond my wildest dreams, and I was sure that the only chance I had for victory would come along with a ?lucky earthquake? that somehow swallowed all the teams bikes equipment.
That Kawasaki was substantially faster than my poor old 1957 Harley. We just needed a time slip to see how badly I was going to be beaten !
We eased our Humble Dodge A-100 6-cylinder van up to the starting area, and shyly unloaded the bike into line.
I had a lot of misgivings about this whole Bonneville thing ! This would be the first race bike I had even built from scratch, including the engine. Evenings O?plenty had been spent at the drafting board, and with paper and the primitive calculators of the day. It was an advanced device that allowed both ?the square? function, and had ?pi.?
I though my intuition, ability to mechanic and fabricate were OK, and my ability to ride was adequate ? after all, it was all in a straight line??
So, here we were, at the Bonneville starting line, 3 runs TOTAL under my belt, standing next to a fully-funded factory effort. Some said later, I looked cool and collected; while actually I was petrified by the possibility of total failure and huge embarrassment. In a way, I was too nervous to ACT nervous.
As befitting a true factory effort, the Yoshimura / Kawasaki team
was on the salt before we arrived. Their specially-made van held
ALL FOUR of their bikes . All four bikes were qualified, serviced and all the riders were suited up.
We were greatly impressed, and hardly optimistic.
Dale on the Z-1,our direct competitor, was to run ahead of us, and he would probably
be substantially faster than I would be.
HOWEVER, there was always the
chance ? though remote ? that Dale might have
engine trouble, or have ignition failure.
Right !
Dale sped away from the start line and EVERYBODY
at the start area and in the pits stopped to watch and listen.
This would be the first time anybody in the world
would hear this fabulous bike make it?s glorious double-overhead-cam,
4-cylinder sounds for five miles straight ahead without letting up.
We were all transfixed.
It was the sound of my doom.
And it sounded wonderful?
(photo)
The 1973 YoshimuraBonneville-only Z-1 Kawasaki set up for unfaired, modified class. The ?D? on the number plate indicates that this bike ( A,B, C, D etc.) was
set up to run it?s Fourth class of speed week. So NO, I did NOT invent ?class jumping !
In anticipation of the cool morning air, I had rather hopefully changed my sprocket back up from 19 to 20 teeth. In Florida, I had calculated that would be the best choice, but now I was nervous. If the engine wouldn?t pull the taller gear, I would be knocked back down into the 130?s. Maybe far enough down that we would not ?record.? Oh well, Dale was going to go a lot faster than I would, so why not try. I would learn something about Bonneville racing, and maybe confirm my ?winter thinking.?
My pre-race thinking came back to me as we warmed the bike: The cams were pretty ?radical? for the application, and I hoped they would both produce power and not break the two-coil valve springs. The lift was a little ?sudden? and that never helps longevity. My understanding from Tom Sifton was that these had been developed for flat track, and were NOT intended for Bonneville, and the long, high-RPM application.
Time to shut off all the questions and worries, and to concentrate on riding??..
Minutes later, Bob Higbee gave me the track, and I wandered hopefully down toward the timing lights.
The Harley had too much compression to kick start or push start, so I held on to the driver?s side door of our van, while Ellen pulled me up to speed. The Sifton ?A? cams were a little ?tall? for low-engine speed, so I hung on while Ellen got up to the top of first gear in the van, and then well into the van?s 2nd gear. When she hit 40 mph, she tooted the horn, and I dropped off.
(photo)
Foto by Freud, 1974
Immediately engaging the Harley?s clutch, I started the bike, and cruised along, letting the engine warm a little, for maybe 10 seconds, and then off I went in 1st gear. Shifting to 2nd gear at 7,000 rpm, maybe 75 mph, I could feel the Harley asking for more. It pulled up to 100 in 2nd, and then I made a ?slick shift? into 3rd. . In my heart, I knew this was as good as this bike was going to run. This was it. Dropping the bike into high (4th)gear, the Harley pulled cleanly and hard to about 6800rpm and 145.68 mph for the full mile .
We were over the existing record by almost 10 mph. Would it be enough ?
At ?the other end? we all tended to our
little tasks of getting our bikes ready to
return within the one-hour limit.
No changes or any new parts allowed, but we
could check chains and timing.
(photo)
YOSHIMURA. How do you compete with a team that builds their own chassis, and gets their engines direct from the factory.
Dale had gone down the track fast. He showed me his timing slip, and at 159 mph, he was a FULL 14 mph faster than my Harley. HE was about 25 mph over the record??..
Dale had indeed beaten me like a drum.
In those days, we were required to return in the order we ran down, so Dale would run first. He would get the record and it would be about to be the same as if Ellen and I never
even come to Bonneville
.
This was not ?Campbell and Seagrave? stuff.
But I had hoped for just a moment in the bright sun
of a successful SCTA Bonneville land speed record??..
I was well and truly beaten !
Spanked like a bad dog?
Waiting with our bike ready for the return run, we sadly started preparing the van for the trip home.
At this point especially, I was asking myself why I was doing this Bonneville thing anyway?
..
PHOTOS: In the original articles, lovingly published by Wendy at the BONNEVILLE RACING NEWS, there were PICTURES !...It is a little too cumbersome for me with my 75 year old pre digital brain to post those here since it involves photobucket and things like that. IF you go to my facebook account, the pictures are attached to THAT version of these articles..........https://www.facebook.com/scott.guthrie.3154.........
