Randy, Thanks for the pic. You always do such a great job and we all appreciate it.
John, Wheelie? No problem, just shift a little weight off you hands and back to your rearend, hit it hard on the launch, and hang on tight. The front lifts taking the side car wheel off the ground with it, the whole bike leans left due to the weight of the sidecar and ballast, so the whole rig is now turning left on the back tire, when the front comes back down, you are now heading more toward the cotton field than the right hand turn, so now you have to steer the front tire as the bike doesn't lean, get it pointed back in right direction, and be ready to hit second gear. See, no problem. Given your riding vast experience, I'd say to go ahead and give it a try on a big open patch of concrete, it's actually not as difficult as it sounds if you don't have to worry about cotton fields and making turns.
Bill, Thanks for being there to witness my airborne assault. Instead of watching my placement on the track, which is always priority #1 at Maxton, I was thinking like a racer and watching the silly tach thingy in order to hit my shift point. In the process of doing so, I got a little off to the side and hit a good size bump which sent the whole rig, which is well over 700 lbs, flying through the air. Once I recovered from that, got back in position on the bike and on the track, it actually got worse. At the end of the run, I hit the new patch of blacktop dead on and it sent me flying in the air again, this time at 152 mph. I will certainly never forget that run as long as I live. Fortunately, the new patch has been shaved a bit. I really wish Randy had been there with his camera on the start line when I hit the first bump in order to get a shot of the daylight under my rig like one of the TT guys.
Tom
