Kevin, lots of folks will be better able to answer your questions than am I, but I'll touch on one subject -- the skills you'll need to go 200 mph on a bike at Bonneville.
You don't show up and go balls-to-the-wall on your first run. First of all, of course, your bike and your safety garb will be inspected to assure that they're ready to take you to speed -- and to protect you in case of an incident. Once you're through inspection you must make a series of runs down the course at ever-increasing speeds. These are your "licensing runs", and you must inform the starter that you're about to make a license pass. The course watchers and other safety patrol folks will keep an extra-sharp eye on you as you go down the course, and -- assuming you are successful in making a good run, you'll return to the starter to have him sign off on your timing slip, indicating that you were successful at that speed. That timing slip is taken to registration where you present it and are given a competition license reflecting your speed.
You need a valid state driver license to run at all -- that allows you to go 125. A pass with speed between 125-149 gets you the next license, and then 150-174, 175-199, 200-249, 250-299, and then, upon making a safe pass at speeds above 300, you get an unlimited license.
These "competition" licenses are not just paper -- they allow the officials to be sure you've had some "driver training" runs, at ever-increasing speeds, so they AND YOU know better what to expect as you're going fast.
I think there are examples of pretty famous race car drivers that have been at extreme high speeds -- Indy, maybe, or NASCAR, for instance, that figured they didn't need to make licensing (i.e. driver training runs) -- and after they spun at high speed, or had other issues -- they meekly admitted that maybe the officials and sanctioning organisations knew better.
So - look forward to a few runs down the course at ever-increasing speeds. Every pass is a thrill. Enjoy them all.
