New Idea for Bonneville motorcycle racing--

[Flyboy]

We position two or three bikes on the starting line at mile 0. Entry fee would be $500 per class. All bikes would have to be in the same class. When the light goes off all three bikes would then accelerate down the salts as fast as they can. If any bike goes outside the black lines on each side they would be disqualified. At mile 5 bikes would enter the timing lights with the finish line being mile 6. Bikes would be timed as per their 6 mile travel distance with the first one crossing mile 6 to be declared the winner(of that particular heat). If the winning bike happens to break a record in the one mile timed event then that would be icing on the cake. When all bikes of the same class have competed, the bike with the best 6 mile time would get the purse.

Rider skill and tactics would be paramount in this type of race. Do you accelerate hard and spin your tires or do you take it easy and keep the traction. Considering that MotoGP racers race side by side at speeds up to 180 mph while trying to pass each other kind of makes the Bonneville Speed Trials appear somewhat lame. For bikes that travel over 200 mph the course would be iimited to just two bikes at a time. I have a feeling that three riders-- going down the salts at the same time-- would not get any closer than 100 feet between two riders at any given time once past 120 mph.  Like in Skydiving when breaking up a multi-man manuver, one would utilize breakoff tactics when decelerating past mile 6. The center bike would go straight, the right bike would go to the right black line and left bike decelerates on the left black line. The waiting lines would go twice as fast and one wouldn't have to enter the competition unless they wanted.  I think it would be very safe and would add a little more excitement to the joy of Land Speed Racing. I think this idea has merit. What do you ladies and gentlemen think?

[Nortonist 592]

I think its a fabulous idea.  If we apply that thinking to cars as well we could have the meet over by 2 p.m. and Jim could be back to his margarita machine before 3 p.m.

[JackD]

Let me know how you do. 

[bbb]

why limit it to bikes? bikes blow through the lines faster than cars anyway.
propulsion cars run side by side in the 1/4 mile. why not run everything in this format.
diesel trucks would be most interesting.
follow the black line or the black smoke?

[dwarner]

With in excess of 1800 m/c classes and 100 entries where do you find 2 or 3 in the same class?

DW

[JackD]

Lets invent something and call it "BRACKET RACING"!
Just think of all the other little expressions we could invent and call our own.
The possibilities are so endless, I don't know where to begin.

[Sumner]

With in excess of 1800 m/c classes and 100 entries where do you find 2 or 3 in the same class?

DW

That is why this is such a fabulous idea.  They would have to wait until there was 3 of them in the same class and on the starting line at the same time, so just think how few runs would actually take place under this system.

Of course we would have just been sitting there waiting for another car or two in our class the past couple years also .

What would Glen do in the timing tower with no one running  .  He could get out the binocs and look for the "neked" motorcycle riders waiting for someone to show up in their class.

And Dan just think of all the "beer time" in impound under this system .

Ok I'm being bad,

Sum

[Glen]

I think I will throw up. If we have to wait for 3 of anything in one class to all be ready to run it would be an act of God that made it happen. Besides only Jack would know if they were in the same class or even from this planet. But I do like the naked ladies class, I could time them and Dan can make sure they are real,and the rest of you can stay out of impound. What ya think Dan.

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Attention everybody other than Glen and Dan:

Now you see why Nancy and I share the riding on our bikes -- and she rides WITH the body installed and makes me do the Naked runs.  Of course, maybe she and I should consider trading -- maybe we'd get some really dandy speeds from the tower, and we'd get the bike through impound WAY faster.  Betcha it wouldn't even take beers...

[JackD]

I guess you kids never got to see the calendar that Ermie made, or the picture of the person on the bike in the same pose as Freud, or the Bad Bad Barbies from SLC.
They make Rollie Free and some other early riders look like Eskimos.

There was a time before the classes and records were flushed into proliferation that it required 3 like entries at a meet to open a new class. Then it deteriorated into 3 paid entries when money became the greatest objective. Now it features a class for every possible configuration that exists nowhere in the World but has the required fees.

"We know what you are, now we just have to agree on a price."

[Seldom Seen Slim]

"We know what you are, now we just have to agree on a price."

Good one, jack -- I haven't used that line for days.  And I haven't heard it from anyone in a long time. 

[Bob Drury]

Speaking of which, whatever happened to the "Posing Princess" in the mini dress (or sometimes less) who used to wander thru the pits every year.  Seems like her name was Lou, not to be confused with Landspeed (thank God).  I havn't seen her the last couple of years.  She once leaned against my car in a Bikini, and I havn't wiped it since.  Turner and Whitley have some very nice, shall we say "artsy" photos of her adorning the hood of their Stude............

[Glen]

Bob, I think she was from NYC and one of the last of the sin sisters that visited Bonneville over the years.
She also wore a a flea collar for jewelry

[JackD]

She was in the employ of the photog from Arizona and was uncomfortable in the chilly atmosphere the other girls clouded her with .
The return did not cover the investment

[Bob Drury]

Wow, I thought she was part of the impound crew! Now I don't have any reason to go there.......