Old Bonneville Pictures

[Freud]

I did these at Burt's AMA Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.

They don't look like kids, even to me.........

FREUD

[lvsalt]

Found some more old pics today, Quality not great but i thought some might enjoy.
first pic, is it me or is that blower mounted vertical

[lvsalt]

small bike liner

[lvsalt]

 

[tomsmith]

The "small bike liner" is the Bud Hood/C B Clausen "Brute" of about 95 cu in and 165 horsepower in 1952 in fuel dragster configuration. It was probably the highest horsepower single engine bike in '52.  It did 172mph sit-on at Avenue 5 in Pomona, but never worked out very well as a liner if I remember correctly - just barely over 200.

[Freud]

These are the Real Deal.

It's an original that I have.

FREUD

[Freud]

tomsmith.......

Didn't Chet Herbert's Beast and the Brute have it out at the drag races frequently?

Maybe the early '50's?

FREUD

[MattGuzzetta]

wow, still having fun with digitizing old photos, more from 1970 if memory serves me.... My favorite streamliner, the Larson Cummings beauty







Small series from the pits to Bob Higbee getting ready!

Matt Guzzetta

[MattGuzzetta]

I just love unusual Bonneville vehicles, this one was powered by a model airplane engine tied to a 10 speed bicycle trans, somehow, didn't see it run so I don't know if it ever did.  The driver had one leg and that allowed for the needle nose





I mostly have streamliner stuff as that is what I was involved with for so many years. More to come!

Matt Guzzetta

[WOODY@DDLLC]

1970 was my first Bonneville and I remember the "gourd" with wheels! He had two 0.5cid model airplane engines arranged in a vee and had hand-cut a bevel gear to join them together. (My engine picture is nfg!  ) When they asked him at tech inspection how he would get into that thing he just unscrewed his leg and got in. He sat in a sand box to make the form for his seat. I believe he went about 40 mph with a goal of 60 mph but the drive chain kept jumping off.  Seeing this little tater just about sealed my salt infection! 

[tomsmith]

Freud:  I never saw either the Chet Herbert Beast or the Bud Hood/C B Clausen Brute run at the drags.  At the time we thought that the Brute was the fastest drag bike and Frenchy LeBlanc was #2, but I was only 17 years old in 1951 so I was pretty much in the dark most of the time.  I mostly rode Joe Fernandez' knucklehead at Fontana, Colton and a few others.  We moved to Pomona drags when the Pomona police (who ran Fontana) moved from Fontana to Pomona.  We ran at Santa Ana a few times but never met Chet Herbert there.  I did always use Herbert cams and had one of his first high lift gas cams in my panhead in 1957-59.

I was at Bonneville in 1954 and had a long talk with Otto Crocker.  He advised me to retire.  I also watched the transfer of the Brute engine into the Cooper streamliner (normally powered by a Norton Manx motor and tranny).  They had to cut holes in the beautiful aluminum body for the carbs to poke out the side.  There was a big argument with John Fox as to whether the Brute tranny should be also be installed in order to handle the horsepower.  John Fox wouldn't let it happen - he said that he had run a JAP 8/80 v-twin and it worked OK.  The Brute had maybe three times the horsepower of the JAP.  I watched as Fox tried to make a run, but the motor sounded like it was starting out in 4th gear and couldn't clear up.  When he made it back to the pits and the top of the shell was removed, I asked them what all the pieces of metal were in the bottom of the pan.  It was the remains of the transmission.

It was lots of fun back then.  Too bad I'm old, senile and serious now.

[tomsmith]

And... I did race against Frenchy LeBlanc once at Pomona.  As usual I was wearing Levis and a t-shirt, like most other bike guy at the time.  I got less than a fourth of the way down the track when I blew up.  I think this was the time I had my hand on the gear shift, which was a short lever on the transmission - we used a foot clutch.  The guys watching said the pieces of the motor looked like a swarm of bees had attacked me.  It took off a small piece of my thumb (the one on the gear shift), blew off the fuel lines, drenched my Levis with fuel and caught on fire with (invisible) flames from the Methanol and Nitro.  I coasted to the side a few feet from the spectators and yelled "fire".  The spectators looked puzzled.  I held on to the handlebars since I didn't want the bike to fall over and make the fire worse.  In the meantime my Levis also caught on fire.  A guy showed up with a fire extinguisher and started spraying the bike.  I yelled "no, no...  my pants", which were getting hot.  He got the idea and sprayed me.  I never dropped the bike, my thumb healed up and I can't even see the scar.  I think the Levis were toast, though.

[N72727]

Thank you for the interesting stories... Here's a photo with the Cooper streamliner in 1954 (thanks to the LIFE archives).

[tomsmith]

It looks like the Brute's carbs are sticking out the side above the number.  John Fox was the Cooper distributor for the US and brought the streamliner over.  I forgot to mention that the Brute motor shook a lot of the flush rivets loose in the bodywork.

[lvsalt]

another little liner