Track Stories 08

[steve murdoch]

Ryan, that tape was great.
For the first time in 15 years, i did not get to a Prostar/AMA event.
A terrific reminder.

[lecroy]

Hey, we are back on-line!! Video was great! Love the shot where the rider lays down on the fueler. Guessing something went wrong.

E, I'm sure you've heard it a million times but great article. Enjoyed reading it. Also found your home site. Very nice as well. While I managed to break 160 with the old bike, I never made it close to the 7's in my seven passes. So for now I will tip my hat to you. But next year.....


I know your all thinking that I have been sitting on my duff after the site went down. Not true! Last time I posted about my great eBay buy not being such a good deal after I put some pressure to it. The clamps would take it but the poor old steel gave out. I took it to the band saw....

One side of my block off plate with the compressor hose.


One of my wooden jigs with the eBay crossover and the start of the new one.


Didn't care for how the eBay flange was welded so new one has a spacer to make up the difference.


Plan to move the wastegate to the crossover, similar to the flag bike but on the top side.

[lecroy]

Now this baby has no leaks. Need to finish things up then ship it all off to be plated. Trying to save the eBay pipe as well. Cut about 10 inches of pipe out of it and the rest seems stable. Should make a good spare for the flag bike. That header is more than 20 years old now.



Cute little carb in need of some American parts...


Brand new and never stood a chance....


The question is not what I changed but what stayed the same.

[lecroy]

I bought this old part off eBay cheap. Took the band saw to it and made a new end to fit the Mikuni. A little welding, sanding and buffing.


I like the looks of it and it won't fall off when I line up with E new Busa with my 20+ year old junker bike next year.

[DreamRyder]

E, I'm sure you've heard it a million times but great article. Enjoyed reading it. Also found your home site. Very nice as well. While I managed to break 160 with the old bike, I never made it close to the 7's in my seven passes. So for now I will tip my hat to you. But next year.....

thanks sweetie... I was very shocked to see it make the Featured Article.. not sure how long they leave it there a couple weeks I'm guessing as it's been over one now.

I do say the hits on my website did sky rocket after that article was live

as for coming for me next year... bring it on darlin... I'll be there to take you on

hopefully without the wheelies so I can get deeper into the 7's

E.
looks like you've been hard at work..

[DreamRyder]

I like the looks of it and it won't fall off when I line up with E new Busa with my 20+ year old junker bike next year.

hahahaha... I almost missed this...

hey nutton wrong with ANYTHING 20+ year old linin up with me oh wait we're talkin about bikes

E.

[lecroy]

hahahaha... I almost missed this...

hey nutton wrong with ANYTHING 20+ year old linin up with me oh wait we're talkin about bikes

E.

Come on, I know you have higher standards!

Not getting the itch too bad yet. Just one weekend off. I think working on the junker will help keep me out of the loony bin this winter. That and I should have lots of time to talk trash with you over these cold months ahead. Next year I plan to get some seat time.

We went one last time and there was only one other bike there. I had seen him before but never talked. There are normally 60+ bikes on a Friday so we just never lined up. He pulls beside me and was saying how we were the only two crazy people to be out in the cold. Track workers thought we were a little nuts too. Other rider starts telling me how he's going to shoot out in front of me and then I will blow by him.. He has a stock street bike. Pretty quick, running in the 10's. I didn't like that part about him jumping out on me so I hammered the tree hard and put a 0.010 on him. Too bad it had a minus sign in front of it. LOL. I never saw him.

Next time we lined up he commented on how quick it was ( I had the boost turned down so was only 150). I apologized for the red. Went red again (I don't use my delay box). When I went through the traps all I could see was the glare of the yellow bulb. The bike runs like an arrow and I knew he was a few seconds behind so not a big deal. Popped the shield and fog cleared.

Lined up again. It's 9:30 or so and this time we have some people watching the crazy bikers. The only thing running are street cars now. All the higher powered stuff was put away after the sun went down. The fog is thick and its in the 40's. I had added a turn to the gate to really give them a show. Third red light in a row. This time he goes red too. He knows it's the only way he can get a jump on me. LOL. Shelley was with me watching at the finish line. She said there were some guys hanging out and one asked who she was with. Then they wanted to know what car I was driving. He's on a bike. He's not that crazy guy with that flag is he. Just then the bike runs through at 160, with dew on the track. Yea, that's my crazy husband. Life is good!


What a fun time we had tonight. More welding, cutting and grinding. Glad it's all done. Making exhaust parts is not my cup of tea. Managed to salvage the eBay header. Looks a little funny with that 10 inches of new pipe. Everything holds pressure now. I just need to call to see when they can coat the parts.

[DreamRyder]

Come on, I know you have higher standards!

Yea, that's my crazy husband. Life is good!

ok.. yeah I do

you def. got a keeper there sweet cheeks... your Mrs. is def a nice lady... look forward to getting to spend some more time with her next year hopefully when things are runnin right and can allow me some free time to socialize a bit more than this

Not positive but I think My last day will be the 25 and 26 I'm sure after that she'll be put up for winter... then time to start tryin to save up money to pay for next years travel expenses LOL

E.
oh yeah and try to see if I can afford a new paint job with your guy too

[rosco15]

He's not that crazy guy with that flag is he. Just then the bike runs through at 160, with dew on the track. Yea, that's my crazy husband. Life is good!

That was great. Made me laugh out loud. I'm going out Saturday I hope. Just as long as I get the truck back. 115,000 miles and the tranny finally is givin me fits. Had to get it rebuilt. Better than a car payment again.

[lecroy]

We need to have a paint party. Get Ryan, you and Pat (artist) together for a weekend. Pat's one cool cat. He has some great stories of some of the things he has painted over the years.

>>>you def. got a keeper there sweet cheeks...

Ah, I knew you were checking me out when I was pushing those bike to the line. At least you finally came clean on your old man fetish.

Any time you, Nem and the girls want to drop in is fine. Can't have you and my wife ganging up on me so just make sure you bring Nem to even the playing field.

I need to buy a longer trailer. Longer trailer means more weight. More weight means bigger car. I want something about 10' with a side door, dual axle and wide enough to hold both bikes, plus gear and tools. Maybe 5000 lbs. The escape has a V6 is all and is rated for something like 3000 lbs. I think it would kill it to pull anything larger than what I have now. I hear there are some great deals on Fords right now.




Two headers, two wraps and one banana pipe all shipped out today. This is a big weight off my shoulders.


I called the local plating company. No warranty if plating a used pipe. One year on a new pipe. The max temp was only 1300 F and there was no allowance for anything higher even if it was a short duration. 2 week turn. $185 to do a 4 to 1 They have a new coating called nitrocoat which is rated for higher temperatures but it comes with a 3X price tag. Say $1000 to coat all the parts, I don't think so. Even if the cost were in check, I was worried about how well it would hold up.



So I called AirBorn again. They will strip the old ceramic coating and start over with the eBay parts. Charge is $25 to strip them. The gave me a ball park of $180 to coat everything. I know their coating will take the abuse and they warranty it for life. They also quoted me a 7 day turn.

The last parts I had them do still look new. No signs of any rust yet and these parts were really starting to pit before I had them refinished. So if you ever need to have your
exhaust plated, look them up.

http://www.airborncoatings.com/homepage.html

[lecroy]

Osceola is a nice little track just south of me in Indiana. I used to go there all the time. Very familly friendly.

A friend of ours had setup a bike class for the weekend which drew a pretty good selection of bikes. They had a street bike and a dragbike class. During the first runs a mid 12 second street bike, running in the north lane, lost control and hit the guard rail. I heard it was about at the 300 foot mark.

http://www.fox28.com/Global/story.asp?S=9203375

God speed Todd

[Baatfam]

Just heard about this on another forum...

Guard rails and bike do not mix well....

Very, very sad.

[lecroy]

Hey Bob. Did you find a home for the Sportster?

I read that the track was cleared of any wrong doing and it was the first death since the track opened in 57? They said he was going at 50 mph when it happened. I wonder if something else caused it, like a tire failure or maybe something happened to the rider. The guard rails a long way from the inside tire tread mark.

Feel bad for his friends and family but also for the track owner and operators and all the people who saw it.

On a lighter note, put the ignition into the junk bike last night and got things pretty much wired up tonight. Hooked up a supply and started to test it. Had a section of polyflow tube I was using to lift the plug up to see how far it would jump before things broke down.
A little hard to look around for problems so I just grabbed the rubber boot while I watched for arcs.

As I slowly opened the gap with my left hand, brain malfunctioned. Must have effected the optic section as I saw some strange vision. Sort of a flashing white globe. Left knee was a little to close to the engine and my hand was a little too close to the plug end of the boot. It took a few sparks before I was able to let go of the thing.

You would think I would know better.

[steve murdoch]

I found this article on the www.dragbike.com site.
DreamRyder has been big contributor to the Track Stories '08. Congrats, Eunice.

http://www.dragbike.com/dbnews/anmviewer.asp?a=4393&z=2

[lecroy]

Man, I'm sorry. Thats the article we were talking about a few weeks ago. I never gave the link assuming everyone saw it. Thanks for posting it.

They took it one step further shaving even more time off. They are really starting to make that bike fly.

She has her own website that I thought I saw in that article. Check it out if you get a chance. She had a lot of pictures on it... But non of me.. Sniff... LOL