50 Years at Bonneville - Scott Guthrie Remembers

[Old-N-Slow]

SCOTT GUTHRIE REMEMBERS:
50 Years at Bonneville

Chapter #20A


From five years to go, it was now
down to the next two minutes.

Ellen also nodded, and the starter signaled invitingly down the track to the west. Ellen accelerated the van up to our agreed 40 mph.

I released the door handle, and dumped the clutch in first gear to start the high compression engine.  A lower gear would spin the engine faster, and produce hotter sparks more quickly. 

 
Photo ? Scott hangs off the door handle as wife Ellen flours the slant-six up to 40mph before Scott drops off.  Last chance !

And, I needed hotter sparks for sure!

The rear tire skidded on the unexpectedly soft salt, and the engine would not turn over.

I quickly shifted to second gear, and again dumped the clutch, bouncing my bottom on the seat to ?add weight? to the tire.  Using second gear would not spin the engine as fast, but it WOULD give the little traction more mechanical advantage to spin the dead engine.

By this time, I was down to 30 mph.  I was hoping that the higher gear would allow the engine to turn over more freely. 
If the bike ? oil past the rings and all ? did not fire, the run ? and the record attempt ? were done. 

The rules were clear:  ?Once the race vehicle has begun it?s run, the attempt will be concluded if the race vehicle cannot continue under it?s own power.?

By using push-vehicles, cars have the advantage.  It the race car does not fire up ? or does not keep running, the push car can just keep on pushing ? maybe up to a mile.

For bikes, it was one shot only. 

I dumped the clutch.

My 1957 Harley engine fired, and I quickly down shifted back for first gear, believing that the faster I spun the magneto ignition, the hotter the spark.

Once again, Bonneville had scared me and given me that ?steely taste? in my dry mouth.

Jumping hard on the engine, I hammered down the track away from the fresh sunrise.  The pure note of the wonderful V-twin resonated all around the Bonneville Basin ? echoing off the hills.

Absolute joy!

Shifting around inside my leathers, I got into my ?tuck? as quickly as possible to cheat the wind, and make every ounce of power count for speed.

My right hand held the throttle wide open, and my left hand was VERY light on the handle bar ? just waiting for the dreaded misfiring to begin.

The bike pulled strongly to the first mile, and then the engine started to ? again ? go all asthmatic on me, and I had to re-enjoy the risky behavior of pulling the plug wires with one hand, while steering with the other hand for almost two miles at near 150mph.  This time I knew what to expect and control was a little easier. 

Only two more miles ? less than a minute ? and I would know.

The bike had initially felt quite powerful ? and fast, but soon it was running so badly that I had little hope.  I could feel the bike slowing a little in the second mile.  I could only hope the Harley would not slow too much.

My eyes glued to the tach ? a movement of 50 rpm could be the difference ? I struggled to make myself small, and to cheat the wind.  My chin was banging painfully on the tank.  Ignoring it, I concentrated on the run.  My elbows in out in the wind in a painful position.  Ignore it!

Entering the ?measured mile? ? from the mile two marker to the mile three - I was running on hope alone.  Less than 30 seconds to go.

I held my breath.

PHOTOS:  In the original articles, lovingly published by Wendy at the BONNEVILLE RACING NEWS, there were PICTURES !...It is a little too cumbersome for me with my 75 year old pre digital brain to post those here since it involves photobucket and things like that.  IF you go to my facebook account, the pictures are attached to THAT version of these articles..........https://www.facebook.com/scott.guthrie.3154.........

[Old-N-Slow]

SCOTT GUTHRIE REMEMBERS:
50 Years at Bonneville

Chapter #20B

The deed is done



Popping and banging, I labored through the measured mile heading west.  In high gear the whole way, I was surprised at how the tach seemed to hold steady as the engine continued with the fits of misfiring. 

As I ?hot ? gapped? the spark plugs again and again, I thought I could feel the bike pick up a little speed, and then slow down a little as the misfiring reduced the power.  The speed difference was not enough to see a change on the tach.

Maybe it was just my hearing the engine missing.

Would I be able to AVERAGE enough power to make the final few hundred yards over the existing record?

Passing through the lights at the end of the final mile, I gently rolled out of the throttle, and raised my head into the full - almost 150mph - gale of passing air.  As I filled my lungs with the still-cool morning air, I realized I couldn?t remember the last time I had breathed.

As the bike slowed, I turned in the direction of the impound area, and the little trailer where the timing slips were handed out.

Surprisingly, the bike slowed, the engine seemed to calm down, as it is was pleased to have done it?s job, and was now content to run at partial throttle without objection ? as if I was rewarding it for a job performed well done.

I coasted to the return road, and waited for Ellen to come pick me up for the short trip to impound.

I sat on the bike, and removed my gloves slowly and pulled off my helmet.  Time to savor the end of the week of travail and of success. 

Whatever the time slip said, I had still just had the adventure of my life !

In those days, we did not have a CB radio, and we had to wait for a peek at the actual timing slip to see how we did.  The easiest way to do that was just haul the bike to Warnerville (impound) and ask the officials how we did, and get our slip.

We hauled the bike into the almost-deserted impound, and I walked apprehensively to the Warnerville clubhouse to get the news ? good or bad.

I was not confident as I was handed my timing slip.

But, by the skin of our teeth ? RECORD ? at 146.956mph.

I was stunned at how much abuse this poor engine could stand, and still perform at 96% or better!

My first record of the week was about 152mph, and the last record 146mph or so.

A total of 22 runs with NO failures, NO DNF?s or turn outs on an engine that was assembled in the back of the van on the way to the track !

SIX sets of rings in four days.

I was asked to again disassemble the bike for inspection ? which we did with no concern for being tidy about the process.  Our week had been more successful than I could have imagined, and I just wanted to get the inspection over and done with. After inspection, I just heaped the engine parts into a box.

The bike went home the way it came ? in boxes.

Perfect timing. We had set the last world record on our last possible dumpster set of rings !  Impound informed me that with four records in the week with the same bike, my four was the most of any Speed Week for any vehicle for any year.

Shortly after I started with my tear-down, Jim Yriberry, on his Harley Sportster, appeared in impound too.   Jim was running against one of the records that I had set earlier in the week.  The fact that he was coming into impound awoke me to the idea that he might be actually BREAKING my days-old record. 

I watched apprehensively as Jim received his time slip and nodded to his crew.  As they started to unload his Sportster, I understood that they HAD broken my record.

Standing up from my disassembly, I walked the few feet to Jim?s area.  Tiredly, I shook Jim?s hand and offered: ?Good job Jim !  I know how hard it was for me to set that record and so I know you worked HARDER to break it !?

Privately, my stomach was churning - all that work to set the record, and so quickly down the drain.

But at least it lasted longer than my first record last year ? which lasted 10 minutes.

There would be no running on the Saturday, either due to bad weather or lack of business.

 

Scott Guthrie posed photo.  Exhausted crew proudly shows bike after last record, the bike number is 18D.  When changing classes, we just appended a letter ?A? for first class, and so forth.  The ?D? would indicate we had changed to the Fourth class of the week?.Long and low tank replaces bulky factory unit. Shaker screen in  front of the engine was made with scrap metal in the garage and mounted with Adel clamps.  This was a Harley, so vibration shook most of the salt off the screen.  Shaker screen was NOT streamlining, since the wind was unaffected.  Harley XR750 fans may recognize this chassis as an ORIGINAL 1972 XRTT ? made only one year, and a production run of less that 20 units.  VERY rare.


Crazy from lack of sleep, off we went for Florida.  We were blessed with hundreds of miles of pouring rain, which washed off most of the Bonneville salt under the van.

In our moment of greatest glory,
I did not realize that in the future,
Bonneville would be very unkind to me .

PHOTOS:  In the original articles, lovingly published by Wendy at the BONNEVILLE RACING NEWS, there were PICTURES !...It is a little too cumbersome for me with my 75 year old pre digital brain to post those here since it involves photobucket and things like that.  IF you go to my facebook account, the pictures are attached to THAT version of these articles..........https://www.facebook.com/scott.guthrie.3154.........

[saltwheels262]

What a great time that must have been.
I really enjoy these reminiscings.

Franey

[Old-N-Slow]

Thank you Franey!

It has been a satisfying labor
to put this all together.

And yes, those were exciting times,
back in the Pliocene (Harley) Epoch.

[Old-N-Slow]

SCOTT GUTHRIE REMEMBERS:
50 Years at Bonneville

Chapter #21
Remember that problem you had last year;
that you were going to fix over the winter ?

Preparing for Bonneville for 1975


With my ringing success at Bonneville in 1974, I assumed that the program would continue in 1975 with equal or better accomplishments.

Read on, as I come to grips with the rocky road ahead, in which our hero is NOT assured of setting records at will.

At least in part due to my four-record sweep of the competition in 1974, Dick O?Brien of the Harley Davidson Factory Racing Team agreed to increased sponsorship for 1975.  Part of that sponsorship would be some actual Factory Racing parts!

Those parts would include special ? probably one of a kind ? racing cylinder heads.  Many believe that horsepower is made in the head, and in my case, I agreed.  I felt I had taken my Harley engine as far as I could on normal heads, and so better heads were the only item that could improve my engine performance.
 

PHOTO ? cylinder heads I used in 1973 & 1974.  Twin carbs side by side.  VERY rare !

The new Harley Factory cylinders heads came not to me, but directly to my local Harley dealer, which was how Harley did those things ?back then?.  Dallas Padgett, my local dealer, who was a very frugal man, had sponsored me at Bonneville for a total of a footpeg rubber cover. 

Early in 1975, Dallas called me to say they had something for me.  Delighted that ?The Factory? had trusted me with some ?unobtainium? racing parts, I took off work, and hurried to the dealership.

 
PHOTO ? Famous serial number ? possibly the only 1957  Harley Iron Sportster engine to set five (5) Bonneville speed records on pump gas.


At the parts counter, the ?old school? dealer opened the package in front of me to confirm the contents, which had an unfamiliar part number on the packing list.  He looked them over carefully, gradually understanding the unique items in his hands. 

He consulted his invoice and bemusedly remarked, ?The Factory says no charge to the customer.  Never seen that before.?

 
Photo ? NEW FOR 1975 - Special Harley Factory racing cylinder heads, offering much better air flow.  Possibly the only set like this in existence.  There is satisfaction from feeling that the Factory believes in you enough to trust you with unique racing parts !


The use of the new cylinder heads involved using new cylinders, which were from the same supplier as last year.  I still had not figured out the ring sealing problem of 1974, but I hoped (unreasonably it would turn out) that I just had a bad batch of rings.

 
PHOTO ? Spark plug boss tells the truth.  Standard plug reach was an inexplicable 3/8 inch.  Race-only from the factory were ? inch reach.  Very few were made and even fewer issued to privateers.


 
Photo ? more bogus part numbers.  The RA suffix is ?Harley speak? for a racing part with a subsequent first alteration ? the second alteration would be ?B,? and so on.  Cylinders were painted black to disguise that they were aluminum and not cast iron. Attractive chromed ?elephant?s foot? cylinder base nuts resist the salt. Rust lurks.


This year, I started with (I believed) dependable cast-iron rings in place of the seemingly trouble prone chrome rings, and put the problems out of my mind.  That simple ? and misguided ? assumption would haunt me all week?..

 
Photo ? Welded-up and re-ported intake tracts gave direct shot of air and fuel to the intake valve.  Bronze guide instead of stock cast-iron original street part. NO other Harley iron XR ever looked this good !

I carefully assembled the received heads and checked the special valve springs.  EACH valve has three (3) springs, and the result was crushing seat pressure.  I wondered if my cams, lifters and pushrods would survive repeated 3- mile passes on the salt at full throttle, banging the red line constantly.

 
Photo - Fuel and air point STRAIGHT at the spark plug!  I hopped this would improve the power.  With the carburetor mount removed, the improved straight-in porting can be better appreciated.  I joked that with a flashlight, all I had to do was open the throttle, and I could check the intake valve seat, the exhaust valve seat, and read the plug.  I was convinced this engine would produce more power than last year.  Would it be worth all the trouble?
 

PHOTO- EACH of the 12 springs( 3 per valve!) had to be properly shimmed to prevent the valve from (if it floated) striking the piston.  I had to have almost 100 special shims on hand to make the tedious adjustments.  Must have worked, since I had no problems in maybe 50 full power Bonneville runs. Huge intake valve with little stubby stem is shown after 40-50 runs - maybe 150 miles of full power passes down the long ?white dyno.? Surprising reliability

I had my used racing tires trimmed to thinner dimensions by BUCHANNEN?S frame shop in Monterey Park, California, for the princely sum of $10 each.  I had determined ? somehow ? to run 60 pounds of air pressure in used tires?.


As usual, we disassembled the 1957 Harley Sportster to fit
the bike into the old Dodge A-100 van while allowing for living and working space.  Before setting off from Tallahassee FL, I had replaced all the brake linings in our  Dodge A-108 van with new VELVETOUCH brake linings.  All the NASCAR guys liked Velvetouch, so it must have been good?..

Listen:  Do we hear banjo music ?

Planning to fully enjoy our third trip to Bonneville, we scheduled extra vacation time to view the countryside.  Making a little side visit to Tallulah Falls and Gorge in North Georgia, we saw the deepest gorge east of the Mississippi. We tried to enjoy natural beauty, and store up the cool water memories for while we were enjoying the perfect salt desert at Bonneville.  We went mile after mile on lonely rural Georgia two lane roads.

Leaving The Falls, we imagined we could hear the sounds of the banjo music from ?Deliverance,? which was filmed in this area.  The film had starred Burt Reynolds ? we called him ?Buddy?- who had played football at Florida State University, where I had taken my degrees. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsC4kf6x_Q0

As we were descending the steep narrow road leaving the high falls, I felt the severely overloaded van start to lose braking power.  Once again, a full load of Bonneville stuff was more than the half-ton rated van liked.  The van had a manual drum brake system, so I pressed much harder with my foot. 

The van did not decelerate any better. 

There was a shear rock face upward to our right, carved for the road out of native rock.  The left side was a straight drop off of maybe 100 feet.  I don?t remember any guard rails, but maybe I was distracted.

I pressed down harder and harder, until I was pushing with both feet, and literally standing on the brake pedal.   I told Ellen through gritted teeth we were in trouble, and we would probably not be able to stop for the stop sign at the bottom of the hill.  I ground the 3-speed manual transmission into first gear.  We weren?t slowing down, but at least we were not speeding up.  With the manual transmission in 1st gear, I turned off the ignition to kill all power, using dead-engine compression as an additional brake.

I gasped to Ellen:  ? I going to have to slide the right side of the van on the rock wall, and maybe friction will slow us some.? 

There was NO run-off at the ?T? intersection ahead of us, just a forest of trees, maybe 12 inches diameter at the smallest.

We continued down.

PHOTOS:  In the original articles, lovingly published by Wendy at the BONNEVILLE RACING NEWS, there were PICTURES !...It is a little too cumbersome for me with my 75 year old pre digital brain to post those here since it involves photobucket and things like that.  IF you go to my facebook account, the pictures are attached to THAT version of these articles..........https://www.facebook.com/scott.guthrie.3154.........

[Beef Stew]

VELVETOUCH brake linings work great after you warm them up. The trick is to drag the brakes, as you pull away from the curb, to get them warm. Drag then release several time before you get to the first stoplight/sign. If you drove a car with velevetouch brakes you did this automatically, and the now hot linings would easily stop the car.

The army was sending me out of town. A friend's wife needed a car, while her car's engine was being rebuilt. So I lent her mine, without warning her about the need to warm up the velvetouch brakes. The first stoplight was at a four lane intersection. She roared through the red light with both feet on the power brake pedal, and her hands pushing on the horn-ring     

[Old-N-Slow]

SCOTT GUTHRIE REMEMBERS:
50 Years at Bonneville

Chapter #22

?Fooled my self again? ? Tom Waits

Somehow, with some heat warming up the van brakes, the Velvetouch linings finally took hold, and we stopped just before entering the T cross street.

We drove VERY slowly to the park comfort station, where Ellen refilled our water bottles with pure mountain water, and I changed my shorts. 

Off to the salt flats, with NO further brake problems, or car trouble of any kind.  Somehow, the ominous banjo music sounded a little more appropriate.


Registration and inspection were also without any memories.

Harleys, and in particular the Sportster model, had a long and successful history on the salt, especially under Leo Payne, Carl Morrow and Warner Riley.

 
Photo -  Studio shot of Leo?s top-gear only Sportster, with typical Bonneville numbers, in about 1969.  Reportedly the first non-streamliner bike into the Bonneville 200mph Club for 1969.  Leo had only top gear (1-1) and hung on the door handle up to 75mph, and then just rolled into the throttle for a 202mph top speed. Classic Harley SPORTSTER gas tank.






 

Photo - Leo returned in 1971 with a HUGE entourage, courtesy of Tom McMullen and AEE Choppers. . Mr. McMullen was known in the LA hot rod community for his roadster Ford and his magazine publishing.   

The team may have been accompanied by a number of beautiful women who reportedly worked in a small business in Wells, Nevada known for beautiful women on the staff. The girls hosted a ?Meeting? at the far end of the long course, and many from the pits left to ?attend.?

The wives were not amused.

In the 1970?s, I was a contributing editor for Hot Bike and Street Chopper Magazines; both McMullen publications.  Although I was in the editorial offices a number of times, I never met Mr. McMullen, a widely respected and talented man. 

 

Hemmings photo.  Tom McMullen?s historic Roadster recently changed hands ? reportedly in the near-million-dollar range.   Word in the magazine offices was that Tom appreciated women in his office wanting to ?improve? themselves;  and that Tom would pay a plastic surgeon for any ?enhancement? the women wanted.
 
Photo - Easy-going Carl Morrow at Bonneville; Early-morning hair with improbable letterman?s jacket.  Nitro Harley Ironhead.  Iconic number plate.  Bonneville only tires at both ends.  Carl was never quite able to join the Bonneville 200 Club.  Many years later, I put his son Doug Morrow on my Nitrous Hayabusa at Maxton so that Doug could be a 200 Club member.  Note Carl?s seating position almost directly over the rear wheel.  Extra traction for 150-200 horsepower applied through the very skinny back tire.  Carl?s bikes were always nicely turned out and attractive. #67A on it?s first class, while Triumph in the background is on it?s second class. In those long-forgotten days, it was not required to post the class on the bike ? just the race number. Another Classic Harley SPORTSTER gas tank.

Carl Morrow photo  - Light-hearted Carl Morrow and stylish Warner Riley share secrets at Bonneville.  Combined best speeds were near 400 mph.  Warner joined ?The 200 Club? in 1971 ? reportedly touching 212mph one way on Nitro

 
Photo Harley Davidson.  A remarkably shy and trim Denis Manning poses with his first world-record holding bike:  An single iron-head Harley Sportster engine powered Denis?s home-made streamliner that took Don Vesco?s top record, and went over 266 mph in 1970.  Sometimes self-salesmanship  makes it all possible.  Denis will forever ?The First Man to 350 mph.?          

Dick O?Brian, head of the Harley factory race team supported Manning, and future 200 Club member Warner Riley built the Harley engine.  S&S owner George smith (Sr.) tipped the can.

Bonneville racers at the sharp end are a close-knit group.  They may have their personal differences, but CAN work together effectively! 

Harley?s O?Brian also supported Warner Riley?s racing and my racing at Bonneville. Riley built me crankshafts to break his own records with.  Manning would regain the outright motorcycle record years later with yet another bike at 376mph with the Famous Harley rider ? and many times flat track national champion - Chris Carr at the bars.

I would go on to support John Levie setting world?s fastest speed for a motorcycle with sidecar in 2018 at 320mph.


Thoughts of brakes in vans, and downhill adventures completely out of mind, we set to work.  After carefully warming up the 1957 engine in the 1972 Harley XRTT chassis, we started racing on Sunday ?the first day - at 10:30am with a reasonable off-the-trailer run of 148.76 mph at 5200 rpm in the ? mile, still accelerating.  We needed at least 167mph to qualify against Gerald Wysong?s record.  We were about 20mph slow?.

I was using the same carburetor settings as last year, and I suspected I was a little lean.  I checked the plugs, and ?Cement boil? on the Champion N63Y plugs also suggested the lack of fuel.  (?cement boil? is the excess heating of the glue holding the electrode into the tip of the spark plug.)  Excess combustion heat can cause the glue to expand, and to look like it had ?boiled.? (This is often a sign that the engine will soon experience pre-ignition, and expire?)

The ?lean? idea was pleasing, since I believed the theory that if I had to add more fuel for best combustion, that would mean more power.

Unfortunately, what I was NOT using was my brain for figuring out which record to run for first! 

(Last year, I had felt comfortable running fastest to slowest, since I felt my winter-time speed predictions would work well in real life ? which is seldom a true happening at Bonneville.  So THIS YEAR, I started with the fastest record first.  What I SHOULD have done was run slowest to fastest.  I would quickly regret this tactical mistake!)
 
Photo by Freud. Race number drops again, down to #8.  Wider seat, and fairing modified from Reiman?s Daytona winning style to a longer Bonneville style.  165mph best one way. Maybe 175mph at sea level, and as fast as a production 1974 Yamaha TZ750.  The extended fairing would control the air flow better for less drag.  Enclosing things like exhaust pipes would also reduce drag.  Note nice shape UNDER the bike, and compare with the other Harley riders. Bike is accelerating in a lower gear, so I was not tucked in yet.  Acceleration has made the bike ?squat? a little in the rear, and ?lift? a little in the front. Otherwise, good ?attitude.?

I finally had enough Bonneville runs under my less-slim belt to give some thought to suspension.  Bonneville rewards compliant suspension in motorcycles.  The rougher the track, the more important the suspension becomes.

My first Bonneville chassis ? which I gave up on before ever racing it ? was converted to ?hard tail? rigid rear suspension.  I eventually decided that rigid rear was better ? if ever ? only on perfect salt ? which was becoming more and more uncommon.

Just build the bike with good suspension in the rear, and make minor adjustments as you go.

My Factory-race Harley XRTT chassis came with British Girling shocks, which I immediately swapped for Koni units.  NEVER a problem.

Much the same thinking for the front of the bike.  If it works well on a flat track, or on the road race track, it should have good handling on the salt.  Do it right the first time, and use your thought-power for something else.


 
Warner Riley photo ? Warner in 1972. 206mph record; 212mph on the return run. If you compare my bike to those of Riley, Payne and Morrow, you will find all four with very similar appearance.  We all used about the same frame geometry, same engines, similar seating positions and the same basic fairing.  I was the slowest of the four by at LEAST 20 mph??but I was on Gas and they ran a LOT of Nitro. Notice that Warner taped his front fork legs to an ?aerodynamic shape.?  This would later be outlawed. Warner was using then ? popular rigid rear suspension.  Warner loved the emblematic SPORTSTER gas tank ? good advertising for Harley.  Did it keep his head to high?  Would he have been faster with the fuel in the seat ?


In my second run, less than an hour later, in the 90 degree heat, I saw 5400rpm at 156.52 mph by moving bigger two jet sizes in both carburetors.  I had changed to N60 plugs, and there was no cement boil.  I was pleased that with the NEW heads, we had to add more fuel. 

I assumed that more fuel meant more power.

The bike handled perfectly with full fairing and 60 pounds of air pressure in both tyres. We were moving quickly in the right direction.

The third Sunday run, at 12 noon, gave more promise with a speed of 161.29mph at an increased 5,625rpm.  With these two runs at successively better speeds and higher rpm, we getting close to the needed 167 mph.

I just assumed that my well-thought-out
and methodical approach would serve
me the rest of the week.

Would I be completely fooled by Bonneville?

I would not be the first !

PHOTOS:  In the original articles, lovingly published by Wendy at the BONNEVILLE RACING NEWS, there were PICTURES !...It is a little too cumbersome for me with my 75 year old pre digital brain to post those here since it involves photobucket and things like that.  IF you go to my facebook account, the pictures are attached to THAT version of these articles..........https://www.facebook.com/scott.guthrie.3154.........

[WOODY@DDLLC]

Saw you there Scott: http://www.landracing.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=215&pid=10044#top_display_media

[Old-N-Slow]

What a GREAT photo, my "clicky" friend ! ..................
I didn't know we went that far back. ..........
Can I but that picture from you ? .....
.Very sharp, colors just "pop!"


(Wish I had been that good !) ...........................

[Old-N-Slow]

SCOTT GUTHRIE REMEMBERS:
50 Years at Bonneville

Chapter #23

?Do I feel a breath of wind??



We put the bike back into the waiting line for an opportunity to run again.  Bologna and cheese with mustard on white bread was a cool lunch, lounging in our sunbaked humble van.

I wanted to keep hammering the bike down the track until I found the right combination and then start taking MORE records.

The fourth run of Sunday, starting at 2:00 pm, was a real eye opener for me !  Speed was 160.14 mph, so down slightly.  I figured that the tach reading of 5,800 rpm was correct, but the tire was NOT slipping.  If the tach was correct, the clutch and tire were not slipping, the speed should have been around 165-170 mph.

The problem was that I was NOT straight up !

This was my first run at Bonneville involving wind of any consequence, and it found me tucked in tight on the tank and behind the big fairing at about 160mph when I discovered ?the Gap in the Mountains.?  The firm and steady wind from the north was a direct crosswind blowing through the gap between the hills north of me at a high but steady speed. 

Later, I felt a kinship for the guys fighting Rommel in North Africa, fighting the hot, dry Ghibli and Harmattan winds.

I was too much of a novice to ask the starter for wind speeds and directions.

 Of course, I was NOT going let the wind make me lose a run, and I would NOT close the throttle.  So I just leaned hard to the left; into the wind.  The wind tried to push me to the right, and I fought the wind by leaning  to the left.  The result was the bike going straight ahead.

About 7/8 of the way through the measured mile, I passed the north end of the gap in the mountains, and the wind abruptly quit.  Since the bike was leaned hard left to fight the wind, I went hard left when the wind quit. 

 
Photo - Compare the diameter of the tire when straight up (black line) with the smaller diameter hinted by the BLUE line

Formerly in the left side of the track, I was now headed for the timing light off the left side of the track.  I had two simple choices: close the throttle and tip the bike up straight, and maybe miss qualifying speed.  OR, I could hold the throttle wide open, and hope for the best.

This particular situation had me petrified !  I still did not consider myself much of a rider, and every little thing that took me ?out of the envelope? ? the things I was comfortable with ? was fear-inducing. 

This would follow me every step of my career.  NO advancement in speed or riding / driving skill was without mental pain???

I took the ?racer?s choice.?

While keeping the throttle WFO, I barely missed the timing light, but I also missed the qualifying speed at least partly because of the longer curved path was scrubbing off speed in a turn.  The tach read higher because when I leaned so far over, the bike was running on a part of the tire tread that was smaller in diameter than the straight-up part.  I would remember this trick later and use it in the 2010?s at Maxton. 

As I worked out what had happened, I reminded myself of seeing Dave Campos on the insane Bob George double-Harley the year before.

 
Photo by Freud.  A classic event:  Dave Campos on the Bob George Double Harley searching for 240mph.  The fairing looks like a prototype for the 1999 Suzuki Hayabusa ? Did Bob know something special ?  Dave?s elbows and hips hanging in the breeze, with Dave fighting the Cat 9 hurricane winds.  If he lost his grip, was there a seat to keep his fanny off the rear tire spinning 3,500 rpm ?  Perhaps more to the point:  Look at all that side profile and think about side wind.  Can you see the bike leaning ?  Is his center of pressure ahead of his center of mass ?  Is he totally nuts ?


After the 4th unsuccessful attempt to qualify against Wysong?s record, I decided to change to a ?less demanding? class.  Why waste the whole Speed Week chasing an unobtainable record when for $50, I could change classes and reward my sponsors and myself with a record at lower speeds ?

A record is a record.

As the famous Bonneville philosopher John Levie said:
?All the lines in the record book are the same size.?

That new class record for my next attempt would be the helpful Carl Morrow?s 160.705mph gas record of 1972.

THIS is the record I should have run first !

After my first run in the ?new? class, my reading of the plugs said I was again too lean ? not enough gas going into the engine at full throttle.  I was also out of large-enough jets to go more rich by using larger jets.  I would up drilling out stock jets by hand with my set of machinist?s number drills; the drill bit mounted in a ?pin vise.?

 
Pin Vise.  Strong grip on small drill bits beats doing the job with pliers.  Selection of different size bits stored in the back provides convenient storage.  Only time I ever used this at Bonneville, but it was perfect and I am glad I had it.  It the background the same orange I painted the van and bike?


Going through by box of main jets, I picked a couple of the smallest size, which I would never use on this bike. Not having a small bench vise in my tool box, I held the tiny Mikuni main jets in a pair of vise grip pliers.  Yes, the pliers left marks, but I didn?t care.

After drilling out the little jets to something more suitable, I filed off the size numbers, so I would not late confuse myself by thinking they were something they now were not.


Finally, I was able to show a 164.83 mph time slip to officials, and confirm that I had qualified to run records on the next morning, the Monday. 

I had no clue on RPM, since the PRECISION British Smith?s chronometric tachometer had suddenly gone missing in action.  NO cylinder-head temperatures, since the ?Harley vibration? had killed both gauges.  The gauge needles were just bouncing around under the glass. 

But, at almost 165mph, I was eight miles an hour faster than last year, AND more than 5 mph faster than the current record !

Think about this:  I had made FIVE(5) runs in TWO(2) classes on the first day of speed week; four (4) of the runs in the first 3.5 hours??all on one course!  NO short course, and no beginner course available in those early years.

Remarkable number of runs when most competitors were lucky to get in a single run.  My ?speed secret? was to IMMEDIATELY return to the waiting line, and THEN make repairs or changes while pushing forward every two minutes or so.

It took five runs and a class change, but I had qualified!

In my first two years at Bonneville, I had
set records every other time I had qualified.

Would my success continue?

What could go wrong ?

PHOTOS:  In the original articles, lovingly published by Wendy at the BONNEVILLE RACING NEWS, there were PICTURES !...It is a little too cumbersome for me with my 75 year old pre digital brain to post those here since it involves photobucket and things like that.  IF you go to my facebook account, the pictures are attached to THAT version of these articles..........https://www.facebook.com/scott.guthrie.3154.........

[Old-N-Slow]

SCOTT GUTHRIE REMEMBERS:
50 Years at Bonneville

Chapter #24?

?That?s just Scott.  He?s always confident. 
Frequently mistaken; but always confident!?

Waiting for the record runs to start at about 8:00 on a cool, clear morning, I felt quite confident.

First thing Monday morning, after others ran for their records,  I had a disastrously slow north-bound record run into a strong headwind.  With my tach still MIA, I had no clue on RPM.  The speed was a horrible 145.690, off by 20 mph, which was more than the headwind speed.

I suspected that the headwind had slowed me enough that the engine had fallen back below the power band, but I was unaware of the speed loss due to not being able to measure the engine RPM. IF I had known the RPM was down, I could have shifted down into 3rd gear, and accelerated back up to a competitive speed.


No tach = no information.

I had planned for this sort of wind situation when I was building the gearbox.  Harley offered a number of different ratios for EACH of the three lower speeds in my racing  transmission.  Not particularly needing a quick start, I went with a very close set of gear ratios.  First gear was an astounding 1.98 to 1, meaning the bike should go at least 50% of top speed in 1st gear;  say almost 90mph.  It would just take a while to get to 2nd gear. 

I just needed a working tach, and I had no spare.  Running the rest of the week without a tachometer might be an effort of supreme futility!

My third gear was a VERY unusual 1.08 to 1 ratio; with top gear being direct drive at 1 to 1.  In that way, shifting from 3rd up to 4th at about 6,000rpm would only drop the engine back to maybe 5,500rpm - That would allow me to gear for a headwind, and run easily, while still in the power band, in 3rd gear. 

With no tachometer, I had to base my shift points on ?feel? and ?sound,? just like the old timers? I wasn?t sure how well I could do something so new to me while actually racing.

With a tail wind on the way home, I could click it into high, and the tailwind would not push the engine past the red line.  With no working tach, I was clueless.  On the return run an hour later, with NO tailwind, I posted a 156.666mph. 

MUCH better, but NO RECORD. 

I started wondering if my engine was ?going away? (starting to fail)??again.

Tuesday qualifying at 7:30 am was in humid 76 degree air.  If this was the weather page, it would say ?pleasant? over the salt flats.

A 10mph tail wind pushed me hard from the start, but I was unable to break 160mph; the slip showed 159.29mph at tire-spinning 5,825 rpm.  Suddenly the tach was working again ? British technology?.

A serious young racing couple from Denver, Bill and Sharon Vickery, both set records riding Yamaha production road race bikes.  Sharon nailed a 250cc record up to 141mph.  A very significant number in 1974.  That record still stands with the AMA ? almost 50 years later. 

 

Sport Rider photo.  Yamaha TZ250 of 1973 ? the only year of
Water cooling and drum front brake.  Typical of what Sharon Vickery might have ridden; she and husband Bill were Yamaha dealers in Colorado.

Sharon?s husband Bill Vickery rode a very modified Yamaha TZ750 to a record 191mph.  Bill went deep into the mid 190?s on qualifying runs, but just missed a time over 200mph.  Maybe because he closed off the front of the fairing to save air drag, the engine was overheating. This Vickery record would stand for years, and was substantially faster than his friend Don Vesco of el Cajon CA, who could only muster a 178 mph record?.

I had seen the future of Bonneville, and was too busy to pay attention at that time.  I would suffer for that !

Chatting with Vasco years later ? shortly before his death ? Don revealed that he had never earned a 200mph time slip riding a sit-on bike.  Remarkable for a man who had held both the motorcycle AND the wheel-driven car outright records.  I offered rides on one of my bikes, but somehow we never could make it happen.

 

Scott Guthrie photo.  Bike from Scott Guthrie Collection. Stock Yamaha TZ750 1974 ? Typical of what dealer Bill Vickery could have purchased for $3,495 new from the Factory.
 
Sharon?s husband Bill Vickery rode a very modified Yamaha TZ750 to a record 191mph.  Bill went deep into the mid 190?s on qualifying runs, but just missed a time over 200mph.  Maybe because he closed off the front of the fairing to save air drag, the engine was overheating. This Vickery record would stand for years, and was substantially faster than his friend Don Vesco of el Cajon CA, who could only muster a 178 mph record?.


If I had not been partially deafened by my loud pipes,
I would surely have heard banjo music again.

We made three more attempts to qualify on the Harley, but with no success; our speeds quickly dropped down to 150mph, 140mph and finally 124mph, so I knew there was no hope,  And yes, I knew that in 1975, this sounds JUST like the problems I had in 1974.  BUT, this year we were not chasing multiple records, and the energy to work day AND night had gone out of me.  Especially so since I knew that, number one, we were NOT going to go fast enough to set more than one record, and that number two, we would NOT find a satisfactory fix at Bonneville. 

All ten(10) of my time slips had been signed by Pat Walkey.

On the bright side, not only was I faster than ANY bicycle of the time, I was almost as fast as Mike Corbin?s ?Run Silent Run Fast? 165 mph on a battery operated motorcycle.

 
Mike Corbin?s astounding 165.367 mph record of 1974 stood for decades as the SCTA/AMA best record speed for an electric motorcycle.

After visiting with friends, we were off for home in North Florida.


SO: WHAT ABOUT THE CYLINDERS AND RINGS?

A later autopsy of the after-market aluminum engine cylinders ? which were cast of then-unobtainium KO1 silver , copper and other metal alloys - showed that the cylinder had probably not been properly ?seasoned? after casting.  When I raced the bike HARD for the first few days, the iron bores gradually went ?square? at the four head-bolt locations, but only when up to operating temperature.  Thermal loads were distorted the casting. 

 

After running the engine to failure several times, there had been enough heat to permanently season the bores in the SQUARE position.  The SAME THING happened again in 1975, also with new cylinders.

 

Photo - Wonderful idea, but there may have been a design problem also involved, since after running the bore(s) were NOT round.  Thereafter, every overbore resulted in a VERY round hole -  IF I torqued these plates down with proper torque before boring.,

 
Photo - I made ?torque plates? by machining some one-inch thick 6061-T6 aluminum alloy.  IF I torqued these plates down with proper torque before boring, cylinders worked OK

I just had to run EACH cylinder hard enough distort the bore in the first place.

The cylinder manufacturer was unfamiliar with the problems -  and was very helpful - but had no solution.  We speculated that even though they held up well on the street ? and at the drags with big loads of nitro - they never got as hot as at Bonneville. 

Once again, the ?great white dyno? may have had more questions than answers.


OK - what was the deal with the rings ?


When the hot cylinder bores went square, the round rings were distorted trying to fit against the square bore.  The hard chrome friction surface, which is hard and low friction but NOT ductile or very malleable, started breaking off.  The continued running with the square bore broke off more and more chrome as the rings rotated around the pistons.

Gradually some of the hard chrome became embedded in the iron liner, and acted like diamond sandpaper ? killing every new ring set.  The honing smoothed the scratched bores, but did not go deep enough into the liner to remove all the chrome  So: the rings continued to die.

On the bright side, I had learned a lot more about racing at Bonneville, and the 164.83mph was my lifetime best !  AND, the three of the four records we set in 1974 still stood in the record book.

But next year, I would be kicked to
the curb.....

A NEW star would be born !


PHOTOS:  In the original articles, lovingly published by Wendy at the BONNEVILLE RACING NEWS, there were PICTURES !...It is a little too cumbersome for me with my 75 year old pre digital brain to post those here since it involves photobucket and things like that.  IF you go to my facebook account, the pictures are attached to THAT version of these articles..........https://www.facebook.com/scott.guthrie.3154.........

[jacksoni]

Aaahhhhhh. At last the answer to the rings going away problem..... 
Torque plate honing and hot honing.

[WOODY@DDLLC]

Bill & Sharon's bikes are right after yours Scott: http://www.landracing.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=215&page=2
I remember Bill taping off the seams and saying he thought it was worth about 2~3 mph to get him over 190.
Thanks for the memories Scott! 

[Old-N-Slow]

Aaahhhhhh. At last the answer to the rings going away problem..... 
Torque plate honing and hot honing.

Yes Jack, that was hard for a self-trained guy
like me to understand almost 45 years ago !

I tried to figure out what was happening,
and put my "burnz-O-matic" on a
cylinder and then measured it.

Surprise !

[Old-N-Slow]

Bill & Sharon's bikes are right after yours Scott: http://www.landracing.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=215&page=2
I remember Bill taping off the seams and saying he thought it was worth about 2~3 mph to get him over 190.
Thanks for the memories Scott! 

And THANK YOU for preserving our memories Woody !

One can see a lot by looking at those three bikes:

Sharon's bike has ordinary fairing, only with a
Big Butt seat (Vesco's, not her's) so was
pretty powerful and quite well ridden. 

I remember her as having one of the best "tucks" I
have seen at Bonneville. Good number with
the bulky stock 6 gallon tank !

Bill's bike had excellent aero for the time,
and WAY better than Vesco's,
but Bill also kept the HUGE 6+ gallon tank ! ...................

I suspect he would have gone faster by using
a 1.5-gallon tank placed where he kept his tummy,
and then lowering the fairing bubble to fit the new riding position.

He may have missed his opportunity to
run for the Bonneville 200 MPH Club ...............

Much the same criticism of my fairing front: I
should have lowered the windshield to reduce frontal area
and filled in the area behind my legs !

We were young then, and often with more energy than knowledge ...........