Good News or Bad News?

 

This past Monday morning I had to answer one of those phone calls that I knew would be either good news or bad. At some point over the winter, Bill Hofmeister brought the ’69 XLCH motor that he runs in his flat track bike to me because it had some metallic looking particles in the oil.  Given that it had been quite a few years since the bottom end had been apart, it seemed like a prudent measure to tear it down. Of course, having most of the winter to work on it did nothing to avoid making it a last-minute rush. Once I had a deadline (Bill’s first race of the year) I finally managed to get to it.

As it turned out, the only thing I found was a flywheel washer that had come loose and was spinning in its recess. I found nothing else in the engine that would account for the particles, so with the best no-budget repair I could make on the flywheel half, I reassembled and trued the flywheels.  De-glazing the cylinders, lapping the valves, and a new top ring (I leave out the middle ring to reduce horsepower robbing drag) took care of the balance of the “freshening up.” Bill was able to pick the engine up with a full week left before the May 17&18 Flying Dutchmen Flat Track Race.  

Photo Credit: Cory Kleven

 

I am happy to say that the phone call was actually good news.  Bill won his Heat Race by the length of the straightaway, and turned around and won the Main by the same margin.  Not too shabby for a 75 year old living-legend rider with a 56 year old motor!   

An Update on the Race

 [As time allows I'll get back to the series on the actual build of this replica of my 1987 Pro Stock bike, but for now here is this]

Jane and I arrived home safe and sound from the Iowa Hog Drags, so I thought I should give an update on how things went for us and the replica of “The Beast”.  First of all, Jay Rogers did another stellar job of putting the event together, so thank you Jay and crew. I also need to thank my old racing buddy Aard for riding through two days of rain all the way from Phoenix in order to be mistreated as our pit crew. 

Before loading up to go to Humboldt, Jane and I had already come to the conclusion that we would need to add a little height to the seat in order for my aging knees to get my feet on the footpegs in time to shift. Jane cut some padding that we could take along and duct-tape onto the aluminum seat that I fabricated earlier in the week; I didn’t want to spoil the clean looks of the bike before we even arrived.

Friday afternoon, after Aard and I finished our entry into the world’s ugliest seat contest (complete with wrinkles in the duct-tape) we took the bike up for its first pass.  I was far from comfortable with the seating position which led to a lackluster burn out, but that wasn’t of much concern since it was essentially a shake-down pass.  Coming up to the staging lights I had to fight the urge to allow my legs to swing back into a lay-down position.  In retrospect, I realized that I have not ridden a sit-up drag bike since about 1991, which may explain a lot.  I think I had my feet only a couple inches behind the footpegs when I dropped the clutch, but the force of the launch immediately sent my legs backwards into a lay-down position.  Trying to pull my feet forward and onto the pegs shifted my weight enough that only one wheelie bar wheel was on the asphalt to do its job, so as you might imagine I was no longer going in a straight line.  Of course, when its well past time to shift and your foot is still not in position, the acceleration drops off drastically.  It felt like I was a quarter of the way down the 1/8 mile track before I was able to get my feet on the pegs and hit second gear.  The good news is that, though The Beast was still not going perfectly straight, it pulled really hard the rest of the pass.  The elapsed time was an embarrassing 10.20 but with a hopeful (all things considered) 90.37 MPH.  Unfortunately the 60 foot time clocks were not operational in the left lane

Later Friday evening, we attempted another stab at it in the right lane, but lost clutch release capability between the water box and staging lights.  Being done for the day, we got the bike back to the trailer and disassembled just far enough to confirm that it was probably the throw out bearing and not something more serious.  The next morning revealed that indeed a thrust washer on the throw out bearing had broken in half, and since I had a spare in the tool box, we were soon back in business.

Another round of test and tune on Saturday allowed us to get The Beast up to the line for a second pass.  While waiting in line to start I noted the track crew cleaning up a small oil spill in the right lane (with its functional 60 foot clock), so I opted for the left lane again.  This time I was very conscious of getting my feet ahead of the footpegs as I staged the bike.  The results, however were the same.  The bike launched so hard that despite my best efforts, the acceleration immediately sent my legs to the rear in a “lay down” position.  Once again it was far beyond shift time with the bike practically nosing over before I could get my feet on the pegs to shift.  The result was another embarrassing E.T. of 9.22, but this time at 97.1 MPH, …and another throw out bearing thrust washer broke as I turned off the end of the track onto the return road.

Now, living up north, I am no stranger to the phenomenon of a bike feeling really fast on that first ride of spring after a long winter storage, so part of it may be chalked up to that, but I honestly do not remember riding a drag bike which launched so “violently”. Obviously 34 years have passed since I rode The Beast in that particular configuration, so the old body is not as flexible as it once was, but I have to admit to still being a bit baffled as to why I was unable to get my feet on the pegs in a timely manner.  

We installed my last thrust washer onto the throw out bearing, pulled three springs out of the clutch for good measure, and waited for eliminations.  The only plan I could come up with was to launch the bike really softly, get my feet on the pegs and then, and only then, crank the throttle.  That worked, … sort of.  I’m not exactly sure why, but my test and tune passes were all on a .500 full tree, but the elimination run was a .400 pro tree. I’d like to think that’s what caused my reaction time to be .400 slower that my opponent’s .067 light, but part of it could have been my concentration on taking it easy on the launch – that just doesn’t come naturally.  Doesn’t matter though, Troy Fittro on the number 76 bike had me by .400 on the E.T. as well, so he earned the win either way.

Now for next year (God willing that there is a next year), in the interest of safety I may need to move the pegs back and make it a lay down bike.  There’s a little time to sort that out, …along with the clutch. If you think I’d be depressed with such a lackluster initial outing you would be wrong.  It was a great time, and the top end charge of the bike felt truly awesome from where I sat.  However, one of the best parts of the weekend was an idea that I came up with on the return road from the last pass.  I asked Aard to pull us (me and The Beast) over to where Pete Hill had his Top Fuel Knucklehead on display.  I asked Pete if he could give me some of his Knucklehead magic by autographing the gas tank on The Beast.  Gentleman that Pete is, he obliged and made my already good weekend even better! 

 

Indoor Flat Track 2018, St. Paul

We were treated to some of the most exciting racing action ever last Friday evening at the inaugural IFT (Indoor Flat Track) event at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds Coliseum held in conjunction with the Donnie SmithBike Show.  Having spent all day Thursday AND Friday helping with the set up for the bike show over at RiverCentre in downtown St. Paul, I was quite tempted to just skip the races and get a good night’s sleep since we still had another two days to go manning our booth at the show.  Fortunately, Jane saw it as an opportunity to get the old deadbeat (me) to take her out on what, by stretching the definition to the limit, could be called a date.  So, a quick 50-minute drive from the bike show to our house, and then another quick 50-minute drive back to the fairgrounds found us seated in time to still catch a couple of the semi-finals. ( And what a great wife I have to give me that little push I needed!)

Of course, I knew that Billy Hofmeister planned to have his “Lee’s Speed Shop” modified Iron Head 900 Sportster in the competition, but I had no idea who he had lined up to ride it, or the number it would carry or even the name of the class it would complete in.  In fact, his bike has a fresh paint job on it this season with lettering on the tank that is a bit harder to pick out than it has been in previous iterations. That meant I really had my eyes peeled to identify Billy’s bike. Each race started just below where we were seated so I couldn’t’ really get a look at them there.  

So here we are sitting in the stands next to Brian Klock and some of his friends, watching one of the last semi-finals and I keep thinking that the #101 bike running in second place might just be Billy’s, but they are moving fast enough that for the life of me I can’t read the lettering on the tank or even tell for sure that it’s an Iron XL.  What’s more, I didn’t want to sound like I was starved for attention, so I kept my mouth shut to those around me about my suspicion that it might be the bike with my porting. 

When the rider of the 101 bike came underneath and won the semi on the very last turn, and the crowd went wild in reaction, I knew it was time for Jane and I to make a trip to the pit area to find just who we should be cheering on.  Of course, I was pretty hyped to find that it was indeed Billy’s bike carrying the 101 number plate, with rider extraordinaire Mac McGrew giving the crowd the biggest thrill of the night, …at least up to that point.

E.J. Ebensteiner Photo

So, back to our seats where I did my level best to act as though I was still modest as I let everyone know that the excitement we had just witnessed could be linked (no matter how tenuously) to my porting.  But the show wasn’t over yet.  As Mac lined the old Sportster up for the finals in the Pro Hooligan class, we all expected quite a show, but no one could foresee just how that show would unfold.  At the very start of the race, going into the first corner in the middle of several other bikes, somehow Mac wound up on the ground and separated from the bike.  

Apparently neither he or the old Iron Head were quite ready to call it a night just yet though, because Mac quickly picked up the still running Sportster and pointed it toward the rest of the pack.  A 10-lap race on such a short track doesn’t allow much time for making up ground, but over the next bunch of laps Mac worked his way up from dead last all the way to second place, when he caught his handlebar on another bike, sending the Iron Head into the wall and breaking the front wheel.  Not quite a fairy tale ending, but definitely some of the most action-packed racing one is likely to see anywhere!

Congratulations and a big thanks to Mac McGrew and Billy Hofmeister for all the big shots of adrenaline!  That performance was the talk of the bike show for the rest of the weekend.