123+

Well, its official.  Joe Taylor's 1939 61 cubic inch Knucklehead now holds the world record in the MPS VG 1000  class for the Bub Speed Trials at Bonneville!

The record runs were made on Tuesday with Terry of Gunner's Cycle piloting.  The record now stands at 123.526, just over 14 mph higher than the previous class record held by Sid Biberman's Vincent. 

Terry feels that there is  more mph to be found since the newly added AFR gauges showed the jetting still quite rich, however rain precluded any further attempt for this year.  Dyno testing was not in the cards for the Gray Goose this past summer, and though the speed is well short of the team's goal, they wisely decided to fore go any tuning changes until after the record was in their possession. 

Congratulations to Joe, Terry and John for reaching this milestone in only their second year on the salt with the Goose.  And if you would allow me to indulge in a little patting myself on the back, I would like to mention that I not only built the motor, but I also supplied the 2.060" valves and guides used to set this record. It is always a nice when you can add "World Record Setting" to a product description! 

Now, if the boys can just add another 16-1/2 mph next year...   

Another Drag Racing Pioneer Gone

I received word about a week ago that Carl McClanahan had passed away. You may recall that I featured one of his last drag bikes here on this blog recently. Before commenting, I wanted to find an obituary online so I could link to it, however I have had no success.  It only seems fitting to at least provide some sort of words at the passing of one of the innovators and pioneers of motorcycle drag racing, so I have chosen to quote what is written about Carl on the back cover of his 1984 book "V-Twin Thunder."

 

 

Carl McClanahan started drag racing in 1958 on a 1951 74 inch Panhead.  Since then, he has collected record after record, trophy after trophy, and first place after first place.  Carl's bikes go fast because of the skills, techniques, and tricks he has learned over the years.  Among the records he has set and held are:

 

1963: Alton, Illinois. 11.75 seconds, 123.288 mph on a 66 inch Sportster with a lay down frame.  This bike ran 11.55, 125 mph later in 1963

 

1969: Alton, Illinois. AHRA world record A/Fuel 9.57 on an 89 inch Sportster in a Yetman frame.  This bike later ran consistent 9.30s to 9.40s.

 

1970: Gainesville, Florida.  Low qualifier Spring Nationals, at 9.44 seconds.

 

1970: Invited to Indy Nationals, Top Fuel.

 

1972: Assumption, Illinois.  Set IHRA record for B/Fuel on a 55 inch Sportster.

 

1972: Bowling Green, Kentucky. Ran 10.75, 130.62 mph.  Old record was 10.96

 

1972: Alton, Illinois.  Ran 10.47, 10.34, 10.33, 10.31, and 10.32, at 138 mph.

 

1973: Pevely, Missouri.  Ran 6.18, 119 mph in 1/8 mile race to win AHRA B/Fuel record on a 53 inch Sportster.

 

1974: Pevely, Missouri. Won AHRA A/Fuel record on a 108 inch (!) Sportster.

 

Carl also built what may have been the first twin engine Sportster, using a pair of 66 inch engines in line.  He fell off four of the first seven time out, and later dismembered the bike before it was able to dismember him.  In 1971, he built the first set of wheelie bars for motorcycles. 

 

A racer for 25 years, Carl still makes all the national events within 700 miles of his home in St. Louis.

 

Rest in Peace, Carl.

 



Is Jesus on Board?

And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people. And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.: But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.  And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.  For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.   Mark 6:45-52

Jesus walking on the water is one of the most well known miracles told of in the Bible. You may perhaps be more familiar with the way it is told by Matthew, which also relates how Peter started to walk out on the water to Jesus, but became afraid because of the wind, and had to call out for Jesus to save him as he began to sink.

I would like to just make a few observations about this miracle.

The first is that I love the way that anytime we read of Jesus performing a miracle, we are always given enough information to make it absolutely clear that it was indeed a supernatural event. In the text it tells us that the ship was in the midst of the sea when Jesus came walking toward them. The book of John tells us that the disciples rowed three or four miles. Jesus wasn't just wading out to the boat. He wasn't just walking out on a sandbar. They were in the midst of the Sea of Galilee!

Mark also tell us that Jesus stayed on land while the disciples rowed toward the other side and that they toiled in rowing because the wind was contrary unto them. If you will allow me to turn that into a metaphor for salvation, then you might say that without Jesus on board, we are rowing against the wind. That is not to say that salvation makes life easier. It does not. But in the matter of knowing God, and ultimately spending eternity with him, the Bible says no man comes to the Father except by Jesus. Any other way is rowing against the wind.

I would also like to suggest that without Jesus on board, we cannot be close to God. That seems pretty self evident. Even the name Emanuel means "God with us."

We also find that when the disciples saw Jesus walking toward them on the water they did not recognize him; they thought that he was a ghost. I would observe that without Jesus on board, we may not recognize God when he is right in front of our eyes. How often we attribute things that happen to chance or good luck, when it is really the work of the God who has numbered the very hairs of our head! (Luke 12:7)

The Bible tells us that his disciples were troubled when they saw Jesus walking on the water toward them. Without Jesus on board, the prospect of him coming on board may be troubling to us. Salvation involves repentance, and repentance involves recognition of our sins. Certainly consideration of our sinfulness compared to a holy God can be nothing if not troubling to the soul.

When Jesus entered the boat, the winds stopped and his disciples were totally amazed and wondered. Well, calming the stormy sea is certainly a miracle, as much as walking on the water, so perhaps we should not be surprised at their amazement. However Mark comments that it was because they had already forgotten the miracle from the day before when Jesus fed 5000 with five loaves and two fish. It seems that even with Jesus on board, they were quick to forget his previous miracles.

We are prone to do the same ourselves. Day after day, don't we worry about what tomorrow will bring? Don't we fret about our health or our money or our possessions? Don't we quickly forget the miracles of Jesus, including the biggest one of all - that of salvation.?

In reality the one thing we really should concern ourselves with is whether or not we have Jesus on board. In other words, have we been born again; have we put our trust in the fact that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins; are we truly followers of Christ?

If not, then we must follow the example of Peter when he began to sink, and cry out to Jesus "Lord save me."  (Matthew 14:30)

If you will cry out to him in faith and repentance, then you will get the same results. The Bible says that immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him. He will do the same for you!

A Good Father

With Father's Day only a little over a month in our rear view mirror, it seems that the time is right to get around to posting the devotional from the June service at Friendship Manor.  As you may recall, I was likewise quite late in posting the Mother's Day version.

I would like to consider a father that is mentioned in the Bible. His name is Jairus. We learn about Jairus from this event recorded in the book of Matthew, and also in the book of Mark which follows.

And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet, And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live. And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.  Mark 5:22-24

Now, on the way to heal the daughter of Jairus, the Bible tells us of a woman who was also healed, almost as if by accident, when she touches Jesus garment. Here we have Jesus on his way specifically to heal Jairus' daughter, but someone else along the way is also healed Though we are not going to focus on that part of the story, it always makes me wonder how often it may happen that a Christian sets out to share the good news of Jesus Christ to a specific person, but a bystander overhears it and is likewise affected.

While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?  As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.  And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.  And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.  And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying.  And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.  Mark 5:35-42

It says they were astonished at this act. Jesus raised this young girl from the dead. It was astonishing because there was no doubt that she had died. It was so obvious that the people present "laughed him to scorn", or as some translations put it, they ridiculed Jesus. We should be astonished too. It is no small matter to raise someone from the dead, and Jesus did it more than once. In fact he does it every day.

 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins   Ephesians 2:1

I would like to make a spiritual analogy to the physical event of Jesus raising Jairus' daughter from the dead. Just as Jairus' daughter was physically dead, until we are born again, each and every one of us is spiritually dead in our sins and trespasses. Each of us; that includes our children.

Like Jairus, the father here in this story, it is the duty of a father to seek out Jesus and bring him to their children. They should go to Jesus and pray for their children that he would come to them and raise them from their spiritual death.

Fathers should bring Jesus into their homes, as Jairus did. Fathers should make the Bible a focal point of the home. It should be read daily, because there in the pages of scripture is where the children will meet Jesus. In our text it says that Jesus took the young girl by the hand. That is a very good picture of how Jesus raises one from the spiritual dead today. He takes them by the hand and they are healed, they are spiritually re-born. Ephesians 6:4 tells us: And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  If fathers do this, Jesus will be right there in the home, ready to reach out and take the child by the hand and raise them up.

Now Jairus, the father in our story, is an example of a good father. He recognized the danger of physical death that his daughter was in. He sought out Jesus and begged him to heal his daughter. He brought Jesus into his home, to his daughter. He was rewarded with the raising of his daughter from the dead.

Some of us probably had fathers like that. They prayed for you and brought Jesus into your home and made sure that you knew him. They did their part and perhaps were instrumental in bringing Jesus to you. But some reading this may not have had that advantage. Perhaps your father did not know Jesus himself. Perhaps you were more like the woman who was healed by Jesus while he was on his way to Jairus' house. It seems that she heard about Jesus somewhere else, and sought him out on her own, trusting that he had the power to heal her.

Or perhaps you are still dead in your sins and trespasses.

If that is the case, it is still not too late. If you will only consider your sins, confess them to God and turn from them, putting your faith in the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for those sins, then Christ will reach his hand out to you and raise you up from spiritual death. You will be spiritually born again, and that new spirit will never die.

Vintage McClanahan Drag Bike Available

Recently one of the members of the NVMDRA bulletin board contacted me with information about a vintage drag bike that is for sale.  This particular bike could be best described as a rolling test bed for ideas from the fertile mind of one Carl McClanahan.  When I heard the name, it sounded familiar, but I could not place it.  A quick web search revealed that Carl is the author of V-Twin Thunder (subtitled "A Handbook of Inexpensive Performance Modifications for Harley Davidson Motorcycles.") published in 1984.  No wonder the name was familiar; the book graces a bookshelf here at my shop.  Another interesting thing about that search is that it turned up the fact that copies of the long out of print book are currently offered for sale ranging in price from $57 for a used copy, to nearly $300 for one in new condition.  That would seem to put Mr. McClanahan in some pretty exclusive company.  I can think of only one other author of performance modification books which command such large premiums for their out of print works.  The other author would be David Vizard; exclusive company indeed!

Carl McClanahan, now in his 80's, began drag racing in 1958.  He was one of the first to build a double engine Sportster, and may have been the first to build a set of wheelie bars for a motorcycle.  Looking over my copy of V-Twin Thunder to write this, I found a whole slug of performance tricks that I have used for years, but had forgotten where I learned them.  Looks as though I owe Carl a belated thank you.

The bike itself conjures up images of the glory days of motorcycle drag racing, when innovation was the name of the game.  Though Carl set numerous records and an untold number of wins in his long and storied racing career, just as with nearly every other long time racer, the bikes used were constantly being updated and/or replaced as technology advanced.  As stated earlier, this particular bike was used primarily to test new ideas and therein lies real the beauty of it.

A fuel Sportster with a tire that small probably needs all the down force a wing can provide

Pressurized reservoir supplied additional air to the intake

Anti reversion cones on the exhaust look as though they could have inspired the modern day Thunderheader

There is a modern "induction system" on the market which shares a similar shape

Note the dual float bowl conversion on the L Series Fuel carb

If you are interested in  purchasing this piece of history, send me an email and I will put you in touch with the appropriate party.

Elijah and the Bottomless Barrel of Meal

Well, here we are at nearly the end of June, and I am about to post the devotional that I delivered at Friendship Manor in early May for Mother's Day.  Yes, I am lagging that far behind.  Perhaps next I will get around to posting the Father's Day message from earlier this month!


The story I am going to share concerns a certain widow woman who lived in Zarephath a city of Zidon. Zidon, by the way, was not part of Israel, but rather a city of the Gentiles. We don't know this woman's name, even though Jesus himself mentions her during his ministry nearly 900 years later. The background is this: Because of the wickedness of Israel, God sent judgement by way of a drought pronounced by the prophet Elijah. This drought soon caused a famine in the land. This is where we will join the story.

1 Kings 17: 8-16  17:8 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.


This was quite a miracle. Can you even imagine it? This woman had only enough food left for one meal for herself and her son. That was it. There was no more where that came from. She was destitute, and knew that after that next meal she and her son would starve to death.

Now here comes this stranger, with promises that the LORD God of Israel would sustain them, but first she should feed him. And she does as Elijah requests! In verse 9 the bible tells us that God told Elijah that he had commanded the widow woman to feed him. Evidently God had already done a work in this woman's heart. We don't know if perhaps God had spoken to her in a dream, or perhaps she could feel the power of God through Elijah's words. We just don't know. We also don't know whether she prepared all of the flour and oil she had left at once, or perhaps she decided to save a little so her son could have another meal the next day. After all, Elijah had only asked for a little cake.

Either way, the next day she found there was enough flour and oil left to feed them all again. And again the next day ...and the next ...and the next! We don't know exactly how long this went on, but we do know that the drought lasted 3-1/2 years, so this small bit of flour and oil may have lasted the better part of that time by God's miraculous providence.

But the story does not end there.

1 Kings 17: 17-24  And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth. And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.

It seems that in the midst of this miracle of God providing food for this widow, her son and Elijah tragedy struck. The woman's son died. But Elijah, by the power of God, raised him from the dead.

Here is where I would like to make a few observations of how this relates to the Gospel. When the widow's son died, she immediately assumed it was because of her sin. Though she probably did not quite understand it all correctly, she made the connection that there is a judgment for sin, and that judgement results in death. The New Testament book of Romans tells us that the wages of sin is death. Conviction and acknowledgment of our sins is a prerequisite to saving faith.

But, you might wonder how this widow woman could help but have faith in God. After all, she and her son had witnessed the miracle of the bottomless barrel of flour and cruse of oil for a long, long time. But that was not enough. It was not until after Elijah raised her son from the dead that she said that she was sure that the word of the LORD in his mouth was truth.

In the same manner, it is the resurrection of Jesus Christ that gives us confidence that our sins are forgiven. You see, the widow woman had it almost right. Someone's son would die for her sins. But it was not her son, and it would not happen for nearly another 900 years. God's own son did die for our sins. And he too arose from the dead, but in the case of Jesus Christ, that resurrection shows that God has accepted that sacrifice in payment for sins.

Won't you, like the widow woman in our story, declare that you believe that the word of the LORD is true and fully put your trust in him!

Viking Chapter AMCA Meet this Weekend

If you are anywhere near Minnesota this weekend, come out to the Viking Chapter of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America's annual National Meet. 8 AM to 8 PM on Friday June 14th and 8 AM to 6 PM on Saturday June 15th at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in St. Paul.  Friday is traditionally the biggest day for the swap meet, though there will likely be some great last minute deals to be found on Saturday.

I will be set up in the Progress Building alongside the antique bike show.  Stop in and say hello!