How in the world does a hick from Indiana end up on a successful racing team, setting land speed records at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah?
Motorcycling affords many diverse avenues to enjoy the sport. I have been an admirer of Bonneville racers and the mystique of "Salt Fever". An opportunity to join a group of people campaigning a Buell at the famed Salt Flats presented itself through a BBS called Bad Weather Bikers. Many of the folks who had already signed onto the team were good friends so the jump feet-first into land speed racing came easy for me.
I worked as treasure and body man/painter for Team Elves Land Speed Racing from 2000 to 2003. The team is currently dormant but the core group is still active in various other forms of motorcycling and some still in land speed racing. My guess is there will be another Team Elves effort happen in the future.
I have followed the effort of the RR skinned S2 Buell that is now owned and raced by Aaron and Susan Wilson of NRHS V-Twin Performance. In 2003 we extended and reshaped the bodywork to accommodate the longer chassis. When you consider the source of some of these very rare body parts and the legends who hand laminated them it was indeed an honor to add my name to roster. The header image shows the bike during the final stages of mock-up and finish work here at the BikeNutz studios.
I'm seven years into this effort and have made two pilgrimages to watch the bike run. To work on a team racing a partial-streamliner motorcycle and watch it drop record after record to the amazement of us and the sanctioning body is indescribable. Standing on the famed Salt Flats and watching the Burkland's Streamliner run over 450 MPH is almost a religious experience.
If you're a gearhead, you owe it to yourself to make at least one trip to the Great White Dynomometer and experience Salt Fever for yourself.
Rock the Salt, JB2