The new road to Bonneville

[Papi]

The new road to Bonneville

As the 2011 season begins, recollection of last year is still fresh on my mind. We ran two bikes, Shooting Star I in 1650CC Production and Shooting Star II in 650CC Modified.  It was an excellent season not only because we set our first LSR Record, but the growth achieved for me personally as a racer and the fantastic friendships built in 2010.

Looking back we accomplished a great deal.  Bonneville is a magical but unforgiving place. She gives and she takes equally in her salty spirit. I came into SpeedWeek with a lot of anticipation and high hopes to become in touching distance of the record in class and closer to 200MPH.   In the heat of August, Bonneville made me work a little harder and denied us on many fronts. What she gave us though was run after run on fantastic courses to refine the skill needed for sustained high speed to the 5 mile marker. What she also taught me was throttle control.  Bonneville loves to eat tires for those unwilling to respect her, and she taught me that lesson fast. What she also robbed us of was power. Being Normally Aspirated means you get what she gives you. And she was definitely a bitch when it came to giving me air.

Fast forwarding to World Finals 2010, I was more than ready to bring my new game and walk away with a Red Hat. But the old girl Bonneville wanted me to work a little harder. So she gave me as a parting gift barely my first deuce (200.076MPH) on the exit just to let me know that perseverance and patience will pay off in time.  I was happy to become #2 in class behind a fantastic racer and one who I have tremendous respect for which is Mrs. SSS Nancy W.

The closing of 2010 was bittersweet. On our last meet at El Mirage, and on our final pass of the day, I held nothing back. We not only made the record in Production, but we really did exceptionally well beating the former record in whole MPH numbers.  One thing that struck me odd about that run was the sensation on course. To me, it seemed that the run was nothing out of the ordinary, in fact, it seemed slower. After a lot of thought, it was perception that had me fooled over what actually happened; the run was nearly flawless.

Here we are now in 2011.  I am ready once again to go after the Production Record (now only to beat myself) and begin a new Chapter in our LSR career with Shooting Star III.  Our first pre-season meet out was the Mojave Mile in April. Six months off in LSR brings a lot of game day jitters and over exuberance to the starting line. My personal game was really out of whack as well.  My friend and the best Dodge Crew Chief at Bonneville and I have ever had, Mark "Bucky" Buckelew had recently died unexpectedly. That threw me in a tail spin and emotionally upside down. Secondly, another good buddy Dennis Parkinson who has been with me since day 1 was away on family business. And last, my lovely bride who keeps me going and gets my sloppy butt to the line without fail was also not with me. So, two buddies stepped up and took on getting our program to the MM.  

We arrived soundly and pitted on target. But for me, my game was off. I tried to shrug it off and get into the moment, but couldn't get anything right from my launch, to my tuck to the bike behaving. The result of that pre-season event gave me a new added nickname; "Chainlink", warmly adopted by my club and team mates.  And it's true, you cannot put a ZX14 through a Cyclone Chainlink fence. Lord knows I tried.  So, licking my wounds and swallowing what little pride I had left from that adventure, we made our way to the two day opener at El Mirage.

Three days prior to ElMo, I picked up wifey at the airport as she returned from her excursion on the East Coast. Since I'm pretty lame when it comes to doing basic things like feeding myself, her two week adventure helped my diet, but certainly put me behind the 8 Ball getting ready for May's meet.  She also returned sick, which she proceeded to pass on to me.  2 days before we were to be in tech inspection, I was putting the new brakes on the trailer, fixing the generator and electrical as well as putting the bike back together.  And of course, anything that could go wrong, did, all in the eleventh hour.  Since Friday was now upon us, I made the decision to tech Saturday AM instead, and drive down at O Dark Thirty to the lake. In reality we left at 8PM Friday and by Midnight, wifeys Flu had migrated to my stomach.  This gave us the great opportunity to stop every hour flushing out in a liquid fashion from two polar opposite orifices any remaining digestive juices. It was a real party with the two of us in the truck.  

We pulled over in BFE and slept a bit, then resumed driving at sunrise in mad dash to make early morning tech. We arrived at ElMo around 6:30AM battered heavily from massive fluid reduction the night prior, and decided we both needed sleep more than racing. Of course, and as it would happen to be, El Mirage was graced with a unique tailwind all day we call free Horsepower, and as our luck would have it, we let it go as we slept off the Stomach Flu.

Late afternoon Saturday we awoke refreshed, had the bike back together and made it to tech and registration before they shut down to get stickered up. Sunday AM we got in line first thing and made a perfect slow speed pass at 174MPH to shake down the bike and rebuild my program. Our second pass was another slow speed pass at 173MPH as I faced a crosswind mid-course to navigate, but no biggy. We walked away with all parts on the bike and my readiness to go after our top speed in June and raise the bar on the record we set last year. Bonneville will bring the same challenges for us as last season, but I am ready.

We also worked to start on our new entry of Shooting Star III in the blown class. Thankfully my teammate John Noonan has really helped us out on this venture with his resources not only as a great racer, but his mentoring along this past two seasons.  I have a lot of gratitude to John for helping me out along the way where he could.

Shooting Star I and III will be our program for this year. I am very excited to break into Blown Class and push us over the big deuce this year. We will take this year to get to know the class, tweak the bike and then freshen her up over the winter to put bigger numbers out next year.  A fellow racer told me on Sunday that when the boost comes on, her exceeding 200MPH in a heartbeat, the face of God will appear, then smile.  I can't wait!

This season is going to be a great.  

[John Noonan]

Steve,

Great story and hope to see you run some numbers..remember you owe me a Corona everyone time you see me...

[RichFox]

El Mirage and the flu too. What a perfect weekend. Wish I could have seen you run. I had Tower 6 on Saturday afternoon. Went straight home when they shut down.

[theazoldcrow]

 
                 "Go Papi, Go!"  Hope the Rocky Mountain quick step has left you both by now. BCNU both soon!

[Papi]

El Mirage and the flu too. What a perfect weekend. Wish I could have seen you run. I had Tower 6 on Saturday afternoon. Went straight home when they shut down.

Ah shoot. Rich I had no idea you were there or I would have said Hi.  You going in June?

[RichFox]

Don't think so. Hope to be at Speedweek.

[V8Pinto]

Let's be real here, 170+ is not slow - but I know what you mean  

There is absolutely nothing wrong with creepin up on her.  You gotta take care of your mind, body, and spirit first, the rest will come.  I won't ever go to the line if it all isn't 100% right.  We've passed on more passes than I care to remember just because it didn't feel right.  You don't get it back once you cross the line so we don't do it.

Sorry we missed you but glad you made it and had safe passes.  And I saw your teammate riding around on a pretty boosted Busa.  hmmmm....  is it gonna say Chainlink on it soon?   

[mtkawboy]

"flushing out in a liquid fashion from two polar opposite orifices any remaining digestive juices. " Great discription, I almost feel like I was there with you

[Livin1072]

Very cool!  Thanks for sharing it's always a treat to get first person perspective.