Why Land speed Racing/Drag Racing/Standing Mile Racing?So far haven't made it to Bonneville, not sure I want to
Been dragracing since I was 18,(over 25yrs ago), LSR in the mile since 2007
I do it all cause it is such a rush of adrenaline, sure isn't for the money
Do you compete in any other motorsports?I have tried almost every other kind of motorcyle racing at least one or twice.
Any military experience?No.
Family?Wife and 3 children 1-boy(20) 2-girls(18 & 6)
How long have you been racing?Started in 1982, kinda had a little push from Pops, he has been racing since I was born.
He had his own speed shop on the East Coast, back in the days of RC Eng,
Fast by Ferraci, and Vance & Hines while they still worked for Russ Collins.
He can go on and on about street racing stories with Jack O'Malley of Orient Express.
You could say racing is in my blood!
What do you do for a living?Work in the Powersports Industry
How fast have you gone?Over 200mph @ two different events,
always into the wind it seems, best of 202.577mph
Do you consider yourself an aggressive person?Aggressive, naw, but competitive, oh yea... just not in a mean way, always willing to help
How far in advance do you plan for a race/event?Just ask my wife, months in advance I eat- sleep- and breath it.
Have you ever crashed? What happened?A couple times roadracing, nothing I couldn't walk away from though.
Usually it was over driving the tires, once was going way past my abilities, never did that again.
How much money do you have in your race vehicle? Lost count, and don't care to try and add it up, might hinder my future spendings.
However I do all my own work, and do loads of homework before spending any money.
Describe your feelings and actions during a run.Here is a write-up I did right after my 1st 200mph pass:
Concentrate, hit the shift points, spray from 4th on instead of 5th slight crosswind
(not anything like March) Got a little aggressive on the start spun pretty good out of the hole (193.244)
OK, we left a little on the table that time, shooting for 195, I will be satisfied, 200 I'll go nuts!
Next 2 passes, we have a problem now the bike doesn't want to shift right
under the loads of NOS or falls back out of gear. (188 and 183)
Load up the bottle again, change attitude, make it or break it, spray in 3rd on up,
again I spin off the line, but it shifts: (195.872) Wahoooo! goal #1 done
Let's try and back it up, want no excuse of butterflies tripping the lights,
this time spray in 3rd and wring it right out each gear pick your butt up in 5th
slide back but don't miss 6th, yes another clean pass! (198.832) oh baby I can taste it now!
Running out of time and Nitrous, and we brought 27lbs! It's 3:25 and the track shuts down @ 4:00.
The bike is now smokin' hot, and little time to get bottle filled and up to pressure.
OK! locked, cocked, and loaded: pull up to the line take a moment to get my head on right,
picture every shift, concentrate on every rev, don't spin, sit back- tuck tight, on the line
and they stop to look for Rustman's K&N somewhere on the track.
Good cause the bike could use a little breather, now I'm calm and ready.
Checklist gone thru twice, "Bike 710 on deck, let er' go!"
Nice launch shift quick this one comes soon, again, now spray, shift, shift,
sit back tuck in squeeze tight, last shift is good, tach @ 10600 hang on tight,
she gets a little light in the rear and starts a little sway, nothing scary, hold it past the line. Done!
Now the hard part, riding over to the timing booth, was it enough, did I do my part,
was there enough in the bottle?
She walks over with just a little smirk on her face, "tell me good news" ????
You went 200.256mph, you did it! I ripped off my helmet and gave her a big kiss!
Thanks to all the guys on here and at the track who helped support my effort:
Karl, Gary Johnny, Ali, MadMike, everyone you meet at the mile are really great people.
Huge thanks to my wife and Dad, who was the only one willing to crew for me
and wanted this just as bad as I did.