SuzukiHayabusa.org
GENERAL => MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE => Topic started by: Team Millholland on May 06, 2016, 03:14:54 PM
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Mike Chestnut, also know as Horsepower Mike had a streetbike accident this week and passed away.
Mike was a fantastic rider, talented engine builder and all around great guy. I've known Mike for over 15 years and we're sure gonna miss him.
He brought his 14R to run the half mile event at Wilmington, then ran the September event. He owned a ZX10R and ran track days, used his 14R streetbike as a drag and LSR bike and toured on his Concours.
Mike had recently bought a H2 and was going to run it and his 14R the next two events in Ohio, he had just registered for the June event. Even though he had been over 200 in the past years he wanted to make it official which he did last year, and he was thrilled. He talked about the great people at the meets and really enjoyed the races.
Mike participated in one of the bike magazines annual UFO articles, pitting the top engine builders in the country against each other. He was the go to man in the Kawasaki Turbo 750 community.
After losing the lower half of his left leg years ago he never complained, just installed air shifters and never looked back. He always joked about the titanium leg saving him weight, what a guy.
A turkey buzzard flew into Mike while riding his H2, he died with his boots on. He always said that when it was his time to go it would be on a motorcycle.
GodSpeed Mike, May You Rest in Peace my friend,
Dan
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Really sorry to hear it bro.
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I am shocked. He was a great guy. He helped me with my old 750 turbo. He was the man when it came to those things. Big loss. Gods speed.
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Very sorry to hear, Godspeed Mike.
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Mike and I met many years ago when I did an
accident reconstruction of a crash he had on
one of his turbo Kawasaki bikes just west
of the LAX airport, on a mile-long straight away,
about midnight on his way to work.
I came away impressed with his riding ability.
I remained impressed for all the following years !
When I arrived at the scene of the accident,
the California Highway Patrol officer in charge
of their investigation handed me the accident report.
The officer stood quietly while I read the narrative,
and turned to the diagram of the scene of the accident.
Mike had been heading north to his place of work at the airport,
when a triple-bottom truck unexpectedly
pulled out from a little - used side road.
Mike saw the turning truck, and applied his brake(s) in an attempt to avoid.
The patrol officer, watching me closely,
saw my eyes pause on the skid mark from Mike's FRONT tire.
The skid-mark was 328 feet in length.
If correct, a 328 foot skid mark would be the LONGEST
front wheel skid mark EVER recorded.......
I looked at the officer, and raised my eyebrows ......
The officer handed me a pack of photographs,
17 in all; all of the skid mark.
After looking at ALL of the 17 photo's, each showing
about 20 continuous feet of the skid mark, I
smiled at the officer, and he smiled back.
He questioned: "Would you have believed be WITHOUT the photo's ?"
I smiled: "No !"
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Mike Chestnut, also know as Horsepower Mike had a streetbike accident this week and passed away.
Mike was a fantastic rider...
Mike participated in one of the bike magazines annual UFO articles,
pitting the top engine builders in the country against each other.
He was the go to man in the Kawasaki Turbo 750 community.
GodSpeed Mike, May You Rest in Peace my friend,
Dan
I was lucky enough to meet Mike in person at
that race at the Honda Proving Grounds.
I was the "Safety Officer" for that race,
on behalf of the Magazine......
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Thanks Dan, very sorry to hear, did not know Mike, just hate to hear when anybody crashes, but to get knocked off your bike by a bird, that really sucks :(
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I got to know Mike at last year's ECTA 1/2 Mile event. We were pitted next to each other and had some good conversations. What a great guy!
Rest in Peace Mike.
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Scott,
Yesterday at Mike's funeral a guy named Rick (owner of RC Components) talked about Mike's first wreck at the LAX airport. Rick was living in the LA area at the time and he also described everything like you did.
A lot of great stories were shared, Mike was a true enthusiast that helped so many riders along the way.
Whether riding or racing, please be safe out there folks.
Dan
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Scott,
Yesterday at Mike's funeral a guy named Rick
(owner of RC Components) talked about Mike's
first wreck at the LAX airport.
Rick was living in the LA area at the time and
he also described everything like you did.
A lot of great stories were shared, Mike was a true
enthusiast that helped so many folks along the way.
Whether riding or racing, please be safe out there folks.
Dan
Thanks for sharing this Dan !
Many folks on this board have memories that
actually go back to BEFORE THE INTERNET,
which may be hard to believe !
It is OUR job to keep the memories alive of
"those who have gone before." and maybe
hope that we too will have "another life" after
we join the others at "that great track in the sky...."
I re-met Mike at Maxton, 10-15 years later,
and we just sort of looked each other in the eye,
and shared a brief smile.
We didn't say anything about "the Crash."..........
And I hadn't to anybody else until this thread.
Cheers, Scott
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Wow, taken out by a bird-- cannot count how many times I have ducked and had birds bounce of my helmet. Buzzards are bad as they eat carcasses in the middle of the road and need so much room to get into the air they often chose to use the road as their launch strip heading right into you.
RIP. :cry:
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RIP