3-in-1
Court Canfield, 09.21.2000

This is gonna be short and I’ll tell ya why, we’ve been to dinner to celebrate.

Time’s at premium so I’ll spare you the drum roll and share the good news.  Aaron Wilson and Team Elves took a 1987 Buell RR-1000, with Richard Nallin aboard, and broke 3 Land Speed Records in ONE day !

Broke, did I say “broke”?  The USFRA radio transmission went something like this  . . . “bike 1987 just posted a speed of 156.489mph and the old record was 124.017.  Can that be right?”  After a few moments of debate it was not only “right”, it was “in the books”.  Team Elves at 8:29am bagged the Land Speed Record in the APS-PF class by an astounding 34+mph.

Back to the pits.  Bike apart. Minor changes.  Back to staging and at 1:36pm, again, CB Channel 1 crackled “another Land Speed Record for Team Elves” as Nallin made history of the MPS-PG 154.432mph record by posting a 157.284.   Team Elves had done it again, posting the 2^nd record of the day.

By now the wind had come up, drops of intermittent rain threatened problems as Nallin staged to take a crack at the 155.361mph APS-PG.  Ominous headwinds, particularly in the area of the saddle between two mountains in the 2^nd mile, were reason for concern.  As the Salt rooster tail settled the word came that Nallin had posted a qualifying run of 156.723mph.  Wilson elected to claim the run and took the bike to impound.

Now we had a problem.  Winds were rising and right on the nose of the super slippery Buell.  Attempting the back up today might be an effort in futility.  But, tomorrow could be rain and wet salt.  The Elves excused themselves and huddled.  The bike was perfect.  The rider pumped.  The body slippery and we’d be in the back of the line, perhaps allowing the winds to abate for a moment.  My comment was “if we weren’t risk takers none of us would own helmets”.  Team Elves headed to the line.

As a handful of Elves paced at the staging area, I signaled Nallin to raise his visor and whispered “the moment you start this bike, the wind doesn’t exist and you start telling yourself “I am a winner”.  As the visor lowered Richard said “Court, I’m a fixin’ to ride it like I stole it”.

Truer words had never been spoken.   Into a 22mph headwind Richard Nallin, aboard the Aaron Wilson prepared Buell RR-1000, archived the “old” 155.361mph record in APS-PG with a 156.674mph average speed.

Not 5 minutes after the bike was placed in impound the rains began to fall and as the first puddle formed Team Elves had put 3 Land Speed Records in the books in one day. 

This is a glorious day in Buell history and a fitting testament to the validity of Erik Buell’s design.

Need more good news……try these facts out:

Sarah from the Bureau of Land Management was a guest in the Elf Gourmet Compound for breakfast.

Fabled “Landspeed Louise” joined us for lunch and received a Team Elves shirt.

Still need frosting on your cake?  One of the USFRA Tech Officials described Team Elves as “one of the most organized teams to ever come to the salt”.

At the end of the day, the bike was prepped perfect.  Of the 7 runs down the salt today only one the first of the day was not a record.  Wilson had prepped the bike perfectly.  Nallin did, indeed, “ride it like he stole it”.  Team Elves support organization (far and away the largest present) did their part.

Today’s been a GREAT day in Buell history and a tribute to all the Elves . . at Buell and on the salt.

Court

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