How I Got Started Racing at Bonneville

Well that's a convoluted trail. I purchased my first Buell in the summer of 1995, a bright fire-engine-red S-2 Thunderbolt. And because of this bike I met many varied and far flung friends. Among them were Jim Bantz, Henrik Bo Pedersen, and Court Canfield. In 2000, I got wind that these fellows were going to be part of a team that was taking a Buell to the Bonneville Salt Flats and volunteered my services. To say that year was a success would be an understatement.

2001

The next year was bigger and better with the addition of a bunch of Buellers running in the 130 MPH Club. I brought my S-2 and both Henrik and I were successful in getting into the  Club. This taste of what it was like to actually race on the salt was addictive and it was downhill from there.

Originally I only intended to take the next step and run in the 150 MPH Club, but after checking the record book I saw that the speed needed to get a record was just over the 150 mark. The detail that sealed the deal was that a bunch of Team Elves sponsors agreed to give anyone entering for a class record significant discounts on parts and labor, plus Team Elves would pay the entry fees. The decision was made to run in the MPS 1650 PG class in 2002.

The engine was done by Nallin Racing in Shreveport, Louisiana. An 88" big bore kit with Nallin Heads, Red Shift cams, Mikuni carb, roller rockers, and a Baker 6-speed were all added to the Buell S-2. To aid in aerodynamics, a set of Airtech bodywork was added and painted a candy-apple tangerine. The last detail was an exhaust system to match the engine and Aaron Wilson volunteered his services to not only build a stepped exhaust system but dyno-tune the bike afterwards to eke out every last ounce of HP.

2002

That year saw the meet we had all planned on going to in September rained out. The next event was the SCTA World Finals in October, so I loaded up the bike and headed to Wendover, praying for good weather. By this time the record in the MPS-1650 PG class had been upped to 167+ mph. Enduring long lines in staging and 4 hour waits netted us an average of 2 runs per day. We ended up running a best of 166+ and did not get a record, but the experience of running the Buell wide open for miles was exhilarating to say the least. I could not have done this meet without the assistance of fellow Bueller, Jim Witt. He was the driver of the retrieval truck, pit crew, and all around gofer for that meet.
A big thanks to Jim.

Sitting in a restaurant after racing, eating dinner with some friends, hatched the seeds for what class to look to for next year. Seems that sitting on the shelf at the shop in Longmont, Colorado was an Aerocharger turbo setup off of an S-2. A deal was struck and after some wrenching I was the owner of a turbocharged Buell S-2. So in 2003 we were set to run in the MPS 1650 PBF and PBG classes. With the assistance of Terry Parsley and dyno services donated by Vallejo HD/Buell, not to mention hours of dyno tuning by Brian Nallin, we had a 180 HP Buell ready to rock and roll at Bonneville.

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