Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

1967 BONNEVILLE SPEED WEEK Slory & t,>bolos by Bob Ebeling Nine niles of waded salt surface, devoid of any animal ~ife and marked only by a black line down its center, Heat so intense lIIat lIIermometers are still climlling at 111 degrees and when you stand in the protective shade of an umbrellur tent, atorturous IIII'n can result from reftecti on 0 ffllle wbitesalts, How large are these expanses of white salt? Such, that should a man's family be impassioned with the belief of throwing salt that lay on the ground, over the shoulder for luck, his descendants would be occupied beyond any length of recordable calendar. Despite the unattractive nothingness, man and his machines trek to this location once each year and take advantage of the level ground nature has provided. To some, the nine miles provide a pathway to exciting speeds and prestige of obtaining a national speed record. Others stay one week and return home wiser, but poor in finance and selfconfidence. First The Proud Harley-Davidson and Suzuki have every right to the records obtained during National speed week. Warner Riley of Skokie, Illinois, established the fastest two-way record for 1967 on an open framed and Plrtially streamlined HarleyDavidson. Don Blessing, of SOuthern California, rode his 250cc Suzuki to speeds greater than anything under 55 inches. Warner and his Sportster with special barrels that totaled l250cc averaged 153.452 with a fairing for the P5-A 3000 class and ran unfaired to a record of 149.782 in the C-A class. Warner could have run fuel since his alterations of the cylinders placed the engine in A classification which allows any fuel, but the combustion mixture was restrained to pump gas. It is only fair to mention that Warner was accompanied and advised by Leo PaYl\e, Harley drag pro and sponsored by Sta-Lube Oil Co. Don Blessing had visited Bonneville in 1966 to run his Suzuki to a record in the C-C 250 class. This year. Don combined the knowledge he had gained with new determination, and set an unprecedented two way average speed record of 128.182 miles per hour in PS-C class. It took some real special doings at an altitude of 4000 fee~ to provide that two-stroke with enough oxygen for such performance. Don also set a two-way record on saturday's last hours of record attempts at 125.121 miles per hour: The only close contender below 55 inches of displacement was Nira Johnson's Sta-Lube Special Triumph that set a record of 125.022 in the altered frame, stock engine class. salt Lake City, Utah is just 125 miles from this famous speed site and Bob Vaughan feels like he is playing in the back yard since his home and dealer-sponsor are located in the Utah capital. Bob and the crew took home more records than 1 have ever seen a man and machine accumulate at one time - five in all. Kawasaki can be quite proud of the 175cc that Bob entered in the following classes; COC, C-A, AoC, P5-A, APS-C. The best two way average was 93 .567 miles per hour. Bob Vaughan's dealer is also the distributor for Sta-Lube in Utah. Kawasaki is right on the heels of Suzuki's top record. Chief Galbraith set a two-way record in the P5-A 250cc class of 118.421. Next year the Chief will try and scalp Don Blessing's record. Honda was not in top form this year at the salt flats except for the 55cc record set by Harry Wolfley in 63 .809 miles per hour for class A-A. Harry had never burned" fuel before but resorted to it when several others had entered the class and were seen tipping the can. I guess you can learn a lot whe n the pressure is on. Others never seem to learn, however, as Dennis Manning's record for a blown 450 Honda seems to prove. 83.821 miles per hour. That's only slightly faster than a 100cc machine. torque pumps that set records in P5A and C-A divisions. Jim's miles per hour was 105.888 for the two way and Mark Lloyd ran a better speed without the benefit of a fairing like Jim's. Mark's record stood at 1 09.01 0 on Thursday, but was raised to 111.325 on Saturday. Indian Was Fastest Although there were three streamliners on the salt for attempts at the ultimate speeds, only Burt Munro's 100cc Indian did the deed. Burt tucked into his little New Zealand bomb for a record of 183.586 miles per hour. Though both Burt and the Indian show signs of age there are none to match them in endurance and accomplishment but there sure are a couple of folks to thank, such as sam Pierce. and whatever power keeps a 69-year-old man racing motorcycles. .,.s. Dennis Ibnnlne's supercbarpd Honda turn.d only 80 mph, •••nouch to brine t.ars to a t.... r's Don BI.sslng's Suzuki 15·lncb.r hustled to fastest tim. of bikes und.r 55 cubic Incb.s ...over 128 mph! M-B Tops 80 1 almost overlooked an outstanding record in the IOOcc department. Don Vesco took time off from running his Offy-powered streamliner to set a record in the l00cc A"A division. Don ran a two-way average speed of 82.315 miles per hour with a Moto Beta. The only one of its kind on the salt flats and the only one of 100cc to top 80 miles per! Also Rans VeloceUe Velocity The 500cc records were topped by Ve loc"ettes ridden by Jim Eversole and Mark Lloyd Dees.Single cylinder .am.. RJI"'s wife . . . . salt ,,. liar lIuu.d's IKard HoD. Rich and Gary Richards, Bob Leppan, Murray & Cook, Don McEvoy, James Enz, Montero, Macias, West and many others were tOll dogs who received a meatle"ss bone. Ac tually there were more than fifty entries and 18 riders established record. That leaves a balance of 32 who went home without the satisfaction of accomplishment. Some could have had a record but didn't consider it good enough to record. One such was James Stephens who traveled from Detroit, Michigan With the Gyronaut crew and entered a 650cc Triumph tn the P5-A class. There was no previous record and James turned 139 miles per hour. He didn't run the two-way and went home leaving it until next year. Bob Leppan tipped the nitro can in an attempt to break last years record, after trying unsuccessfully with straight alcohol. The alky took the streamliner up to 245.23 miles

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