'BARN JOB' STORMS IRWINDALE DRAGSi
By Keith Arnold
Photos by Buzz Baty
IRWAINDALE, CAL., Sept. 18, 1971 Clem Johnson's "Bam Job" picked up a
long-awaited win in th'e Top Fuel Dragbike Eliminations at Irwindale. The big
Vincent (over 96 cubic inches), piloted
by Jim Leineweber, polished off all
comers with runs of over 170 mph in
the low nine-second bracket.
The "Barn Job" was super-eonsistent
all day, defeating Rick Sackett's Harley
in the first round. Second round action
saw Jim Book (H-D) go down to a
hard-to-believe defeat. Cook ran a quick
9.13 at 165.13 to Leineweber's slower
9.Z1 and 169.17. This shows what a
good start can do in drag racing.
At the same time the "Barn Job" was
eating up its competition, Boris Murry
was doing his share of winning. First it
was Tim Marks on a gas-burning 96-inch
Harley. Joe Smith was the next to go
out leaving the final round to dragbike
racing's big names; Boris Murry and
Clem Johnson.
In the right lane, Murry with full
fairing on his twin-engined Triumph
90-inch fuler; in the left lane, Leinweber
aboard
96-plus-inches
of figh ting
Vincent.
At the green it appeared as though
Murry's Triumph was to win. But
Leineweber wasn't going to let it go that
easily. In the top end Murry began to
fade. At the quarter-mile it was
Johnson's "Barn Job" with a time of
9.44 and 170.45 to Boris Murry's 10.88
at 168.53.
Also presen t were several unusual
twin-engined machin~:s. Action Four's
eight-eylinder "Zx4" Honda along with
the Tedder and Muldoon's twin Honda
entry. Even more unusual was a twin
engined 125x2 McCullough-powered
"mini monster". Rider Dean Tambom
tells us that the bike holds two
Bonneville records. Also there was a
Yamaha 160 really twin 80's ridden by Harlon Bice.
In the money e.t. brackets, the first
-
U
Jim leineweber was Top Eliminator today at Irwindale Raceway with a little help from Clem Johnson's "Barn Job", a 96·cubic-inch Vincent.
and fastest went to R. E. McDonald
who took home the $75 purse. Th~
second and slower bracket saw Tom
Franklin (Suz) defeat Dean Tamborn's
"mini monster" to collect the 50
dollars.
Those of you who follow bike drags
may remember several weeks ago when
Troy Pegues looped his big Harley at
Lions. Well, folks, Troy has done
himself one better. Troy went into a
high speed wobble through the traps
and flew off the top of his bike,
bouncing the rest of the way through
the light. Fortunately he was unhurt
and will probably race next week at
Lions.
(Results on page H)
Overreacher? Hardly; this
twin-engined McCollough ridden by Dean Tamborn holds two
Bonneville records and was the second top eliminator in its bracket.
'The wildest cat from Montana
,
passes by in a flash
J. DeSoto.
DeSoto Shows MXers How
By Buzz Baty
EL TORO, CAL., Sept. 17, 1971 - Th~
was the third Friday night of motocross
under the banner of the United States
Racing Club to be held here at EI Toro
Speedway.
If ZOO entrants plus the nation's
premier motocrosser John DeSoto can
be used as a gauge, then the USRC
Friday night events have to be
considered a rousing success.
.
DeSoto put all of his talents on
display for competition and spectators
alike: Riding his 400 Suzuki, John had
little trouble winning all three 500cc
Intermediate/Expert motos. His closes .1
L
_ •••• _
competItIon was provided by Greg
Smith aboard a Maico
DeSoto gave every indication of
liking the EI Toro course, and said he
would return to ride again.
(Results on page 14)
HOPETOWN PHONE FUN
The back page of this ad contains an
ad for Hopetown. The second section
was printed before the rrrst and now the
Diggers tell us that the phone number
for the Heavyweights is bum.
For information regarding all classes,
call
the number listed for the
Lightweights.
'."
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By Tod Rafferty
Cycle News East
GREAT BARRINGTON, MASS., Sept.
18, 1971 - Evel's on the fair circuit. It's
a gas - cotton candy, midway shuckers,
livestock, ferris wheels, horse races and
Eve! Knieve! as the finale.
Some folks don't stay for the jump,
but many others forego the previous
festivities and come only to se'e Evel
Knievel.
This time it looked bike a bummer hastily conceived and stillborn in the
muddy cen ter of the Great Barrington
Fairgrounds - the 1315t consecutive
annual fair. Advance publicity listed it
as a record-breaker; ZO cars, two
tractor-trailers (end-to-end) and 100
men. About 160 feet.
But it was not to be. Steady rains had
turned the fairgrounds into a mudhole.
Knieve! had jumped Thursday night and
fallen, spraining a a wrist. But the Butte
Birdman was going to try it again, over
13 cars - 100 feet, give or take. So
preparations were made to subdue the
mud. Runways were constructed with
sheet plywood, including a practice strip
around the jump. It took a whole lot of
wood.
We asked Roger Reiman, now
Knievel's, uh, engineering consultant,
what he thought of the whole set-up.
uMan, this is about 150 percent wrong,"
he replied. He looked worried.
In his polite manner, Knievel
apologized for the delay and the
miserable conditions,
thanked his
sponsors and made some amusing
remarks about various cycle jumpers
claiming new records. By the way,
Junior Birdmen, Eve! still offers to.
match anybody who has $Z5,000, a
motorcycle and sufficient hair.
As the gleaming white XR-750 was
fired up, Reiman paced up and down
the practice strip, looking. Evel cranked
the Harley through two practice runs,
then rode up the edge of the takeoff
ramp and checked out the view. That
meant the next run was it. A hush
settled over the crowd, which had now
settled in the mud and no longer cared.
He made it. Over the jump, at least.
He had good speed, cleared well and
landed well - but he didn't have room
to stop. It probably hadn't occurred to
anyone that a short stretch of plywood
would provide less braking traction than
good old mud.
And at the end of the plywood were
spectators. So he laid it down,
re-injuring the wrist and getting cut over
the eye. Naturally, the enthusiastic
crowd rushed to his aid, or for whatever
reason they do that. But he was okay,
he said. Nonetheless, he did request a
cruiser to go to the hospital just to
make
sure.
Carrying
as
many
non-factory
replacement
parts
as
Knievel does, routine maintenance is
important.
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