IN
THE
WIND
P34
SPEEDY INDIANS
E
arlier this month, stealthily
but quickly, Indian motorcy-
cle made history. A new produc-
tion 2015 Indian Scout and the
fabled Chief named "Elnora" tore
across the El Mirage dry lake
bed in the final Southern Cali-
fornia Timing Association event
of the season. It was the last
chance for the factory to earn an
SCTA certified run, and both ma-
chines proved their lineage and
durability with strong debuts by
the rookie land speed riders.
The Indian Scout was ridden
by none other than Gary Gray—
the Director of Indian Motorcycle
Products. Gary leads a team
that interacts with both the de-
sign and the engineering groups
to define the current and future
products for the brand. Shep-
herding the product direction
for such an iconic brand take
somebody who isn't afraid to get
their fingers dirty. Gray spent
several weekends in 2014 rac-
ing vintage Scout motorcycles
in FIM and USCRA, and twisted
the new Scouts throttle to a very
fast 128.447 mph on the dusty
mile and 1/3 course. The motor-
cycle Gary rode featured a stock
engine, and was built to the P-P
1350 class and only modified the
handlebars to race. This same
motorcycle will be tweaked by
the engineering team for a return
to the venue just to go faster and
"see what she will do."
Indian Motorcycle PR Man-
ager, Robert Pandya, piloted
Elnora. The very same Chief
that traced Cannon Ball Baker's
centennial route from San Diego
to New York City in May, was re-
fitted with stock fenders (though
the back of the front fender was
cut off) an accessory air cleaner,
and a custom 2-1 exhaust pipe.
Slotting into a modified class
(A-PG 2000), Elnora featured
custom 17" wheels and racing
rubber, relocated footrests, and
different handlebars designed
to tuck the rider into the wind.
She ran a stock Thunder Stroke
111 however, including the stock
belt drive system, and despite
being a hard-ridden develop-
ment bike (ultimately destined
for the crusher) she pulled out a
130.227 mph top speed.
Indian Motorcycle would like
to thank the many friends of
the brand who made the past
weekend possible. Team Klock
Werks', Lloydz Motorworkz,
RC Components, Dunlop, Fox
Shocks, IndianMotorcycles.net,
Conquest Customs, Ricochet
Customs, Saddlemen, the IMC
Engineering, Dynojet and the
great people at the SCTA, espe-
cially the Gear Grinders club for
hosting us.
Now with both a 2014 Chief
and a 2015 Scout officially run-
ning a sanctioned race event,
Indian Motorcycle continues the
tradition started by its legend-
ary founders Hendee and Hed-
strom—to build great products
and to show the world what they
can do.
Robert Pandya
Robert Pandya took "Elnora," a very fast Indian Chief, up
to 130.227 mph at El Mirage Dry Lake in California.
