So....it is back to the 30.50 blues again. I thought long and hard, I had pretty much decided to run a 650cc Triumph this year or maybe even a bored out one and run the 750cc class....But the Gods of Speed had other ideas. I was at my friend Mike Parti's house the other saying I was unable to find any pistons for the 500cc pre-unit motor i run that had any domes to them at all. I found out a few years ago that compression is so important for my effort at Bonneville. No flat tops for me with my smaller displacement, I need all the edge I can get and need the compression. Mike told me he remembered "this guy" who actually had been a piston maker who had tons of old pistons still in the Robbins Pistons boxes from the 60s, mostly for cars, but maybe some for motorcycles. Of course I had to follow up the lead, even though I had bought cams and pistons for a 650cc effort. And of course the guy had two sets of .010 over Robbins pistons in 12 to 1 compression just waiting for my motor.
I bought them, thinking what the heck I would use them one day. Well, of course they started nagging me and talking to me and keeping me up at nite and I said to hell with the 650cc stuff. I need that damned record in the 500cc class. Obsession takes over, as all Salt Junkies will know. So when I sent off my entry today, it was for the old Modified Vintage Fuel--500cc class. On paper a ten over piston will work with my stroked (by using a 650 crank and rods) 500cc motor and keep me in the class.
And speaking of sending off my entry, I want to throw out a big big giant thanks to our good friend Dave Frost (above and left), mostly known as Frosty on the interwebs and at the Lake. Dave freakin rules. He has been hanging out with us at the Great White Dyno for I think 5 or 6 years, well at least five years. He is a great enthusiast and started helping us out last year with the bike and with the loading and unloading. He is as bad as the rest of us when it came to being bitten by the Salt Bug. Dave drives from FREAKIN Indiana just to be on the Salt during Speed Week. Drives people, he DRIVES! Sometimes somebody will come along and help out with gas but he don't care, he came out solo last year! He also holds a mean, and I mean...MEAN umbrella. So Frosty Frost as we sometimes affectionately call him, walks up to me last year and says, "What does it cost to do this thing?" I said $400 bucks for the entry. Next he tells me that he wants to pay our entry for 2012 ....HOLY CRAP man!! This is awesome. I mean it really is something, cause you know Frosty is doing this because he has a love for game, just like we do. Total enthusiasm people, it does not get any purer in the way of a motive than that. This is not some sort of lottery or some sort of stock market thing, there is no return other than love, people. I am not exaggerating when I say it brought a tear to my eye. It is really really expensive to go and race at Bonneville, my hotel bill last year for me and the crew was ... well lets just say I had to sell a ton of teeshirts to pay it and also work my ass off. At any rate. I will stop babbling and just say thanks again Frosty, and ...See Ya on the Salt! - Wes White
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