5-Ball Bonneville Racing

This has been a very strange weather pattern year for the Bonneville Salt Flats. One day, it can be a mess and three days later, it’s ready to race. I spoke to Bill Woods yesterday and the salt has been under constant investigation. It rained again last Friday (August 14), and yesterday the team members […]

Editor’s Note: The following tech was written and photographed by the Lucky Devil Metal Works crew who are primarily responsible for the Salt Torpedo build. Kent Weeks and his wife Holly did a helluva job at documenting this process. I have installed a few gear sets but I think no matter how many times you

It all started with our 5-Ball Racing search for our trike streamliner name, which quickly centered around the “Salt Torpedo.” Then the Prince stepped up from his mountain top castle and said, “There’s only one artist on the planet capable of this lofty task.” When I asked, “Who?” he suddenly disappeared on a bike show

It’s June 1st and there’s a full moon over the Port of Los Angeles. It’s eerie at night the quiet cranes and the glow of the moon. It’s an industrial cemetery. But as the sun rises it comes to life, a giant United States economic beacon. If this port is cooking so is the rest

What a crazy year. We’ve been scrambling in several directions. Plus, once I sent all the parts to Kent Weeks at Lucky Devil MetalWorks, in Houston, Texas, the project took on a long distance relationship. Distance can create obstacles and distractions as you will see.  I’ve been working with Kent Weeks for years, almost a

    Editor’s Note: Our author, Louise Ann Noeth (aka “Landspeed” Louise), is a long-time SAH member and a two-time SoCal Chapter Valentine Award winner. The following is a fresh version of her article summarizing racing at Bonneville in anticipation of its centennial, now from the perspective of actually having reached that centennial. The entire

      Aliso Viejo, Calif. – September 12, 2014 – Landspeed racing team 5-Ball Racing’s “JETobey” Harden is the latest Bonneville racer to hit the salt in a Schuberth helmet at the 2014 Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trails. 5-Ball joins other landspeed racing competitors Valerie Thompson, Erin Hunter, Andy Sills, MOTUS Motorcycles and Robert Pandya

I woke up this morning, five days after the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials ended, with a start. How the hell was I going to write this article? I couldn’t figure it out. I didn’t know where to start or how to couch all the action and obstacles. I knew how it was going to end!

    But first the adrenaline junky list: ****Mojave Mile****In The Books****April 12-13****12,000 foot runway, one mile shutdown…. ****N H R A**** Leaders, T/F, Doug Kalitta, F/C, Robert Hight, M/C, Andrew Hines****  ****NHRA**** 8/14-17****Brainerd, Mn.  ****E C T A Ohio Mile****5/3-4 (In The Books)****6/7-8 ****6/10 ****Valerie Thompson kicks ass, 208.71, BMW S 1000 RR) ****7/12-13****9/27-28****

This has been a scramble, and not exactly on time, but we’ve moved forward and the whole scenario is working out perfectly. We’ll see in about a week. If you believe in anything, you believe in your efforts to make your dreams come true. So pray, work hard, check the alignment of the stars, work

    http://bonnevillespeedtrials.com Life is non-stop from sun up to midnight or later at the Bikernet Interplanetary Headquarters located in the Port of Los Angeles.  This Sunday is another day of racing at ElMirage….  The 5-Ball Racing Teams Raycer is closing in on the last pieces of a multiple piece puzzle. Every piece from the

    http://bonnevillespeedtrials.com 34 days with a sleepless night and an early get-the-hell-up and your 5-Ball Racing Team will Haul ASS in an easterly direction on the cool black top at a rapid pace. Destination is the Bonneville Salt Flats.  Distance from the well oiled gate exiting headquarters front door to the city of Wendover,

  Your 5-Ball Racing Team is one week closer to  scrutinizing and the starting line on the salt in August. We have made major progress this past week in the quest for speed.  Above image is one of the first attempts at an intercooler.  With Dr. Willie is slaving away, completing the ever shortening to

JIMS is proud to announce the release of the brand-new 135-inch Twin Cam Race Engine! Based on the proven track record of JIMS race engines, we are proud to introduce this 2.2-liter monster which bolts right into a stock frame and incorporates some of the best high performance features in the industry.  Specially designed ‘thick

The infamous Bonneville Salt Flats, where mere mortals dreams collide with Reality…in many magical ways. From life long friendships to temporarily etching ones name in the salt. This is the spot where you can follow your 5-Ball Racing Teams aspirations and adventures has we inch closer to the starting line anticipating the Starters Green Flag

Hang on! We’re taking two bikes, maybe three to Bonneville for the Bub’s 2014 International Speed Trials. We got our asses handed to us in 2012, but we learned a few new ropes and rules, and we’re headed back with a vengeance.  The 124-Inch 5-Ball Raycer Our Bonneville dedicated Ray C. Wheeler 5-Ball Raycer is powered

It all started with a Denny’s breakfast conversation over bacon laced pancakes. I’ll never forget those tasty puppies. The first element we ordered was our belly tank fiberglass body from Class Glass back east. Very helpful staff. They manufacture fiberglass bodies for race vehicles, hot rods, Mustang hoods, you name it. Keep in mind that;

Was the first Streamlined Trike Discovered next to a buried ’59 Cadillac tail fin on the outskirts of Palm Springs? Life is an emotional blender on high here at the Bikernet Headquarters. I escaped one weekend and rode to 14 Palms, California with the good Dr. Hamster one chilly winter morning. We met members of

Several years ago, almost six, we finished a complete vintage 45 motorcycle roller. Powder coated and painted, it languished, but worked in our behalf, when Paughco developed the 4-speed 45 frame, which saved the world for H-D 45 flathead motorcycles. Dave Perewitz immediately built a classic chopper around this new configuration. It opened lots of

This year has been a blur, and it’s not over. The pitfalls started when my motor wasn’t going to arrive until after Sturgis. Then my painter, Jim Murillo passed away unexpectedly, and the pressure mounted. He was a good man and friend. I was attempting to build a vintage land speed racer under difficult conditions

I was told twice to pump up our K-Model side valve compression to 9:1. Didn’t seem like a problem to me, in my flathead ignorant bliss. I spoke to Lee Chapin, the master of Mikuni carburetors for several decades. “The 9:1 compression will work well with a 42mm Mikuni,” Lee said. I rode over to

Hang on for one helleva ride! Destination, BUB SPEED TRIALS, 2012. My 97-inch Dyna Glide is up and running and now we are totally focused on a world class, red hat, 5-Ball racing endeavor. This chance of a lifetime was dropped in my lap. I’m a lucky mofo, I have the chrome-out opportunity to build

READY TO LIGHT THE FIRE AND HAUL ASS!Waitin’ on the call from San Jose? We started getting serious in January of this year. A table full of top shelf parts we’re staged in Signal Hill, ready for a serious build. In my last episode we covered the bottom end build. We just needed the engine

In the last segment, we encountered the privilege of working with Branch O’Keefe, the former Branch Flowmetrics masterminds to make my 96-inch Twin Cam head flow as if they were built for the gods. While we rebuilt the heads at Branch O’Keefe, the crew at Hardtailz shipped the worn out twin cam cases to Randy