Now for some of the Who, What, When, Where and Why.

Without going into great detail, I built an entirely new streamliner last year--new frame, new suspension front and rear, new wheels, new parachute system and new parachutes, new body, nose cone, new rear door, new fuel tank, new cockpit, new controls, new tires, relocation of fire bottles, CO2 bottle, redesigned outriggers, incorporated oil and catch can into the frame, and built the multitude of bracketry to put it all together. Lastly, I went through the engines and their components completely, correcting many things, and paying attention to every detail.

This gargantuan task was not an exercise for the faint of heart. I understood the fierce competition the Vincent streamliner must defeat, and building the new streamliner was without a doubt necessary to achieve the goal I'd set for myself way back in 1989. Using all of the knowledge gained through the years, and all of the knowledge gained from the five attempts made by Black Lightning on the salt, the result is (in my humble opinion) a Vincent powered streamliner capable beyond any doubt of setting the Outright World's Land Speed Record for Motorcycles.

About 8 months into the rebuild of liner #7, it became agonizingly apparent that I had chosen off "a bridge too far". Then I recalled a statement made by one of the pit crew members (as we were loading up to leave the salt in 2005), Lenny McKnight had offered to lend a hand in any way he could, anytime I needed him. If ever there was a time that I truly needed help, this was the time. September 3, the Bub Meet, was accelerating toward me at an unbelievable speed. (I would have preferred it to have been the other way around.) I made a phone call to Lenny in Tacoma, Washington, and five days later I picked him up at the airport in Wichita, Kansas.

A work schedule was laid out for the 24 days of his stay. He did everything I asked him to in an exemplary manner, and with excellent workmanship. Many times he was in the shop before I was, (4:00am) cleaning the shop or repairing some of my neglected machinery and tools. All of this was done with him providing the airline tickets and on his own time. The only thing I provided was room and board and my deepest gratitude. By the way, I think Lenny gained about 10 pounds during the stay. :o) Now for the kicker. Ditto to the above on another 22 day stay, as I had to call him back to Wichita about a month later. A great guy. The Vincent streamliner was able to make the September 3 deadline due largely to his humble and selfless dedication to the Black Lightning Project.

To play in the World Class arena of speed, a man needs very deep pockets. Far deeper than mine. At this time I'd like to express my heartfelt appreciation to all the guys and gals who believed in the project and felt that the Vincent marquee recapturing the record was worthwhile enough to support financially. It would have been impossible for me to have gotten the streamliner to the salt this year without financial assistance. Approximately $11,000 was raised from individual VOC members along with a couple of Sections; $6,000 was donated by my immediate family; and $10,000 was somehow extracted from my Social Security check and my Navy pension. An additional $15,000 debt was incurred, as I had to buy a truck to haul the lot to the salt.

The week prior to Bonneville was quite heckic. At age 68, working in sometimes 100+ degree temperatures, my brain wanted to do what had to be done, but my body said, "No." That's when my son, Max Re', and a couple of fellow Boeing workers came to my rescue.

The highway trailer had frozen it's brakes from salt corrosion. Backing plates, magnetic brake shoes and drums with bearings had to be replaced. A quick coat of black paint to cover up the rust, $30.00 spent on hubcaps to cover up the ugly, the tents sorted out, the poles painted and color coded, again to cover up the ugly, airbags and a tow package bought and installed for the new truck, cost: $800.00, all of the stuff needed to wrench on the salt loaded and packed, aluminium floor for the salt, power washed and painted, tables painted, and of course all the loading for the trip.

Two days before the launch date I still hadn't gotten around to painting the two rear panels of the new body. And of course the decals had yet to be placed on the liner. I worked until around 10:00pm to take care of these loose ends the night before I tackled the 1200 miles of interstate that stood between Black Lightning and her debut at the legendary Bonneville Salt Flats. Even though I was tired, very tired, still I was confident in success, as I knew I had given my all, and created the best liner I knew how to build. This, coupled with the fact that I knew I had very competent pilots and pit crew waiting to see the new streamliner for the first time.

Pilot Don Angel came from San Diego, California.

Pilot Hartmut Weidelich (Ace) came from Aldingen, Germany.

Pit crew members from Canada: John and Caroline McDougall, Barrie Howell (Easy), Tom Murray.

Pit crew members from the U.S: Lennie McKnight, Steve Doherty, Ray Haskin, Bob Bonato, and the newest member from the U.S. Jesse O'Datey. John Caraway was put in charge of the very important job of flipping the ignition switch "on". :o)

Pit crew members from England: John Philipp, Jack Marshall.

Pit crew member from Spain: Nigel Blackbourn (Razor).

Legendary Vincent racing icons, Marty Dickerson, Ron Vane and Sonny Angel took on the formidable task of tutoring the Kansas Bad Man, (who is a well known Maverick, and never pays any attention to anything anyone tells him to do) :o)

The following good people were invited to attend the Bub shoot out, and came to offer their moral support for Black Lightning's 2006 attempt on the WLSR. (Talk about pressure to perform! Wow.)

From England: Eddie Saxton, Ernie Lowinger, Jenny Mortimer, Jenny's daughter, Peter Wafford, Bill Cannon and Sue, Ron Vane's son, John and Dawn Kennedy.

From USA: John and Irene Ulver, Jay Shaffer, Chris Kleps, Gregg Max, Dave Campos, Denise Campos, Boris Murray, Somer Hooker, Sergio Villalobos.

From Canada: Marc Beaudry, Richard Vanderwell, Tony and Ann Cording.

From Switzerland: Jan and Jirgen Kietschmann.

From Germany: Bill Sell

And others I'm sure.

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I must say that other than setting the record, the most exhilarating experience a salt racer could possibly have is driving the last 110 highway miles into Wendover, Utah from Salt Lake City with his beloved machine strapped to his back end, as he mentally prepares to do battle with the great white dyno, the Bonneville Salt Flats.