200 Doubtful

Yeah, you're probably right. There was a few things that I did that others weren't doing and maybe not 200 but I still think I could have come close. I did go 187 and 188. Don't forget I was running an eight inch tire and the one thing that I found out "then" that four to eight pounds of air was wrong for tire, launch and especially in the top end. I ran 26 lbs of air, the main reason I did that was less tire growth in the top end which meant less tire spin. I started running 26 lbs of air when the first M&H tires came out, Joe Pisano of Venolia Pistons and I came to that air pressure sitting in his office one day. He was a very smart guy and we use to do a lot of bench racing together when I would go in to pick up pistons. Also the tire didn't get on the sides of the tire off the starting line as easy which in my view was the start of shake due to the fact the center caved in and it started to ride on the edges, more pressure stopped that. My tire left the same kind of mark off the starting line as the Top Fuel Cars, they were running the slider I was running. Some of the guys that ran that clutch in the beginning ran a two plate, I ran a three plate and the trans that most bike guys were running was a 45 percent mine was a 35. When I first built my own slider it was made to only take the slip out of the top end, the first time I ran it the Double went faster, my trouble when I went to the slider I lost that part of the clutch that's why the clutch of today, WOW. As far as riding the wheelie bar, I pretty much did that with control lift with throttle. You talk about controlling the bike when it gets on the wheelie bars by using your feet, I also used that to help (combined with throttle control) to control front wheel lift. I'm sure if I had continued to race and as time went by I would have went to wheelie bars, I'm no fool when it comes to that decision. But I still would have done everything I could to not ride the wheelie bar on a run. I watched the bikes at Vegas and I think it is a risk that I personally wouldn't want to have.
That's a lot of crap coming out of my mouth, but that's the way I seen and did it "then". (And some other things).