Grenade Motor and Driving a Dragster

The funniest one I had was at the old Fontana Drag Strip. On the starting line just as I turn the throttle to the lock, BANG went the motor and to the right side of the bike my flywheels was rolling down the strip with the connecting rods flopping along.
Another night while testing some Pete Jackson injectors the engine blew in the traps at 165 mph and all that were left in the frame was the rear head still bolted the top motor mount bracket. That was the night I got to drive the Dragster "Freight Train" when they were doing some testing on a motor. I drove the Freight Train with only the rear engine. The joke between Jerry and me was we were going to trade rides; he was on the return road at the other end and watches me gain control of the bike when the motor blew. When I pulled up behind him I jokingly said this would be a good night for that trade. Later in the pits he walks up to me and handed me his Fire Suit and said lets go. We went to the return road and I made a few half a—tries at a burn out. They make a big deal out of it that night. We fired coming down the drag strip and made a turn behind the starting line to get staged. After the burn out I kept rolling past the lights and they would push me back till I finally got staged. Got out in front of the other dragster and missed the only gear change there was in the thing and got beat. When Jerry came down to pick me up he was all excited, how did you get off the line like that, I said just like my bike, I let the clutch out first and then hit the throttle. That was my only chance at driving, I didn't do very good but it was fun.