Early Racers

Came across some cool old pics in my collection that I thought I would share. I really dug how Paul D'Orleans shot the old daguerreotype photos during the last Cannonball. I will have some great news to debut very soon regarding the "Millers at the Mile" event, and maybe we can convince Paul to come and photograph the event!

Vintage Films.

Here is some great footage of racer "Shrimp" Burns Racing for Indian, and a neat film produced by Firestone Tires in 1951 at the Peoria T.T. races. Enjoy!

(Fat) Dog Will hunt!

Our first parts hunt down under! Thanks to our great friends for letting us scour their parts stashes....it was epic! Don't worry, the FatDog doesn't bite off more than he can chew. We never took anything we didn't have a need for. But believe me there was a ton we had a want for! It would have been great to bring home all three versions of 8-valve cylinders that we got to hold. We spent a full day at Redfern Motorcycle Spares in Wolongong and were sent into a spiral by the awesome inventory they beheld. If you are ever in New South Wales, see Tony and load up on those WLA parts you have always dreamed of.

We also got to spend 4 days at the shop of Steve "The Genius" Raffils and dig through all the amazing work he is creating in New Zealand. Right now, he is on the downward swing of creating 6 perfect late 8 valves that will undoubtly race against each other sometime soon. Here I am holding a real keystone 1927 8-valve frame in my left hand and a real 1917"M" racing frame in my right. Heavy shit!

 

8-Valve and M-frames 

 Real 1915-1916 Exhaust port 8-valve cylinder

 

 

 Real C-port 8-Valve Cylinder

 

 Real NOS! 8-valve oval port cylinders

 

 Raw C & Oval port 8-valve castings.

 

 Steve's one car shed machine shop, with Brough Superior frames in progress

 

 Diane and I in Steves storage Shed.

 

 Redfern Museum Floor.

 

More at Redfern

 

 Digging in the early stuff.

 

 Nice early cylinder and valve pocket, (No I didn't take them home!)

 

 Stacks of NOS Walla parts!

 

 The front door of the old Pharmacy!

 

 Awesome PurpleTurnip Eater!

 

Nice Original "Durty Nine!"

Barber Vintage Video!

Podium Ride!

 

Back from Alabama and what a trip! If it could go wrong it did! Got the truck and trailer stuck in the Alabama Mud on Friday morning but our good friend Southern Andy "yanked" us out! Off to Barber only to find out we had no space in the pits and no one was going to let us in! So our accomodations were less than desirable. With a total of 5 minutes prep time reading about the track in the track brochure, we waited for the AMCA Confederate boys to pick us up out in the garbage truck lot. At the track we warmed the bike up and it was running great. We shoved Bruce off at the green flag and off he went! After lap one he was in 5th place, but Matt Walksler blew a tire forcing him out of the lead. With Joe Gardella and Matt's dad Dale battling for the lead Bruce held tight to 4th place. With Dale edging Joe out at the finish line, Bruce made the run on third place rider also on an Indian twin. Bruce caught him on the final straight to take the flag! Many thanks to our good friend and great support from Scott Byrd who came all the way from Arkansas.

 

Turd Place!

 

 

 

Crossing the finish line!

 

 

 Bruce and David Lloyd, the race promoter.

 

Pre-Race prep!

Our own special Paddock!

Barber here we come!

The 1912 Indian is finally finished, my first trip to the dark side is complete. I am still waiting on a motor sprocket to cut some chain for the primary and final drive, but outside of that it is done. I can deliver it to my customer at Davenport, stop by the booth and take a look.

Harley vs. indian wars live!



Knucklehead Reunion After-party!

After a great day at the Harley-Davidson Museum's Wild Ones Weekend, the crew made their way out to my crib for a bit of an after bash. I had smoked 40lbs. of pork and had a 1/2 barrel of Point Special on tap. Lots of great Knucks, Pans, Flats and Shovels made it out here and we went into the wee hours. "Coil Spring Mike" even brought out Hank The Cranks old scratch -signed '46. Many people famous and Non- Famous have carved their name into that sheet metal over the years. Thanks to the Knucklehead Co. Ltd. and all that came from far and wide and we will see you all next year!

 Nice Lineup!

 1951 WL Original Paint

 Hank The Crank's ol' Knuck!

 South Dakota Knucks!

Hanks Knuck!

Millers in Milwaukee 2012

Every year the Harry A. Miller Club gets together for their annual reunion at The Milwaukee Mile. This year was a real treat as it was the 100th Anniversary of the Vanderbilt Cup held here in Milwaukee in 1912. I spent the day Friday watching them run, what a treat, here are some pics. Video to follow!