Guthrie Swings “The Hammer”
By Don Smith
Ixf you have followed land speed racing for any amount of time you have no doubt heard of Scott Guthrie. Guthrie, also known as “The Sultan of Speed” has made hundreds of passes over the magical 200mph barrier that many hold so dear. Although he has spent most of his illustrious career in the saddle doing his own work as throttle man, he is now focusing his time in a new role as team owner and mentor. After setting hundreds of records personally at Maxton and Bonneville (he is also 200mph club members at both as well as at Texas where he went 251mph) he decided it is his time to give back to the sport he loves and at the same time transfer some of his vast knowledge to the next generation of racers.
For 2009, Guthrie assembled his dream team of riders, tuners, and crew chief and armed with a stable full of fast bikes including “The Hammer-Guthrie’s latest bike. Guthrie’s team has 5 five turbo Hayabusas, (four of which have posted over 240 MPH, and two over 250 MPH) intending to make his mark as a team owner. For the first half of 2009 he asked Wayne Pollack (fellow 250mph club member) to be his go to man in the saddle, but lingering injuries halted Wayne’s season, and the rider’s seat was empty. Guthrie had to go the bench for the big race – and Guthrie’s team has the biggest bench in Land Speed Racing.
Guthrie has been over 250 MPH, and is a former track record holder at Texas. Jason McVicar holds the Bonneville record over 250 MPH, Pollack is over 250 MPH, as are Shane Stubbs and Joe Amo. In addition, tuner Terry Kizer, Crew Chief Todd Dross and techie Debbie Dross are 200 MPH Club members. Shane Stubbs was tapped for Loring's inaugural event to ride the fastest bike known as “The Hammer”.
The Hammer is a 600+ hp turbo Hayabusa that has been setup and tuned by Todd Dross and Debbie Dross of Twin Jugs Racing. According to Guthrie there are really only two kinds of bikes used in land speed racing. “The Hayabusa and the not-a-busa”. The Hammer is fitted with a RCC Ultra Turbo kit and was originally built by the late Dave Owen one of the original “dream team” members before his untimely death last year. With their sights set firmly on the Loring Timing association’s first ever event at the fantastic 15,000 foot runway in Maine, the team knew they would have the best chance ever to drive their stake in the ground and post up some big numbers. The event was held July 31st and August 1st and with the long track it allowed competitors to run a 1.5 mile distance for acceleration with the last 132’ timed with sophisticated Tag Heuer timing lights.
Loring Air Force Base is located 400 miles north of Boston in the upper tip of Maine right at the Canadian border. Nobody else ends up there except by mistake and for competitors interested in racing it meant a long drive from anywhere. For Todd and Debbie who drove the bike and associated equipment to the track, it meant a 900 + mile drive from their shop in Virginia.
The event began on Saturday and since it was the Loring Timing Association’s first meet, they required everyone to make some licensing passes. Even those that had an A or AA licenses at Maxton or Bonneville still had to prove their mettle to the officials for safety purposes. This also gave Shane some seat time since this was his first opportunity to ride the bike. Shane, who is a professional motorcycle mechanic, also spends a lot of his free time on fast bikes. He has drag raced, land speed raced, and road raced. Going fast is nothing new for the 36 year old Texan who was accompanied by his wife Nadia. When your main goal for the weekend is going faster than anyone has ever gone on a streetbike anywhere in the world, the rider doesn’t need a lot of distractions so having his wife with him was a big help according to Shane. There are a lot of little things to attend to and Shane needed to keep his focus on racing.
Under the watchful eye of Guthrie his new protégé Stubbs ended the first day with a best pass of 240mph. Fast for sure, but not enough by a long shot either. Conditions were good for the meet as would be expected this far north. Even in July-August, this location ensured that temps would rarely exceed the low 80s for the weekend. After some basic maintenance on the bike and a thorough review of the data by Todd and Scott, they knew that more was in the bike, a lot more.
Day two came and The Hammer would not disappoint. Before the clock hit 10:00 am Shane was back at the line and ready to go again. Amazingly, the bike sounds fairly stock as the tire warmers were pulled off and Shane stood ready to make history. Without delay the bike started making its way down the super smooth course. I was positioned at the finish line some 7500’ feet away from where it started and I heard it ripping through the gears. Actually the first few shifts have to come at fairly low rpms because it simply makes too much power to maintain traction and keep the front wheel down on the 330’ wide runway. Once in 4th gear I could start to see the bike appearing over the horizon. When I heard 5th gear engage I knew it was on. The Hammer looked like a big leopard charging, seeking its prey. Sitting low in its stance, with Shane burying himself behind the windscreen hunting for a safe place to reside as the air ripped by him at well over 240mph. The bike was screaming as it approached the rev limiter again. Finally sixth gear was called upon by Shane and once again the engine and turbo were howling.
I have attended numerous land speed events over the last six years but none of them prepared me for what I was about to see and hear. The bike is so fast that even panning the camera in order to keep the land based missile in frame was almost impossible. I pressed the shutter button on the Nikon and prayed that I could keep up. With my shutter firing wildly as the bike passed me I distinctly remember hearing the envelope of air that Shane was pushing ahead of his bike and thinking it sounded like a class 5 tornado.
Just as quickly as he appeared Shane and The Hammer disappeared out of my sight as they headed down the remaining 5500’ of runway. I dropped my camera and waited for the announcement. The call was 260.990mph. I could not contain myself nor could the others at the timing tower. We had just witnessed the fastest open wheel motorcycle pass in North America, ever !!
Just for reference I looked up a class 5 tornado and it gives you some idea of what 261mph really is. According to the Fujita scale, a class 5 tornado ranges from 261-318mph and is called “Incredible Tornado”. Fujita goes on to describe the typical damage from such an event as follows. “Strong frame houses lifted off foundations and carried considerable distances to disintegrate; automobile sized missiles fly through the air in excess of 100 meters; trees debarked; steel re-inforced concrete structures badly damaged.” Trees are de-barked at 261mph but somehow Shane manages to stay on the motorcycle
I jumped into my rental car and headed back to the pit area to catch up with Shane and crew. At the tech inspection area I see the rest of the team and as expected the celebration is already under way. Unlike a baseball game where fireworks are sent into the air when something as mundane as a home run is hit, land speed racing is about people and machines. That means no fireworks, no trophy girls and no Cristal champagne. Instead I see Guthrie, Shane, Nadia and both of the Dross clan as well as the tech crew with smiles on every face. Shane seemed composed for someone that just made history, though later tears would admit that it was a very emotional time for him.
The team then returned to the high-tech race rig and within minutes laptops were busy downloading data and the brain trust of the team headed into the race trailer where a large flat-screen monitor hung. Guthrie, Shane, Debbie and Todd huddled close around the screen and they eagerly pointed to various sections of the run and whisperd comments back and forth to each other. Though I was too far away to get any details, I could sense that they liked what they saw. Finally, I heard someone say, “wait until tomorrow” !! The team exited the trailer and like a swarm of bees they began working on the bike. The rear wheel came off along with the chain. Guthrie, Shane and Todd were all looking, wrenching and asking each other questions as they double and triple checked everything.
Tomorrow finally arrived and as soon as the officials were ready Shane was saddled up on the Guthrie Racing machine and Todd and Debbie both helped him prepare. Tire warmers heated the tires until they reached the proper temperature. While waiting for everything to get ready, a few other riders made passes before them. Finally Shane was ready once again to pound the eight foot thick pavement with The Hammer.
By this time I had headed down to the finish line and a few minutes later I heard Shane’s number called again. The timers and other photographers at shutdown all turned their attention to the finish line and once again we heard the turbo Busa’ ripping down the track. Just as before the gears came quickly, maybe even more quickly. Within a few seconds the bike was visible again. When the radio came to life, we all strained to hear the speed as the announcer barked out 265.181mph. When Guthrie swings “The Hammer”, records get broken.
If the earlier 260.990 had not made enough of a statement by being the fastest recorded motorcycle pass then surely the 265mph run did. It was indeed the fastest official record for a streetbike in the world. Team Guthrie had done their job and now everyone could savor the moment. To anyone else, going 265mph would have completely satisfied their need for speed, but subsequent to the event Guthrie has announced that “The Hammer” was retired and work has already started on the sequel which will be called “The Anvil”. I can’t even imagine someone going faster than 265mph on an open-wheel- motorcycle but apparently Guthrie can. I guess that is why he is known as “The Sultan of Speed”.
The Hammer Crew
Scott Guthrie /Rider/Owner 200 Mph Club Member
Todd Dross /Rider/Crew Chief 200 Mph Club Member
Debbie Dross /Rider/Data 200 Mph Club Member
Shane Stubbs /Rider/Builder 200 Mph Club Member
Wayne Pollack /Rider/Fabrication 200 Mph Club Member
Jay Barker /Fabrication 200 Mph Club Member
Joe Amo /Rider/Aero 200 Mph Club Member
Terry Kizer /Rider/Builder 200 Mph Club Member
Jason McVicar /Rider/Builder 200 Mph Club Member
Dave Owen,deceased /Builder/Tuner 200 Mph Club Member
E. Don Smith /Lens/Words 200 Mph Club Member
