Whitney Brothers' Pikes Peak Story

Harley-Davidson Racing Sidecar

Our racing experiences at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb Nitrous Oxide, Bartels' H-D Motor, Fallen Records in '98. . . by Scott Whitney

	This is the story from 1998. To read the Whitney's 1999 story, click here.	Click photos for a larger view
What we started with Race Ready It's a blast no matter where you finish	Bike and Race last year For years, my brother Pete and I had heard about the great Pikes Peak Hill Climb race, and seen it on television. The opportunity for us to race there came in 1997. With the challenge of Pikes Peak before us, we had to come up with a bike to compete on for this special event. The one and only rule at the time for the sidecar class at Pikes Peak was: 4-STROKES ONLY. Our current sidecar was powered by a Honda CR500 2-stroke, so we had nothing legal to race at Pikes Peak. Years earlier we had built and raced a Harley-Davidson Sportster based rig in the Southern California motocross scene, with good results. The 2-stroke revolution eventually took over sidecar racing, and the Harley was retired from racing and sold in almost basket case condition to a collector. We tracked down the old Harley, and proposed to bring it back to it's old winning glory. The owner was extremely enthusiastic about the idea, and the next thing I knew I had an faintly familiar basket case of parts on the floor of my garage. The same dirt we left on it from it's last race in 1984 was still there. Many of the "racing" components from the Harley engine had been retained by my brother and later put onto his Sportster street bike. We took the engine from the street bike, and the borrowed sidecar frame, and proceeded to rebuild the race bike. The engine was a 1974 1000cc Sportster with aftermarket ThunderHeads. After untold late nights in the garage we arrived in Colorado Springs for the big event. After the first day of practice, it became obvious that we were way short on horsepower. Several of the other sidecar teams were going past us like we had a moped engine in our bike. Qualifying times put us 4th fastest, but way off the pace. On race day we felt like we were on a Sunday drive, holding the throttle wide open and waiting for something to happen. I was wishing our "moped" had pedals so we could help it go faster. With the race running from 9,400ft to 14,100ft altitude, horsepower was very hard to find. We managed to hold off the 3rd fastest qualifier, and the second fastest qualifier had tuning problems mid way up and fell off the pace. That put us in a very lucky 2nd place at the finish, but 46 seconds behind first place. The frustration of being beat when our throttle was wide open all the way up taught us a hard lesson. Don't go to Pikes Peak without horsepower. Riding skills can buy a few seconds here and there and keep you from going off the edge (a very scary thing in many places), but at Pikes Peak, horsepower rules! We vowed that 1998 would be different for us. Click here for dyno curves from 1974 motor	'74 Sportster with Thunderheads Race Ready At the finish - 1997
	New Plan For 1998, one additional rule was added for the sidecar class. Engines must be 750cc minimum. An odd rule, but nothing that affected us. Our plan for 1998 was to build the best Harley motor we could. With unbeatable torque, and power that would hook up well on the road surface, we knew we were still in great shape with a Harley. Though we would be much quicker with a new motor, we still had to make up the 46 seconds we were behind last year, and probably more considering improvements the competition would likely make. In 1997 we heard that one team had planned to bringing a turbocharged rig, though it didn't work out for them in the end, it still got our attention. In some of the car classes nitrous oxide is used as well as other exotic performance enhancements. Given our unpleasant experience in 1997, we were not going to let anyone surprise us with a bike that was faster than ours. Since turbos, nitrous oxide, and other enhancements were legal in the sidecar class, we had to do something to cover what the competition might do. It's too late if we find out on race day, so we did our homework and picked nitrous oxide. A double check with the race officials that it was OK, and our plan was complete.
New motor on the dyno at Bartels'	Bartels' H-D support With a new plan, we set out to make it all happen. Bill Bartels at Bartels' Harley-Davidson took up the challenge with the motor, and his crew delivered a beautiful 1200cc Sportster racing motor with enhancements to put us in the winner's circle. Dyno results showed a broad 80hp without the nitrous. A huge improvement over the 55hp we had in 1997. With this, it looked like we could make up the 46 seconds and then some. The nitrous was our insurance policy, though it came with many risks of it's own.	New motor

Map of course	The race course Course length 12.42 miles Starting point elevation 9,402 feet Finish line elevation 14,110 feet Vertical rise 4,708 feet Average grade 7 percent Maximum plus grade 10.5 percent Length of course made up of corners 42 percent Average speed for 14minute 34second run 51 mph	Action from 1997
	Strategy Our strategy was simple. We planned to dominate practice, dominate qualifying, and dominate the race. The nitrous oxide assembly would be out of sight in a backpack strapped down to the platform on the sidecar. Though the race officials and many Press folks knew what we had, our competition didn't.
Some other sidecars Team Barnett Bakker/Taylor 900cc Kawasaki Doherty/Brownlee BMW Formula I	1st practice day All the motorcycles get two days of practice prior to the race. The first day is on the upper half of the mountain, and the second day on the lower half. The top half has no trees, has steep drops off the edge of the road (with no guard-rails), and is bare dirt, with loose and hard sections. Everyone gets 4 to 5 runs up each half of the mountain. We use these runs to learn the course (there are a lot of turns to memorize), plan racing lines, and get our carburetor jetting fine tuned. We were running a 165 carburetor jet at sea level. The 145 jet we had calculated earlier looked perfect for the top of the mountain. We had just installed the bigger (untested) jets in the nitrous system, since our test at home was run with small ones. It was quite a thrill when Pete pressed the button the first time. In an instant we heard the loud roar from the exhaust and felt the addictive acceleration that can only be described as ONE HELL OF A BLAST! Everything was looking great. SuperFlow Corp had their portable dyno trackside for free testing. We put the sidecar on and ran it with and without the nitrous. See nitrous dyno results here. The nitrous oxide was not the only high-tech thing in our hands. We had a GPS receiver that could display the upcoming curves in the road as we went along. It's difficult to memorize 156 turns in the few practice runs we got. And to add to the challenge, several hair-pin turns are surprises with nasty straight-off cliffs over the edge. We get airborne when we race motocross, but at Pikes Peak if you get airborne you better have wings! We hoped to use the GPS display to key us in to some of those scary hair-pins. As it turned out, we got the road down pretty well and decided to leave the GPS for another adventure. Just when we thought everything was perfect, the sudden fuel starvation problem returned. None of the five things we had done to eliminate it worked. We had checked the fuel filter several times but never found any blockage. This time we cut it open to take a look. It appeared that there was some type of clear gooey stuff inside. No dirt, and it still seemed to flow fine, but it looked odd. We're still not sure what it is, but a new filter seems to have fixed the problem. On our last run we did a plug check. We may have been hallucinating, but it looked like there may be some aluminum residue on the plug. We decided to save the remainder of the nitrous for the race, and not risk blowing the engine in practice.	Some other sidecars Mike Burns Jr. Kawasaki Ninja Krohn - Honda EML Close Racing
Practice start Practice is fun too!	2nd day of practice & Qualifying The lower half of the mountain has a completely different feel to it. It's in the trees, the road surface is almost like pavement, and going off the edge can be a little more forgiving. Without the nitrous it was going to be interesting how we stacked up against the other sidecar teams. The last run is timed, and used as a qualifying run to determine starting position. In the race, the sidecars are started in rows of two bikes each. Our first few runs told us we were not going to have a problem with the competition. The Harley was hooking up very well, and had the power to win even without the nitrous. In the qualifying run we beat our closest competitor hands down. After qualifying, the local TV crew pulled us aside for interviews and a quick demonstration ride. Everything was going great.	Top mechanic Crew at work
For help with chassis, nitrous oxide, wheels, shocks, camera, testing, and other items, thanks to: JimManning-Fluidyne Larry in Simi, JohnInnis-TRW, KenJohnson-TRW, JimSpicher-AmHonda, JimPhelps-Boeing JeffAnders-Rocketdyne JackHoy-TRW, Adriana & Marka, Eric, R&R, Grandma, Craig, JT,...	Race morning The historic race is held each year on the 4th of July. All divisions run the race on the same day, including the motorcycles, cars, big-rig trucks, etc. Most of our crew had gone up the mountain to the best viewing location at Devil's Playground. It's about halfway up, and gives a great view of the road below. In the pits, we were in 2-way radio communication with them to keep them informed of what was going on. They also passed on road condition information to us. If needed, they were ready to give us information on pit boards as we passed by in the race. We set the bike out in the sun to help warm the nitrous bottles up. They need to be fairly warm to get optimum performance. The sidecars were scheduled to run at around 11:00. We rolled the bike out to the staging area, opened up the nitrous bottle valves, and awaited our time to start. Since we were fast qualifiers, we were on the front row of the sidecars, with our quickest competitor beside us. Each row is started with about a minute gap between. It's all on the clock, so the winner is decided by the timing system. Since the only sidecar that was close to our speed was on the same row with us, we would know if we were winning by seeing them ahead of us or behind. That made things easier.	Crew at Devils Plygnd
The start V-Twin Power Denver Post Colo. Springs Gazette	The Race It's a standing still flagged start, with a camera watching for jumped starts, and the timing device 5 yards out from the line. Our Harley got off the line fairly well and we drag raced to the first turn 50 yards out. We held an edge coming into the turn, and took the lead from there. We extended our lead through the next few turns before we came to the first straight stretch. That's where it was time to use the nitrous. A few quick blips on the button and we were well on our way to a record time. This is what we'd been preparing for over the past 52 weeks, and everything was going exactly as planned. Pure fun! At the Picnic Grounds straightaway they've got a radar gun recording top speeds. As we approached the turn before the straight, I felt we weren't carrying enough speed. I yelled at Pete, GO GO GO! In qualifying, we had been clocked at 81mph coming into the sharp 90 degree left at the end. We were doing a little better than that in the race. By this point, second place was just about out of sight behind us. As we gained altitude, pins and needles started to set in as adrenaline went up, and oxygen went down. It's not a serious problem, but our bodies were definitely feeling the altitude. As we traversed the switchbacks approaching Devils Playground, we could look down the mountain and see second place. They were too far back to even think about. From this point on, we were in it for the record, though we were staying conservative to avoid costly mistakes. As we came into Devil's Playground, Pete eyed his son on the side of the track and gave a wave. I was too busy hanging on. He could hit that nitrous button at any time, and I better have both hands on the grab bar for that. A mile out of the Playground, the oil breather cap popped off and oil started splashing out on Pete's chest and into my face. It wasn't a problem for the motor, but hot oil in the face is no fun. After a few more turns at less than top speed, Pete's solution was to hold his hand over the outlet every time we decelerated. That's when the oil would splash out. No problem, just keep going! By then I had ditched my goggles and was relying on my prescription sunglasses for protection. I wasn't enthused with Pete driving with only one hand coming into every turn, but the alternative was worse. We still got plenty of oil in the face, but it was manageable. Next was the sudden change in engine noise. Something was wrong with the sound of the motor. A quick look around and we both eyed the missing exhaust megaphone. It was now a spectator on the side of the track. No problem, just keep going! We carried on, both relieved since our first thought was that the nitrous had done in the motor. The unexpected wasn't over though. As I wiped the oil off my glasses, the lens popped out in my hand. I dropped the lens down the neck of my jersey and looked on with one eye. No problem, just keep going! All the distractions took some fun out of this part of the race, but we were still way ahead, and approaching the finish. A win would bring the fun back. We caught up to two solo bikes from the vintage class that had started two minutes ahead of us. The Press must have loved it, because two different papers put a photo of us passing the solo's in their Sunday sports sections. The next thing we knew the finish was upon us, and we took the checkered flag with two thumbs up. We had over a minute of celebration before the second place sidecar arrived. The others trickled in, but it was clear we had won without even checking the official times.	After 30 yards Pulling away Devils Plygnd view Devils Plygnd left Devils Plygnd right The finish
TV interview	More Press The radio crew barely gave us time to get our helmets off before they dove in for interviews. The race is broadcast live, so timeliness is important. We each gave our views as they questioned us about the race and our various bike problems. The local TV crew was next, and we eventually hooked up with the ESPN film crew as well. The fun had definitely returned!	Radio interview
At the top	Time at the top We spent the next few hours mingling with the other racers and watching the later classes race up the mountain. The officials eventually posted the race times. That was when we learned just how fast we had gone. We had smashed the record, taking 49 seconds off the old record for the sidecar class. Not bad considering a less than perfect run up the mountain. Our time was 14 minutes, 34 seconds, which was a minute and a half quicker than our 1997 time. Next year we'll be aiming for 14 minutes even! The last time a Harley-Davidson won (in any class) at Pikes Peak was when Bill Meier won the Open Pro (solo) class in 1954. We had moved that statistic forward by 44 years. Also, in the first ever Pikes Peak Hill Climb in 1916, the winning sidecar was a Harley. That winning statistic was moved forward by 82 years. We were pretty happy with our selection of motors. Happy 95th anniversary Harley-Davidson!	Without the support of Mike Taylor, owner of Barnett tool & Engineering and passenger on sidecar #989, none of the sidecars would have been at Pikes Peak. His sponsorship of the whole motorcycle division brought endless joy to the sidecar teams and all the other bikers. Thanks Mike, your support is greatly appreciated !
	High-fives on the way down It's a tradition that the spectators wait along the road for the competitors to come back down after all the racing is over. On the way down, all the racers get a zillion high-fives from the spectators lining the road. It's almost as fun coming down as it is going up! Pete kept making it a point to slow down and move closer to the crowd so I could lean out and high-five the shy younger kids standing further back from the road. Their eyes would light up when they saw we were close enough for a gentle hand slap. Of course the Harley fans stood out from the rest of the crowd with their unique show of enthusiasm as we passed by.	Coming down
Awards Presentation	Victory dinner and Awards That evening our whole crew celebrated the victory at Giuseppe's, the finest dining in Colorado Springs. The awards banquet was held the next morning. Again the whole gang joined in. We were first to receive our trophies from Sonny Anderson and Bill Brokaw, the organizers/officials for the motorcycle division. We got a little extra attention for being the only ones in the motorcycle division to break our class record. We joined the other competitors, crew, and race officials as all celebrated another great year at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

This page and it's contents Copyright © 1998-1999, Scott Whitney Photos provided by Whitney crew, JohnInnis, SidneyDickson, Ron&KrisLiss, Buche', and others. Last updated: Sat Feb 23 10:49:53 2008 PST