Bonneville Bikes: 7373 - Custom Triumph

The owner Doug Flaherty and his team Randy, Tiffany, and Marie were nice enough to discuss the bike with me.  This is a pushrod Triumph powered bike running on gas.  1971 Triumph TR-25W engine.  This is 3rd year it has run.  In the previous 2 years it hasn't made a timed pass.  The chassis is completly home built over 2 months.  They came in from Monterey, Calif.

1st Run:  Doug had some technical difficulty and had to pull off early.  Not to sound too misty eyed here, but Doug and his team do make me think of the World's Fastest Indian and Burt Munroe.  He has done it all from the ground up in his back yard.  Out of everybody here, I am pulling for Doug and 7373 more than anyone.  Good luck Doug!

WARDROBE MALFUNCTION!!!  Just spoke with Doug, and yesterday's fouled run was due to his leathers being sucked into the intake!!!  :-)  Anything can happen.  He had to replace some fouled plugs due to the overly rich condition but he is in line ready for run 2.  Can't wait to see him go.

Run 2:  CONGRATULATIONS DOUG!!!  It appears that Doug has made his clean rookie pass.  I will check to confirm but I did here him get all 4 gears and the bike sounded clean.  :-)

CONFIRMED:  Doug has his rookie run out of the way running 72MPH on a 91MPH record.  Reports from his crew are that the bike ran really strong and he was only pulling 3/4 throttle so there is more in the tank.  There was another wardrobe malfunction during this run where apparently Doug's leathers unzipped during the run and he was burning his junk off on the tank!!!  They're planning on getting the bike back to the pits and hopefully will get a qualifying run in later today.  Great job Doug and crew.

Run 3:  On Wednesday Doug and team went after the third run.  It looked good and the engine sounded clean up through 3rd gear.  After third I could not hear the engine as other cars were warming at the line.  Had I been able to hear I would have heard the engine bog in 4th and Doug pull off early.  Upon return to the pits a number of problems were discovered.  Along with a siezed primary drive chain Doug had also noticed that the intake valve was leaking.  Upon further inspection it was noticed that he had about .750 of an inch of valve lash on the intake valve instead of the normal .010 inch of lash and on further inspection it was noticed that the intake valve spring was broken.  But true to the nature of Doug and his team that I have learned over these past 4 days, they left the salt with a smile on their faces and their heads held high, they achieved their goal of having a clean pass.  I can't wait to see them run next year!