“You just have to trust that you can go as quickly as possible and that you will be in order on the other side,” says Indian’s Bagger Racing champion Tyler O Working with S&S Performance and Indian’s Factory-supported demolition crew racing team, and driving on an adapted version of his typical two-time championship-winning Motoamerica King of the Baggers Road Course Bike, Tyler has just wrote a new chapter in the racing history of the American motorcycle maker. Not only did he establish a new AMA Land Speed Record, but he was ok on the other side.
“Have fun, go fast, make Burt proud!” Was the call when O’hara shot from the starting line on the way to a record-knocking 192 miles per hour. In contrast to the historically important “the world’s fastest Indian” Munro runs in the sixties, O’hara ran without completely streamlining on a much larger motorcycle and managed to go even faster than Burt’s fastest run of 191 miles per hour in 1969. That is one of the biggest feelings in the world.
There is simply something about the Bonneville flats. As soon as the salt gets his hooks in you, it is an addiction that makes you return for more. Mr. Munro himself continued to come back year after year until without speed, money, nitromethane and pistons to blow up. This is the altar of the gods of speed and they demand their annual pilgrimage to prove your loyalty. I don’t think Indian is finished with this album, I don’t think Tyler O’hara is ready with this album, and I don’t think the salt is ready with one of them.
The Bonneville dredger
With a few tweaks and second point at 196 miles per hour to set the class record, Tyler and the demolition team are firmly in the record books of the American Motorcycle Association with a 2000cc APS-AG (that is class A for “Special Construction Motorcycles”, PS for ” 194,384 miles per hour. The previous record in the class was determined by a J. angerer on board a triumph in 1972, with 169,828 miles per hour. Of course, it took a full racing bike supported by the factory to take the record, but they took almost 25 miles per hour!
What is it like to ride on the salt on a 600 pound modified Indian challenger? In Tyler’s own words it reads as poetry. “You know, we are there and you take the sixth equipment. You lean in it and you get the green flag and you do what you can do, to go as quickly as you can. The bike goes from left to right and your mind tells you to roll over it. Line.”
With a few tweaks I bet that this team could come back in 2026 and Tyler could get club in the 200 miles per hour. I really hope they do that. Make Burt proud. Do the double ton.
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