//ArrowChat Code
Page 34 of 36 FirstFirst ... 24 32 33 34 35 36 LastLast
Results 496 to 510 of 536

Thread: Atc 4 Me

  1. #496
    Outlaw #24's Avatar
    Outlaw #24 is offline At The Back Of The Pack Arm chair racerAt the back of the pack
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Iowa
    --
    364
    Mike I just finished reading this entire thread and realized you haven't been on here in over a year. I have a question, Do you remember the national Mx in Des Moines, Iowa at the State Fair grounds? And If you do, can you recall the situation that the team had as far as incorporating the first water cooled units being retrofitted into the 200x frames? How did you finish at that race? Also do you remember Rodger Berman and Mike Elsberry? We would All like to see you come to Trike Fest in June!

  2. #497
    phantomtracer's Avatar
    phantomtracer is offline At The Back Of The Pack Arm chair racerAt the back of the pack
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Pa
    --
    392
    Mike,
    In an interview that Dean Sundahl did for "3 & 4 Wheel Action" June 1985 he sounded really upset with Honda and says there was a teammate that basically got him thrown off the team. Do you recall this,? what happened and who was he referring to?
    Great stories.

  3. #498
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Hoffman Minnesota
    --
    135
    Mike hasnt been on since 2012
    1982 big red
    1974 atc 90
    Life is hard, but its harder if you're stupid - John Wayne

  4. #499
    phantomtracer's Avatar
    phantomtracer is offline At The Back Of The Pack Arm chair racerAt the back of the pack
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Pa
    --
    392
    I just read the December 1985 Dirt Wheels, they have a much different account of the events. They state that Marty Hart cut the course a bit after Luce got stuck.
    Do you know for a fact that team Honda drove him to a spot on the course and dropped him off?
    After all, you were racing at the time, how could you know?
    Don't get me wrong, I love the stories.
    It just seems so hard to believe.



    Quote Originally Posted by CoeShow View Post
    Hey every one! I'll try to shed SOME of the crap that happened in 1985 and answer some other questions. I warn that this may get long.........

    Curtis,

    Harry Klemm worked with me individually(in secret) and we tested some very good stuff. At the time Honda had sent over a number of specially designed WORKS HIPO cylinders that would bolt on and were ALMOST indistinguishable from the stockers. While Harry's stuff was excellent, using everything of his on top of one of the WORKS cylinders made even better power. Bill's helped me big time with the 3 wheelers and then more when I was running some one-off quads for Yamaha.

    The late Mickey Thompson was quite a salesman! He talked Yamaha into sponsoring into his Off-Road Gran Prix, and then came back and said,"Oh by the way, displacement limits for the quad racers is 250cc!! Yamaha was anticipating being able to race Banshees! No luck. Instead, My brother modified the Banshee frames to accept YZ250 engines. He built 2 for myself and another for Don Turk who raced with some success for a few years.

    Nobody in their right mind wanted to spend any time working on something that they couldn't turn around and market for sale. Bill's still came to my rescue and made some Excellent hand built pipes for my YZ powered Banshees and for the one off Blaster I raced at a few races too. Unfortunately The Yamaha's were never as competitive as I would have liked because they were so different and every thing was unique to them.

    For the last National of the year at San Jose in 1985, Chuck gathered together all of the parts for us to test and come up with a combo that we liked best. The testing session was held at Corona Raceway and was just incredible. While typical testing sessions were sometimes like splitting hairs to tell a difference, this day everything we tried kept making the trike faster and faster and faster.

    When we left the raceway, I was ecstatic at how the trike was running. I KNEW I would be at the front at San Jose NO question. I had just come off of back to back victories at the last two Nationals and was in top form as well.

    The cylinder that we chose for this race was a VERY custom reworked cylinder. The transfer ports were all epoxied up and recontoured and were VISIBLY modified. There was a boat load of work done to this cylinder. Chuck Miller my mechanic (and now current Honda Race Team Manager!) was convinced that the trike was clearly the best we had (using Turner components) for the season. The stopwatch doesn't lie. Somehow Steve Carter(Marty's mechanic) and Paul Turner felt that this cylinder was no good as it had clearly been run by them prior to making into our "pile" of leftovers for us to test.

    Well, San Jose comes and we go out and set fast time in practice and Marty is struggling. I had absolutley no issue's other than some slight jetting changes that just made my trike even faster. We were looking forward to wining three in a row!

    Chuck and I went to Sizzler that evening for dinner. Afterwards we went back to our hotel and were ready to call it a day. We were in my rental car when we came back to the Hotel and when we got there our Honda Box Van was GONE!!

    We both went into a slight panic and Chuck started making frantic calls before calling the Police and reporting it stolen. Just about this time, Wes McCoy, the team manager got ahold of Chuck and informed him that the van wasn't stolen.
    We both felt a huge relief, but then we asked, "Were is our van then?"

    We were informed that Marty was unhappy with how his trike was running, and that his mechanic just wanted to "measure out" my top-end to possibly make a duplicate for Marty to try early the next day. I didn't like the sound of how things were going..... Not the night before the last NAtional of the year!! Wes said "Don't worry, everything will be fine" "Just go and get a good night rest". I did not like it.

    Chuck and I drove over to where Paul Turner had a friend with a shop there in San Jose. Nobody expected us to show up there. We parked about a block away and walked up to the open doors of this shop. Heres Wes, Steve, and Paul Turner all thrashing about and there's MY 3 WHEELER all torn apart!! I was LIVID! I started yelling at them asking WTF were they doing!! They just kept saying that they wanted to "copy" it so that Marty might be more competitive. Then Steve gets in my face saying I should be more of a team player and other crap like that. I had been getting royally screwed over for the entire year using the crap Paul Turner/ left over parts. I had it up to here with his and Steve Carter's BS. I let it fly.

    Well, I drive to the race track the following morning and Chuck can't even look me in the eye and looks as if he is really digusted. I get my riding gear on and when I look my trike over it's got a completly different topend on it!! I couldn't F**** believe it!! Chuck assembled my trike with a brand new top end, with no time on it. It promptly stuck in the first practice session. MY heat race just happened to be the first one of the morning. Chuck thrashed like a madman to put on another top end. In his rush, he assembled the engine with another cylinder that had been bored first over, and without realizing it, he put it together with a standard size piston. When I kicked it over it did start, but you can imagine what it sounded like. They promptly called my race to the start and I don't really remember where I finished. Its amazing the thing ran at all By now I'm on fire!

    In between races I worked my way over to Marty's area. (we were supposed to be a team, but Steve and Marty always parked away form the rest of Team Honda) Anyway, they see me coming and Wes and Steve rush over to keep me away. Nothing could, and I got close enough to see it. There it was in all its Glory!! Martys trike had MY TOP END AND PIPE mounted. I was stunned to say the least!

    I was so frustrated with all the turn of events I just couldn't help it and I lost it. I was between tears and yelling for what seemed like minutes. The wind had completly left my sails thats for sure. All I could think of was how political this season had become, and how it wasn't any fun anymore, and how much of a TEAM it wasn't.

    I can't remember my finish at that race (anybody know?) By the main Chuck had a decent combo bolted up, but I had like the last pick of the back row to start in the main.

    My finish still would have made me the points champion anyway, but Honda changed the points AGAIN to somehow allow Marty to collect a bogus championship. Even the Kawasaki guys knew it was all rigged. I did come away with a big pay check for the season, some consolation, but I still know I was the 1985 250 class champion.

    It still gripes me to this day. Can you tell ?

    Another story?? This is where it really got going and cooking. OK

    At the Loretta Lynn's National earlier that year(85) It was a two race deal. The first day was the motocross race which I won. I went 2-1 to Marty's 1-2, giving me the win. The next day was the woods race. I don't know how many of you out there ever ran one of the early woods races, but let me tell you, the start is KEY. After you enter the woods it is single file, no exceptions. There are very few places to pass if you can, but not many.

    Donny Luce gets the holeshot and is riding very well. I think I'm in 4th or 5th and making good time. It is a long race. 3 hours or something. Guess what? These races are dead engine start. When the flag drops, you have to kick over your machine and go! Unknown to me at the start, Marty's trike fouls the plug and does NOT START! By the time his mechanic figures out he has a fouled plug its 5+ minutes later.

    Well, they get this BIG Idea thinking NO one will know. They throw Marty's trike in his box van and take it down the road some miles to where the course comes out near the road. They unload, throw in a new plug, and they wait until they can hear racers approaching. Then Marty takes off..... IN THE LEAD! Since it is such a long race you have to pit for fuel and goggles and stuff. Donny held the lead from the start, and I was being filled in during the pit stops of my positions and of the mounting fiasco with Marty and the race. It was clear that some serious stuff was going to hit the fan.

    Marty stayed in front and Donny was credited for second place and I was third I believe at the finish. Kawasaki had watched the stuff with Marty unfold and they protested.

    The Promoter (Dave Coombs) was a very honorable guy, but Honda had such an influence on these promotors that he said he couldn't act appropriately. He said that Marty SHOULD be DQ'd, and that Donny should be the victor, and me second.

    After hours of behind the scene gesturing, they finally came out with the results. Donny first, MARTY SECOND and me third. Still totally bogus!!! I actually pulled in to the Kawasaki pits after the race because I was so mad at what was happening!

    Chuck informed me that if Marty didn't get at least 2nd place, he would have no shot at the points title. (too bad)

    I still went out and won the Baja 1000 as my final race effort for Honda in November. My fourth BAJA 1000 victory in as many years. As a consolation, The Honda "A" team (Marty, Wax, Curtis Sparks) for the 1000 had what was supposed to be the fastest off road 250R of all time. Turner and Carter spent untold amount of time and effort building this missle that was supposed to spank everything and set a land speed record. My team, consisting of Tracy Dickson, Steve Wright and myself (B Team) had a few Turner components and we went testing right threre in Baja. We quickly learned that our stock pre-runners were faster than our Turner "prepped" race trike! We started swapping on stock OEM parts onto the race trike until it was faster than out worn out pre-runners. That is what we entered and used to win the Baja 1000 that year. What happened to the "A" team?
    Seems as though they broke down early in the race. Anyway, it was a sweet victory and my last ride for Team Honda ATC.

    After reading some of these posts, it may appear as though I'm bitter and may have a poor outlook. I do not. Not one tiny bit. The good times clearly outnumbered the bad. I have no ill feelings about Marty Hart either. He was an excellent racer, but there were some agonizing events towards the end of my racing career at Honda that he was involved with, along with some troubling personal issues with the ATC Team mangement and my feelings of being handicapped with "lesser" performance equipment from Paul Turner.

    Mike

  5. #500
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Montana
    --
    857
    WoW.......what a recap of the ending events !it seems in all Racing, Stuff goes on !!! Mike Coe ......Ya did Good!!!!!!! Ol Deuce
    DO the Best With What you got !



    My Feed back :cool

  6. #501
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    San Diego
    --
    192
    Hello to all you three wheeler enthusiasts! Yea, I know it's been some time since I've check in but here I am to answer some of your questions.

    Joseph Farrow: Thanks for posting that old photo of me. The other person facing you in the photo was our race team manager, Wes McCoy. To answer your question as to "Who was the fastest rider on the hard tails", well it's hard to say. There were numerous classes and some of the early racers weren't as determined as others and did it for fun and for the camaraderie. That being said, Dean Sundahl, Mark Waxeldorfer and Curtis Sparks were likely the most consistently fast of the early days and on open class displacement hard tails. I was very competitive and won many races in the more popular 138cc class in the San Diego area. I would also often enter into the open class races after my class had finished and won a few times as well.

    Outlaw 24: I remember the Iowa race a bit. If memory serves, I won my heat race. I do not recall how I did in the main? I remember Rodger Berman but don't recall a Mike Elsberry, sorry. I also do not recall our team ever retrofitting any watercooled engines into 200X frames. Most of the custom stuff was built on one off chassis's using 200X and other production parts like tanks, fenders and seats. I know this as my brother Sam fabricated many of those frames. I will get out to Indiana one of these days.

    Phantomracer: I do not recall that particular Deab Sundahl article, sorry. As far as the facts concerning Marty's mechanic loading up his machine and hauling down the road a way's, that info came to me first by my mechanic Chuck Miller and then by many other witnesses after the race. If you read the entire post I mention that I learned about it during pit stops. I got to whitin striking distance of Donny towards the end of the race and knew he was in the lead. I never saw Marty until after the race was over. And as I posted, Team Kawasaki watched it all go down and protested. This was the only reason Donny got his well deserved win. How Marty still got second was the mystery. I learned more about what was unfolding at the end of the race. I was so pissed I went and rode into the Kawasaki pits. It was such BS. Marty should have been DQ'd. In fact, I talked directly to Dave Coombs (RIP) afterward. He felt overwhelmed by the pressure that Wes McCoy was laying on him about getting future MOTORCYCLE events if he didn't do what Wes wanted, which was to have Marty in second place. You also mention reading in a magazine article about Donny getting stuck? I don't recall that happening. Perhaps it did and thats what allowed me to close up the gap near the end of the race? I hope that clears up any questions there. I think Jimmy White was also in that woods race but don't recall how or if he finished.

    I'll try to check in more often. Any more questions? Bring em on...

  7. #502
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    San Diego
    --
    192
    Hi Glamy. I don't quite understand your question.

  8. #503
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    House Springs MO
    --
    5,496
    Welcome back Mike. I think I've read this thread about ten times over the years and it never gets old.Thank you.

  9. #504
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Surprise, AZ
    --
    2,430
    Hello, Mike welcome back we missed you!

    A forum member on here (Oscar Mayer) and I are building X2 Honda 350X's for BAJA racing (Highly modified) I was wondering if you could provide more info & details on the Honda tarantula 250r there is very, very little info online for this trike.
    Email- onformula1@hotmail.com Rebuilt, Revalved, custom springs, lowering, forks & shocks, Custom Suspension, all brands, 2-3-4 wheeler's- PM or Email with questions.

    ***Check out my album for cool pictures*** http://www.3wheelerworld.com/album.php?albumid=2527

    As always- Everything I post is IMHO.

  10. #505
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    Chico,CA
    --
    473
    Hi Mike long time no see, hope life has been treating you well.

    Maybe you can give your opinion on something my friend Milner and i are are discussing and that is flat track tires vs quad knobbies on the rear of a race three wheeler. Personally i do not think huge chunky knobs are ever the correct choose because of how much they would reduce corner entrance speed.

    In your experience when would you reach for a tire like a ITP Holeshot or a Turf Tamer instead of something like a heavily groove hoosier or Ohtsu H track on a proper race track (we are not talking about desert or mud racing).

    CoeShow leading the pack

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	img017.jpg 
Views:	45 
Size:	301.5 KB 
ID:	223291

  11. #506
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Surprise, AZ
    --
    2,430
    Well the site is working great, but he has not returned.
    Email- onformula1@hotmail.com Rebuilt, Revalved, custom springs, lowering, forks & shocks, Custom Suspension, all brands, 2-3-4 wheeler's- PM or Email with questions.

    ***Check out my album for cool pictures*** http://www.3wheelerworld.com/album.php?albumid=2527

    As always- Everything I post is IMHO.

  12. #507
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    San Diego
    --
    192
    Hello 3 wheeler enthusiasts. Time to answer your inquiries.
    Glamy. I don't recall riding a Tecate except for a couple of times. I don't recall ever doing any development testing with one? Perhaps I've forgotten, but I don't remember doing anything with Kawasaki's.

    onformula1. As with the above reply, I don't recall a Tarantula ATC250R.

    John Neary... You're right, long time no see! I hope all is well with you and your family. As far as your question, your buddy should take your word and past experience for the answer. On any proper race track, I don't think a knobby type tire would ever be a good choice. In our time I think Hoosier always had a tire and compound that would work great for most conditions. I don't feel Ohtsu ever had a great tire at any of the events. We were forced to run them. I can tell you for certain I would have won a lot more races if I could have used Hoosiers! If I'm not mistaken, that's you on the number 26 machine in the photo you posted? Nice to hear form you John.

  13. #508
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Surprise, AZ
    --
    2,430
    Ok, I thought you might has had some info on it.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	truntula 250r.jpg 
Views:	43 
Size:	6.6 KB 
ID:	224820
    Email- onformula1@hotmail.com Rebuilt, Revalved, custom springs, lowering, forks & shocks, Custom Suspension, all brands, 2-3-4 wheeler's- PM or Email with questions.

    ***Check out my album for cool pictures*** http://www.3wheelerworld.com/album.php?albumid=2527

    As always- Everything I post is IMHO.

  14. #509
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Surprise, AZ
    --
    2,430
    I have a question, let's pretend it is 1985-86 and you could race anything you wanted. Cost is no issue.

    What trike would you choose?

    What engine package/tuner?

    What suspension package?
    Email- onformula1@hotmail.com Rebuilt, Revalved, custom springs, lowering, forks & shocks, Custom Suspension, all brands, 2-3-4 wheeler's- PM or Email with questions.

    ***Check out my album for cool pictures*** http://www.3wheelerworld.com/album.php?albumid=2527

    As always- Everything I post is IMHO.

  15. #510
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    San Diego
    --
    192
    Quote Originally Posted by onformula1 View Post
    I have a question, let's pretend it is 1985-86 and you could race anything you wanted. Cost is no issue.

    What trike would you choose? Honda

    What engine package/tuner? Klemm Research

    What suspension package?
    Reworked OEM forks and Ohlins shock. Just as back in the day.

//ArrowChat Integreation Code //