Cast of Characters:
Rick “Rocky” Dillinger -- Owner & Team leader - Pennsylvania.
Alex Pearsall -- East Coast Crew & Mechanic - Connecticut.
Jim "Crusty" Christie -- Hydraulics, Pneumatics, Electrical - West Wendover, Nevada.
Jamey Christie -- Den Mother, Host, Priceless - West Wendover, Nevada.
Lyle Landstrom -- Bus Support Crew - Moorhead, Minnesota.
Neal “Mort” Olson -- List Keeper - Hells gate, Montana.
Bob “FOE” Morril -- Technical  & Mechanic- Washington.
Chris “The F’ing Duke of Sheffield” Biglands -- Mechanic - London, UK.
Gary Compasso -- General Support - Idaho.
Michael “Minnesota Mike” Wend -- Mechanic - Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Ian Wend -- Bus Support Crew - Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Jeff Salzbrun -- Parachute Expert - Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Mark "Landshark" LaFleur -- Public Relations - Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Dave "Magoo" Retallack -- Bus Support Crew - Missoula, Montana.
Lars Nielsen -- Mechanic - Denmark.
Mike “Kiwi Mike” Tomas -- Support - Riverside, California.

Introduction

This year it finally happened. After several years of work, starts, do-overs, set backs, and dealing with life in general we finally got a chance to get to the salt.

Some might ask what took so long. There’s no short answer except to say there’s more to running a streamliner in a never before ran class at a location thousands of miles away with strict rules than most other motorcycle related endeavors.  I mean, it’s not like picking up a box of parts at a swap meet, and cobbling something together. There’s rules, logistics, and most of all the time and money to get things done.

Dream Catcher streamliner crew at the 2008 BUB event at Bonneville. Rocky in front. Behind standing from the left: Lyle, Magoo, Ian, Chris, Alex, Jeff, Lars, Crusty, Mort, Gary, FOE, Mike, and Landshark. Photo by Cycle Source.
 

History of the streamliner project and running updates on:
www.ironwigwam.com
 

I would be boring the reader to explain everything that lead up to now and why we didn’t make it until this year. What is more important is what happened within the last year and how we were all able to pull it together.  In order to do this, I’ll back up a bit, but not for long.

When Rocky first conceived of Dream Catcher and bought the liner chassis, nobody including himself, knew the amount of work it would take to actually run the thing on the salt. At the time a few people threw in with him including myself. I had been working with him on another Indian related project and thought it would be a neat thing to do. I can’t remember who asked who to be “on the team” but somehow I ended up being one of the guys. But being from Minnesota, there was little I could do except to donate a few things here and there. It was the same thing for most of the other guys on the team at that time. Rocky had to do all the work as everyone else lived a thousand miles away. To make matters worse, Rocky’s normal job has him traveling quite a bit for long periods of time and therefore he cannot spend as much time on the liner as he would like to.

Getting back to how we got back on track, requires me to tell the tale of how most of us got together: My little brother Eric, who has a finer taste in motorcycles than myself, is probably one of the first guys in the US to own and blow up a Husqvarna Super Motard.  As a result of this, he has a reputation of knowing how to sort out their problems and put them back together. A guy on the East Coast, Alex Pearsal, was having the same Motard problems my brother had and during the course of Googling Husky fixes, had come up with Eric’s name. That sort of lead somehow to Alex posting photos on my website’s BBS. Now, it’s an unwritten rule that when guys first start posting photos on my BBS,  the rest of us will ride them pretty hard about whatever they are posting. This has driven a few guys away but it has also kept the hardcore guys around. Well, Alex, who at the time knew nothing about Indians and probably knocked American V-Twins as a general rule, stuck in there. Eventually, he actually started to haggle us back and got some respect. He even took it a step further and started driving down to Pennsylvania on weekends  to help Rocky sort out some things on the liner. More than once he brought his uncle Ed White, an engineer who helped Rocky with the steering linkage and some of the other systems on the bike. I will say, if it weren’t for Alex getting things done on the east coast, we wouldn’t have made it this past summer.

With Alex and his uncle helping out, Rocky had more time to concentrate on the bus. As I said before, the bus seemed like a good idea, and it still is. But the problem was the particular bus Rocky bought on eBay a few years ago. It needed a totally new engine, brakes redone, and tires. Not to mention all the revamping of the interior and fabrication of a rear door to enable Dream Catcher to be loaded. Although I was not there, it’s my perception that most of the effort the past few years has been making the bus roadworthy. Although I’m really not too superstitious, I really think that bus is jinxed as we had nothing but problems with it during this trip which I’ll explain later.

As I said, my brother Eric was supposed to help me drive. But as a result of having a knack for destroying motorcycles, he’s got a degenerative spinal problem and cannot handle long drives. After learning he wasn’t going to make it with me, I was in a quagmire on recruiting a co-driver at the last minute as I hate long drives alone.  Landshark, the World’s Most Dangerous Indian Rider, is well known throughout the country and I decided to ask him if he was interested in making the drive with me as he lives just down I-29 from me. This was just before the big meet at Davenport, Iowa. He explained to me that the only way he would do it is if he had his Chief back together. He emailed me some photos of his rear cylinder exploding while he was riding up I-29 earlier that week. He said he’d get right on fixing his bike. At that time I knew I had hooked him.

Landshark and I were to meet at his house on Saturday night the same weekend as Davenport. Neil, FOE, Alex, Magoo and Chris, were to leave the next day, as their drive was shorter.

The Drive Out

The Shark and I did meet Saturday but by the time we unloaded his Davenport stuff and he took a shower it got to be pretty late so we didn’t hit the road until the next morning. We slept in late as we had a long drive ahead of us and finally hit the road on Sunday mid morning.  My truck was pretty loaded down with our bikes, tools, water, camping gear, etc. I even had a mig welder behind the passenger seat. There wasn’t much room in the truck for us to stretch out but at least we were well rested.

Our initial plan was to sort of zig zag south and west eventually getting to West Wendover, Nevada where we were going to meet up with the rest of the crew and stay with Neil’s friend Crusty who lives there. But I had been in pretty much regular contact with Rocky who told me he needs to stop every 30 to 40 miles and re-fill the radiator and he has to keep the speed down in the bus so it wouldn’t overheat. The Shark and I decided we had best stay on I-29 and go south until we hit I-80 and then turn west so we’d get on the same route as he was and eventually meet up.

We knew we needed a couple of head and a manifold gaskets but this was happening on a Sunday night when no automotive parts stores were open so we decided to press on with a bunch of water. With myself and the Shark following Rocky pressed on. I guess our way of thinking was if he could make it all the way from Pennsylvania, he could make it the rest of the way as long as the bus didn’t overheat, hence the water. Our goal that night was to make it into Wyoming where hopefully we’d find a town the next day who had out gaskets.

Well, it turns out Rocky was right. We did have to pull over about every 30 miles, and refill the radiator. After driving about 50 mph with numerous stops to fill the radiator, we decided to call it a night sometime around midnight in Wyoming. Landshark and I being cheapskates decided to sleep outside. Myself in the cab of the truck and the Shark slept under a tarp between the bus and my truck. This was OK as he’s used to sleeping in a teepee (literally!) and I’ve slept in my cab plenty of times.

All though the day, we stopped every 40 to 50 miles and had to refill the radiator and refill the water jugs if we got gas or there was a town or rest area that had water. In the meantime, the West Coast Crew consisting of Mort, FOE, Alex, and Chris, had left Missoula in two rigs: FOE’s bike hauler/camper and Mort’s truck and trailer. By this time, they knew of our plight and we figured we’d run into them somewhere in Utah. They were having no luck finding gaskets for us either. As luck would have it, it started to rain somewhere in mid Wyoming. This was actually good as the bus would run up to 60 miles or so between stops and travel about 10 miles an hour faster. Each time the bus stopped to refill water the Shark and I would pull in behind the bus and lend a hand. One time after the bus got started again and drove off we had just gotten back into my truck when the Wyoming Highway patrol pulled in behind us asking what we were up to. The officer was a young kid with a bunch of tattoos and looked like he rode a bike. We explained what we were up to: the bus, Bonneville, the bikes in the back of the truck, etc. and he let us go. I guess it wasn’t a good idea to stop on a bridge approach in Wyoming in a heavy rain but he was pretty cool about it.

What's the Bonneville Salt Flats?

As it turns out they were on their way to BUB. Landshark had already told them we were too and had introduced them to Rocky and the liner. By then I had invited them to join our crew. I think I sweetened the deal by telling them we had a place to stay. What I didn’t tell them was I had never met our host and he didn’t know I was inviting more people. They asked if I was serious and we told them we were. I gave them my number and told them to call once they had gotten into Wendover.

After hitting the road again our greatest concern was the mountains east of Salt Lake. We knew they would be hard on the bus the way it was running. Landshark and I decided to pass up the bus which was running consistent but slow, to go meet Caveman in Salt Lake where the bus would catch up with us.

We met Caveman at a restaurant but he had no luck finding our gasket kit. Salt Lake is a real big town too. I don’t know if it’s a Mormon thing, but none of the automotive shops had the gaskets Rocky needed. The bus arrived about 30 minutes later and we all had dinner. By this time the West Coast Crew was approaching Salt Lake from the north. They had decided to keep pressing on and not meet us at the restaurant. During the meal, Rocky’s co-driver was expressing concern about how the bus was running, money, motels, etc. I personally thought it must be a case of two old dogs being in the same kennel too long together so after we ate, we swapped co-drivers. Joe rode with me and Landshark joined Rocky. 

After eating, we were going to rendezvous with the West Coast Crew at the first exit west of Salt Lake. Caveman was following us in his vintage Bronco. As we pulled up onto the exit, I could see their vehicles parked and waiting for us. I knew Mort and FOE but had never met Chris or Alex. So we introduced ourselves. At this point Joe wanted to go back to Salt Lake and fly home. Caveman, who was not going to Wendover with us, agreed to give Joe a ride to the airport.

We were now finally all together in a convoy with only 100 miles or so to go to get to Crusty’s house in West Wendover where we were staying. At the first outlook over the salt flats we stopped, took some photos and proceeded to the first truck stop in Wendover where Crusty was waiting for us. Our convoy followed Crusty to his house located in a nice residential neighborhood.

At Wendover

I was a little concerned about a bunch of guys showing up with greasy motorcycles after being on the road for a couple of days. And more guys were scheduled to ride in. Gary was driving an RV in from Idaho too. When we got to the house, I explained to Crusty’s wife Jamey that 3 more riders from Minnesota might be joining us and she said that was no problem. There didn’t seem to be any concern with a group of motorcyclists taking over the house either. 

We found Kiwi behind the wheel of his rig. He had been calling everywhere along his route. He found them somewhere and gave them to us in the Casino parking lot. Kiwi Mike was scheduled to be at BUB for most of the week and volunteered his services which we ended up using a little later on in our story. We thanked him profusely and went back to Crusty’s.

The Minnesota crew: Mike, Jeff, and Ian, ended up riding to Crusty’s that night too. Mike was lucky enough to find a place in Crusty’s camper with Landshark and I. Jeff and Ian camped.

On The Salt

The following morning we started what turned out to be our morning routine: having breakfast at one of the casinos and discussing what was needed to be done that day. The main issue the first morning was getting set up on the salt and taking care of the bus. I volunteered for bus duty as I felt partially responsible for suggesting the bus a few years earlier. One of the Minnesota boys, Ian, just happened to be a heavy truck mechanic so he agreed to help out too. But the first thing was to unload my truck and the bus at the pit area on the salt so the rest of the crew could begin work on the streamliner. Once on the salt, Minnesota Jeff and FOE, lead the charge to erect the canopy. Rocky, Alex, and Minnesota Mike unloaded the liner from the bus. I unloaded my welder and some electrical stuff from the truck. I decided to keep my tool box as we’d need it for taking the heads off the bus. Most of this first day was just getting organized and getting the bus back to Crusty’s.

Normally when I’m involved with this kind of work, there’s a lot of cussing and anxiety going on. Not with these guys, I never heard anything negative from either Ian or Magoo. I think Ian was kind of glad to be working with the crew and was doing anything he could to help. Whereas Magoo is just naturally methodical and laid back. In the afternoon of each day, the 3 of us would ride out to the salt flats to see what the liner crew was up to and get an update of what needed to be done out there.

Out on the salt, we soon learned that Crusty was hands down the expert in hydraulic, pneumatic, and electric servo systems. He’s had extensive experience in this area as part of his normal job and previous experience with motorcycles and racing. We had further luck with Minnesota Jeff who is an expert with parachutes. None of us had any experience so what are the chances of finding a guy at a rest area who had this area of expertise and was willing to help us out? These two systems were the largest areas where the liner needed work.

FOE is an expert in electrical systems and a very good general mechanic and started doing wiring as per Crusty’s directions. There were a lot of little issues: “Where is the master link?” and, “Why doesn’t the brand new Pingel still in the box have any guts?” And so on.  All of these little minor issues were resolved but did take up most of the first day. 

The following morning while going to breakfast, I walked into the cafeteria section of the casino and noticed a bunch of police officers surrounding Landshark’s table. “This can’t be good.” I said to myself as I tried to be nonchalant. Apparently the Shark had bitten into a sausage which had either a foreign object in it or a bone and cracked open a molar. He told the management that he wanted a free breakfast and his tooth fixed. I think they would have given him both but said they needed to take him by ambulance to Salt Lake City 90+ plus miles away. Well, he was having none of that so Mort decided to drive him to a local dentist who fixed the tooth.

While Mort and the Shark were at the dentist’s, the bus crew had gotten most of the bus reassembled and were able to spend more time on the salt. That evening Rocky took the race engine back to Crusty’s garage so we could tear it down and clearance the cases. Every night we ate supper at one of the casinos that has a nice buffet. Kiwi Mike usually met us there and sat with us. When he learned of our plight about the engine clearance issue, he agreed to follow us back and help us out. This was a good thing as none of us had a pinion puller. Kiwi followed our bikes back to Crusty’s and parked the Kiwi Truck out in front of the garage..

The next day, Ian and I finished the bus and Rocky put most of the engine back together in the garage. We then left for the salt. Sometime during all of this, Lars showed up from Denmark. He was invited onto the team by Rocky who knew him from another online forum. Lars’s enthusiasm and hard work ethic was a huge benefit and really contributed to the spirit of the team. We finally had the liner together and it was close to being ready to run.

Earlier that week, Rocky and I had a talk and it was decided that I would be the rider. I already had my AMA card and just needed to fill out the medical and insurance information. I got into Rocky’s fire suit and practiced getting into and out of the liner. It’s tight. Really tight. This is actually a good thing in some respects as it minimizes getting tossed around if the liner goes down. But it also makes it extremely difficult to get into and out of.

One of the things that Rocky did while Dream Catcher was still on the east coast was to redesign the tilt-up steering and lock system. It used to have a cable mechanism but he changed it to all linkage. I got in and out of it several times. Each time FOE and Crusty had to make some adjustments to the steering pivot, the lock mechanism, and the arm restraints. Once I got in with full fire suit and helmet, they tried the canopy lock which required some adjustment as well.

My thoughts: this is not a motorcycle. It won’t handle like one as you cannot use any body English at all. It won’t steer like one and the controls aren’t configured like one. You only need to use the foot clutch to get into first gear and it’s an air shifter on the controls for every gear after that. There’s a gas pedal, the nitrogen powered outriggers and confirmation light. The parachute switch and ignition cutout switch. We also raised a horizontal bar in front of the liner while I was in it and the canopy to see if I could see the horizon. I could, but just barely.

There’s lots of things to remember when you’re a pilot on the salt. Not only with how the liner works, the controls and such, but the rules of BUB. Earlier that week FOE, at one point a back up driver, and I drove the course in my truck as part of the course tour for participants. If you have problems and need to pull off and your bike isn’t losing parts, you pull off one direction, if your losing parts, you pull off a different direction, if something life threatening is happening you pull off another way. This is so the spotters looking at you know what the situation is and know what equipment to send out to you and your bike.

Not only that, but unlike SCTA’s Speedweek, there’s no black line that delineates the edge of the course. They have a cone periodically and 3 cones at certain intervals. There is a line that starts at the measured mile but there’s a lot of distance between the cones. Being from Minnesota, if it wasn’t so hot out, it would almost look as if your on the surface of some giant frozen snow covered lake. It’s pretty wide open.

After I practiced getting in and out of the liner a few times and had familiarized myself with the controls we took it to technical inspection. Earlier that week, a driver had died in a streamliner on the course and the scoop was, the inspectors were getting stricter about some of the inspection items.

The Minnesota Crew was so wound up about having worked on the bike all week that they didn’t wait for Rocky to hook up the trailer to my truck, they pushed the trailer all the way from our pits to the inspection area.

1. Install a firewall between the front wheel and the driver.
2. Relocate the fire suppression nozzles so they are more effective.
3. Have an external fire suppression cable lever and label for it on the body of the liner.
4. Arm restraints need to have a D ring welded to the frame. Not thru the seat  shell.
5. Canopy must have air exit holes.
6. Install external fuel shut off cable near fire suppression lever.
7. Emergency instructions need to be marked on outside of liner.
8. Inspector didn’t care for our front wheel bearing seals.
9. Chain guard to protect nitrogen bottle.
10. Tire guard to protect parachute tube.
11. Smooth welds inside canopy.

This is only a partial list. And there weren’t rules covering all items. As far as I know, there isn’t a complete list of everything streamliners need as the rules are constantly changing. Rumor has it next year requiring leg restraints and a few other things.

In short, they didn’t allow us to run and we ran out of time. Probably better than half the items on our full list we could have corrected given a couple of more days. None of us were sore about it as it was all for our, and especially my, own good. The guy who was killed died as a result of his rear tire breaking apart at over 200 mph then hitting  and destroying, the parachute tube. The driver was unable to deploy the chute and he went into a tumble. Once in a tumble, his arm restraints broke loose (hence our D-ring change) and I don’t need to explain the rest. His liner was built by one of the best and most well-known guys in the sport. Things like this hit a little close to home as the driver was within a year of my age and was from Montana where Mort and Magoo are from. Rocky also knew the owner and builder of the liner.

But as a result, there were some items the inspector was very strict about. Some items were not in the rules, others were. Overall it was a good experience for us that will have us better prepared for 2009. There were other liners on the salt that couldn’t run either.

Already, many of the issues have already been addressed. Magoo has fabricated a quick release bracket, Rocky is building a tire guard to protect the parachute tubes, and he’s fabricating a water drip system for the rear chain. He is also going to later model wheels with a higher speed rating and larger disk rotor. I am going to fabricate the front firewall. We have each started to kick in a kitty of money to buy a completely new parachute system. The parachute system was not overly scrutinized by the inspector but we’re anticipating it next year. As we are on most of the other issues in this paragraph.

Pit Parking. Mort's 45 is in front, Kiwi's Bobber and Chieftain in the back and my 38/48 Chief. FOE's rodeo shovelhead bobber is in the background. Note the canopy over the pit spot. This is essential as the sun will burn you and your eyes if your not covered. Rocky and Landshark were also selling shirts to raise funds. This is a grassroots effort and we are always looking for sponsors.
 

Conclusion & Next Year

Wow, what an experience. I cannot express how much everything seemed to fall into place on the way out and once we got there. I’d like to think the several years worth of bad luck due to the transport bus got all balanced out in one week of good luck and an uncommon series of events. This experience to me was more about finding new friends and reinforcing  old ones than working on some bike on the salt. Things like meeting the Minnesota crew who were just riding out to check the action at BUB and maybe got a little more than they bargained on.  The same goes for Chris and Lars. We all made some new friends and friendship is worth more than any bike, any day.

But for next year, Rocky and I are going to try to trial run the streamliner on the east coast somewhere prior to BUB. I think just getting the feel for it with the body off will go a long way towards success next year on the salt.

For BUB 2009, the Indian Tribe is coming back en masse. Mort is putting together another of Rocky’s bikes and building his own to run. It’s rumored that Kiwi Mike’s son is going to be racing a 741 out of the Indian Pit area too. Lars is building some unworldly supercharged Scout and judging by his preliminary photos, is off to a good start. I think he’s going to be raising the bar for the rest of us.

We’ll be back for sure, but I’ll never forget what happened this year. I would like to list the folks in order of appearance and write a few sentence about each one.

If you would like to support the streamliner project, T-shirts and other cool stuff is available on Rocky's site www.ironwigwam.com

Rick (Rocky Dillinger)
What more can I say. He dreamed this while thing up while surviving near fatal cancer. He has endured a lot of negativity but never quit. Never. Until this last summer, he has single-handedly put together a streamliner and endured the bus. There’s been many steps backwards but he’s always managed to keep his feet pointing forward and eventually take another step. Thank you for letting me be part of it.

Bob (FOE) Morril
Probably the serious one of the group. Taking note of little details which most people wouldn’t even think of. He is an excellent mechanic and was the technical spokesperson of the group. Every time I was at the pits, Foe was doing something complex. He got a lot of things done.

Chris (The F’ing Duke of Sheffield) Biglands
This guy has got to be completely insane to fly all the way out from London England especially in light of the fact that he knows us. Are you nuts?  Having said that, he has built a few Indians and Harleys over in the UK. Not an easy feat overseas. A genuine enthusiast of the sport who made himself very useful. His sense of humor was also appreciated.

Jim (Crusty) Christie
Wow,  what are the chances of the guy Mort hooked us up with having just the expertise in the area we needed. I need to extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to him and his wife Jamey for letting us have the run of their house and terrorize their neighborhood.  He took a week off and worked his A…off on the salt. I don’t think anyone worked harder than him. Or knew more about the bike in the end.

Jamey (Mrs. Crusty) Christie
Our hostess.  Not too many women would put up with a bunch of strange guys who put personal hygiene second to getting greasy for the better part of week. Especially during her kids first week of school and other hectic activities. She kept the coffee on and is an extremely tolerant and excellent hostess! Thank you so much!

Michael “Minnesota Mike” Wend
Of the famous Bohemian Bike Builders. Not only did he work hard but he bought us all breakfast more than once. He also became an Indian enthusiast while out there and is looking for a Chief to put together. I’m almost sorry I let him ride my Chief as now he’s hooked and one more guy is looking for Indian parts in Minnesota….

Ian Wend
He must be hardcore. Anyone who  loads his Buell down with soft bags and rides it through several states in the rain just for the chance to work his tail off for the better part of 3 days putting new heads in a bus must be. A great guy who was always smiling.

Dave "Magoo" Retallack
“Mr. Cool.” This guy never complained. He’d just threw himself at whatever task was at hand. Even if it meant scraping gaskets for hours at a time. In the beginning, he wasn’t even an official member of the crew. I think he only came down to keep an eye on Mort. Little did he know. He builds some pretty cool custom choppers too.

Gary Compasso
As you look  over the photos, you’ll be hard pressed to find one where Gary isn’t doing anything. He came down as a spectator and ended up being a valuable member of the team. Every time I saw him he was busy polishing, aligning, drilling, straightening, organizing, or doing something.

Lars Nielsen
Probably the most happy go lucky person we had. A real good mechanic who’s going to be back next year on his own Indian. Somehow he managed to attract some young blonde Danish girl who was on the salt over to our booth. He’s welcome back.

Mike “Kiwi Mike” Tomas
The man who took time off his busy schedule and helped us out. Not only did the quest for our gaskets delay his drive, but he took an entire evening off to pull a late nighter helping us out in Crusty’s garage working on the Scout engine.

Gary was always busy doing something. Here he is adding a KIWI sticker to the liner. Kiwi has been a contributor of parts and various things since the beginning. Photo by Rocky.
 

Dave & Jill Iversen (2007)

RF & Ron's Chout (2004)

Dream Catcher (2002)

The Shop's 126 mph Chief (2000)