The Salt Ghost: Return of The Nitro Express - Full Length Film

[Music] on October 13th 1968 men by the name of Theophile ozan raced his 1948 Triumph motorcycle at the El Mirage dry lakebed in the California Mojave Desert Southern California timing Association records show that he went just a hair over 140 miles an hour that day PA was a regular at El Mirage dry lake and the famed Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah during that era where he raced both cars and motorcycles in the early 80s Theo was involved in a serious car crash at El Mirage dry lake that nearly took his life after that crash he was seen in a wheelchair and on crutches months later then for unknown reasons he disappeared in 2005 the Triumph motorcycle he raced for 27 years turned up during the bub speed trials at the Bonneville Salt Flats this is the story of that triumph [Music] [Music] my name is Wes white and I'm the owner of four aces cycle in Pacoima California I opened the shop in 2001 and our main focus is restoring and repairing vintage English motorcycles my shop started as the classic hobby turns into a business I've always been a history buff at a motorcycle rider I guess it only fits that I now work on finished bikes there's a great sense of personal satisfaction in taking a rusty old bike and turning it into a functional machine again the only thing better is to take that bike and push it past its mechanical limits in a big wide-open space I first heard of the bike we now call the salt ghost from my friend Keith Martin two big d cycles in dallas texas in the 2007 he finally agreed to sell it to me and tyler malenky of lowbrow customs in the fall of 2009 it was shipped to LA and tyler flew out to begin working on it this thing is so badass first big thing we're gonna have to deal with throttle cables they're roached roached and busted the cables were all rotten the tires were flat and bald the clutch was rusty but the bike still looked beautiful to us it's like the only vanity piece on this whole bike it's the spend cover I know when I did my my Bonneville bike the first time I wanted to have all of these period accessories on there because I figured that's what guys did this thing is totally except for this plate and devoid of anything except the function he's got a he's got a nut drilled in the middle of this and tapped so he can drain the oil without pulling the whole someplace the more we dug into the bike the more we learned about who the owner was and how dedicated to the machine he was the amount of work that went into squeezing every mile an hour he could out of it was very apparent box of memorabilia I'm arrived 79 Wow so he raced this thing like really late yeah for the 126 point four zero miles per hour B / f MC what that is you got these tricks oil lines check out the trick oil tank Jesus Christ you know it's where the generator would go sometime quite quickly after we started fiddling with it it became as obsessed about returning it to the Bonneville Salt Flats and erasing it as Theo had been 25 years earlier I've got a fair amount of clean oil in it somebody may have done something with it fairly recently no arms had to be twisted to get us totally consumed with bombing down the salt flats on the bike well I figure if we change the oil make a new throttle cable clean those carburetors unstick that clutch check the valve clearances I think we can have this thing to run 3333 garage 117 jfl a whole different class so he was getting records in all kinds of classes that's really cool yeah you know sctv trophy free pull it in valet turn the motor over bump the bump the kick starter kind of slowly if you can Jesus Christ there's like a little there's a little valley in the top of the piston so it doesn't hit the sparkplug [Laughter] well let's check for spark that's the main thing with this mag yeah again oh yeah I'd open primary that's pretty cool just lets you mess around the clutch all you want without having to ya know mess up I can pull on the cover and I should learn that from my bike oh yeah that's awesome oh yeah beat up there beat up little Roach eo2 piece clutch pushrod hope there's a little ball bearing in there I hope the other piece is in there yeah it was actually it's gotta be you know huh you know it could be a two piece flow of ball bearings yeah just to make it a little bit better these are GP carburetors yeah very pretty factory race a mold carburetors and they've got three million years of varnished gas in them look at this labels prices and tags bike number eighty Theo o--'s of 140 point six two miles an hour grace rod rider just up the ante I think I just got some rocks coming out of this part of this jet block oh my god considering the size of those Pistons I'll probably just run racetrack yeah I got a little a little hidey-hole of race gas over there that's actually a ridiculously rare gas tank that's off of a 1957 tiger 100 RR which is late was it a one year one one about a hundred and eighty-seven factory race bikes have that gas tank little more goodies in the box well I'll just have to find out some more stuff about him we gotta do a lot of research the names here you know some of these clubs and these guys well the rod riders are still around should it be too hard hopefully looks like he ran the whole 67 to 69 seasons out there crazy yep holy cow it's got 410 main jet in it what it's about that's about twice the size of I I didn't even know it's like double the size of a stock like a 190 or 200 tr6 it would be a 220 or 230 is that and that's a 410 so that's a nice damn song that's reamed out one cylinder that's one cylinder I submitted an article on the bike to the Southern California timing Association newsletter to try to find out if any of the old-timers remembered it a week or so after the news letter was mailed out I got a call from Britt Scott not only telling me that he knew the bike but he had been good friends with Theo and it actually piloted the bike at El Mirage dry lake throughout the late 1970s needless to say we had to go see what Fritz was all about definitely seeing a ghost when was the last time you saw the bike probably 1981 or two yeah geez yeah it's pretty much just like a sad I guess yeah yeah do you recognize any of the stickers they used to be a little more legible that there's there's a sticker here for just about every time he wrote it a couple of them from the times I wrote it it's identical yeah yeah remember one time I I wrote this and it was had a good load of nitrile in it and took off really good and it just kind of leaned over and we pulled the head off afterwards and it had a hole in both cylinder and full fist and sort of in the day racing there yeah yeah it was kind of a hit and miss deal every one small he'd get lucky and go fast he went over 140 miles an hour with it an El Mirage right at one point the El Mirage dry Lakes races are flat-out speed trials on a one point three mile straight course since the 1940s racers have tested their machines they're the best place to start any land speed racing attempt is to visit the SCT a technical crew with your machine they will inspect it and send you home with a checklist of what they want to see in the way of safety equipment so you'll be legal at the races yeah I'm gonna do the inspection form here so they can inspect this since these races are held six times a year it's an easy way to meet up with the inspectors number of cylinders that's easy vehicle forty-eight triumph displacement 650 CCS sponsors Vanson built will special features cool old bike original Lakes bike original California makes bike how you doing West white that's right Julian Duval Dodi do T why we were also hoping that the machine would jog a few old memories of Pheo out of the Greybeards that always come out to El Mirage to race or simply hang out where they've hung out for the last 40 years glad to meet you guys's yeah there's an old-timer he running I think about five years that he run this particular bike and I can always remember me was big tall fella and he always wore black leathers with white stripes on him and White's truck look like a skunk would you say yes come anyway he he was a good chauffeur and I don't think he ever fell but the bike did wobble a couple of times and God I thought that was in Seoul for parts 20 years ago there's been 35 36 years ago actually 1970 71 is when he run him and it's just a good old bike that's all if you just lift the front end up you'd be alright so what's the story of this thing well it was a bike that raced out here at Bonneville in the 60s 70s and probably early 80s belong to a guy named Theo ozan who some people seem to know and some people don't remember much about what kind of guy was Theo once you got to know him he was a great guy yeah if you didn't know him you seemed to be kind of a grubby guy and you didn't really know what to think of him but very very smart borderline genius I'd say the way he talked was a lot different from the way he looked and I remember he he'd come to the banquets once in a while and he'd have a suit on look very distinguished with a suit on that usually you've just a grubby guy like me and most of the other guys that right you know dude bikes when did you put spirit of Theo's and on the seat on that bike I did that quite a while ago probably 10 years ago and it was actually we hadn't even switched it over to dry lakes bike this thing still has the shocks on it Easter Road race with you know when I got this triumph I used to think a Theo a lot and just put spirit of Theo ozon Nitro Express and you asked me if we ran fuel in this bike well it wasn't named Nitro Express because we ran gasoline heavy into the Nitro yeah when's the last time I ran 83 83 basically just use this as a checklist yeah and then when we're done you'll have a punch list you can take back to your shop and yeah I can see a few things right now yeah sure the tires are definitely an issue late 60s and the early 70s was when I started racing Bonneville and El Mirage one of the first people I met because he was a biker was Theo and he was a rod Rider and so was I so we were pretty close yeah one time he was the president of the rod riders and any reason why he was president for only six months we probably kicked him out what was the scene like back when you were first to Bonneville between motorcycle guys and the car guys as a friendly was there any oh yeah sure just a big pool of guys you know like a herd of cattle out there there they are you never rocked up your toolbox and I got come over hey can I borrow that wrench for a minute you didn't know him from Adam sure just be sure you bring them back yeah well do you need any bolts or nuts I got a few bolts or nuts you I may need a couple I'll come over and see you you know it was very very good we'd get set up in our pits and of course back then there's a lot of drinking going on you know a lot of beers were were passed around and at night we'd have a bonfire and used to burn tires and we pull a hood off of somebody's 49 Packard and knock the Buzzard off it and tie a rope on it and told each other around the lake that full flaming tires and all kinds of stuff that all stuff I don't allow you to do and all that axle nuts pinch bolts safety wires all that stuff needs to be retained right and when it isn't tanks probably sound well so that's first thing on this thing so far that's that's it if you're running the crossover make sure it's fireproof you know if you'll sleeve and everything and then with with the fuel shut offs with no line you in between the petcock and the tank you're good for running a clear line if it's marked for for fueling use right but I have to use the black stuff on line use the black stuff and then make sure you have metal metal clamps okay retaining both ends and kind of neatened up you remember the number on the bike it's on the plate it says 650 do you know if that was like maybe a class designation since it was a 650 CC or would that have been his number no that was his number really it was a 650 motor and he said well that sounds like a good number to me so my numbers gonna be 650 we're gonna be able to just replicate this number plate yeah in this position and it can't be sort of there's a numeric side yeah it can't be considered streamlining this might be it should be a flat plate we have a size listed in the red book just make sure that it doesn't go past the center line of the rear of the tire it needs to sit forward and then when you're in riding position your body's not blocking it okay what is a 566 15 chisel race number apparently was available having to be the displacement yeah really cold yeah that's cool yeah that's lucky yeah give me real fast you went on the bike one time I went close to 120 and the other time it was very very slow like about 85 or 9 yeah here's a 131 do those and like I said it was a hit and miss deal and I feel if he thought it needed a couple of changes he'd make two or three changes and then sometimes that would that would set you back right you know if you do it scientifically you try to make one change at a time unless you're absolutely sure of what you're doing right evening side protection for the primary for the primary and any in all places anywhere you can possibly get a foot in you know it's not necessarily in writing position if you were to dump this thing and your foot stuck here and the engines still running right that thing's gonna play hungry hungry hippo and just do way is oh shoot should we look at making up a primary cover that's gonna I would encompass this whole front okay you can leave you can leave anything that's like smooth and flat open on the side as long as there's nothing so if we left it's gonna fall for the clutch and one for you yeah I would completely cover the basket of having something anyway you know what about just making something that it attaches onto this and just covers it and then maybe has a bottom are oh you know that the pipe is probably adequate for the bottom line if you make it substantial enough is this like if I take this is aluminum and and just made up cover for it yeah okay no way we don't have totally you know we can keep it pretty true to what it is sure is the record I'd like to see that protecting the side of the tire just right here just an angled piece of angle iron we almost just add another piece coming right right down right at an angle iron to the bottom okay this needs to be to the back of the rear okay so make sure that if you're running different sprockets that this complies with all of them to come back to while we were visiting with Fritz he told us the story of Theo's last run at El Mirage apparently they put the triumph motor in a Lakes car and tried to run it there was one time we were close to each other in line and I took off in my roadster and when I came back Theo had actually gotten into the car and decided to run it himself and I was just coming back when he took off from the line and he got it up to about a hundred miles an hour and it started wobbling on him so he put the brakes on tried to stop and it got worse and it it pencil rolled first and then did a couple of men doze and it broke him up pretty good and he came out to the lakes in a wheelchair several times after the accident and then the last time I saw him he was just on crutches but he had a lot of a lot of his friends would continue to come out and whenever they saw me they said say where were Steele and I don't know and he had evidently moved he was he had a shop and he he lived in the shop and he left there and he was living with somebody else and I could never figure out who he was living with and same with his friends they could never figure out where he wanted just like he he disappeared off the face of the earth right yeah we've got Lube got fresh gearbox fluid cleaned plugs forked plugs foul set yep the valves are set primary clutches redone new plates noob a buncha justed yeah new bearings bearings touch is free I can hear it yep strain the soup close that back up fill it back up with oil yeah it's full of oil and orange new fuel lines such as there is clean carbs we got spark tanks cleaned out Peck XR cleaned [Music] you Theo and his motorcycle were a unit and he was always had a smile on his face and real jovial guy and he'd give me the shirt off his back that he kind of took me under his wing when I first started running El Mirage and when I first started running El Mirage I was running a roadster pickup with a flathead v8 or a model a four banger in it and he knew I had motorcycles and he he was the one that kept bugging me about bringing the motorcycles out and so that's when I brought the old Ironhead Sportster out we just we were like that really good guy a lot of people miss him he had a lot of friends gas it up hope for the best to a leftover Bonneville 110 race fuel put put a towel under there put one on top of the Magneto all that compression 110 will be just fine [Music] yeah that's up green cool I'll always one little flame retardant on that let me have that starting fluid up there sweetie what do you think Thea would think about us running the bike again oh I think you just look up and smile at us let's go say look up or look down yeah whichever way you want I'd be here near smiles yeah that was that was his baby now that we had the bike running it was time to ride it so what's your plan my plan is to keep it upright and try to crash the trouble is gonna be keeping that happy medium between not flying but keeping it running [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I'm tired and wore me out [Laughter] whoo that was so badass good girl I don't want thing my balls are a lot bigger right now I don't know I don't know if it's the swelling I don't know if it's the swelling of pride or the swelling of the hard pat on the fender oh man I love you try [Music] [Laughter] right through that window so out of breath in a day even so much more fun yeah well you gotta have your reward yeah this was the best purchase I ever made with you all right [Laughter] after six months of making the restoration of the bike my second job it was time to head out for Utah and do what God had delos and intended us to do block the shut of the bike on the Salt Flats [Music] [Applause] [Music] since the 1930s people have come from all over the planet to the Bonneville Salt Flats to test out their cars and motorcycles to race flat out with no obstructions to go as fast as their guts and their mechanical acumen will take them they race 150 CC motorcycles they race flathead powered roadsters they race 400 mile an hour plus hydrogen powered streamliners it's a gearhead paradise Rollie free came in the 50s with his Vincent and his bathing-suit Burt Munro came in the 60s with a 40-year old Indian and his threadbare leathers and went over 200 miles an hour just because he felt like he needed to the place is awe-inspiring if you're that kind of guy it calls you from afar and once it's sirens song draws you in you're hooked returning year after year longing for just one good run even though I'd been there the previous four years as we got closer I couldn't wait to get our triumph out on the salt and ride good yeah roll right on in there man there's a spot waiting for it nice and you're back and we're back you see again yes Kooskia so what's different well we've brought it up to speed man all right so big concern this year for out here his tires and I just want to see condition and age and goodness Griese triumph folks all right a fuel line so you change that around it's pretty cool I like these what do you know awesome what are you gonna run for fuel until we may work up to a little bit of alcohol a little bit I like your meth a maybe yeah chain Garbo card primary never changed out the primary from the open one well that things you cook biscuits in that all right man it looks good sweet take this over there they'll give you an inspected sticker make sure that's up front so the starter sees it and have a good time all right man thanks okay we are good how much you gonna put it just pour and I'll say so and then we'll check it make sure so the APF class was a record I think it's about 123 with the guys are big be the guys who actually bought the bike from special construction pushrod fuel 650 yeah Big D cycle maybe racing set in 2009 and a triumph one twenty three point eight one four so that would be pretty good all records are out here yeah those guys know what they're doing yeah how great would it be to beat the record I bought from him yeah be awesome all right good deal yeah okay good give me a choke oh yeah Catherine hands on this one let me can you feel it hold the throttle open what's that hold the throttle all the way open Wow it's not compression let's try and start it maybe it'll catch up three valves they're also be set that's only running on one cylinder this isn't good yeah that's not good you getting a head work on this yeah tons of it pull the valves all right yeah brandy valves since it looks like new valves and top keepers and Carlisle brand-new Barry then cold top pins brand-new I happened to find a set of Pistons that were exactly the same compression Asst these in let music key I'll get to one on the other side with my stuff just anecdotally check for compression here Russians really low on this side yeah bring a bell on this side just hope the vowels are out of adjustment BAM like crazy just kick through good it's not as strong as the other side but there's got new rings on it right yeah oh what holy Wally schirra yeah we're off all right that could be the problem that could be the problem I can tell by the cold air coming out of the exhaust pipe that we're running on only one cylinder too many late nights working on it I must have forgotten to tighten down the valve adjuster and the pusher I jumped out of place there was just no way we were gonna make even 50 miles an hour on one cylinder can you see it back in there I can see it we're gonna have to pull the rocket box off at least to fix it go ahead flashlight yeah [Music] Riley jumped it yeah that's not a huge deal we need to pull the tank I don't think we can do without pulling the tank hey Phil pull yourself all those tools over there and let's throw this thing up on that lift take this cap off yeah it was broken though so that's a good thing isn't the piece of be down in here something good that out of the tank yeah look at that yeah there was a genius sir we're looking at a time hole both rocker boxes like a little the tunnel it's eat out a little you could slip it up in there to pull it yeah it's pretty cool another little thing you stick some recovery how does it look it doesn't look bent which is good I'm table buggered on the edge there it slipped that rocker button and pushed it right up inside the rocker box yep so that's why we had all that front we went forward instead of backwards well I could explain that well that does explain why we're getting the compression on that side and this fixed hopefully we're on both cylinders good somewhere in one of those blue tubs is an extra Carmen Collins pushrod is inside the rocket box look fine yeah it's way shorter this one's way longer but we want to see let's address that we're getting a little Emory or something you know just try and smooth it out once the bells are adjusted it should be able to slip out of there all right jumping on the table and give it about the seven hard kicks okay passage can see if that'll sit little slip under compression alright that's good it feels good all right now hang on a second let me take this plug out I'm gonna put my finger over the hole and see if we got compression still yep got a good compression once we had the bike running on two cylinders again it was time to get this 60 year old motorcycle out on the fastest track in the world and see how far we could push it [Music] [Music] I decided to let Tyler have the first crack at the bike that I would ride gotta keep the carburetors cool it's good luck [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so how was it man I'm these Cubs were freaking great I mean I felt super solid I had a lot of trouble finding that shipper I had to keep lifting my foot off the peg to hit it definitely move it down yes are you doing that I shifted at seven I was in third year at seven and I was proud like sell it 1/2 mile because I wanted to wait to chip forth till I came closer to the two mile yeah I was holding steady at seven just keeping it right there and all of a sudden I started breaking up a whole lot yeah and I let off the gas little didn't help you know I hit it again it kind of sputter and going forward a little more so I just pulled off said I want to get dead on the course you know yeah I pulled off I was cruising across and I I popped down in a second actually I popped in the fourth actually right before I pull off I popped in the fourth give it gas nothing I back down to third pulled off went in a second and pop the clutch no motor didn't do anything so I just I pulled it in just coasted all the way here 1969 be thank you very much yeah we can get clock because we didn't make it to the - yeah you know it's too hot for a triumph well I want to go pull those plugs and see we got to do in front get back out gotta get running to get it all that so yeah first run was a big disappointment the ignition gear slipped off and left us far short of the timing stand so we did not even get a timing slip showing how fast we were going it's like we lost a frame bolt here yeah that's five of those I think I may have an extra stock Whitworth nope yeah I'm sure we got something sitting at five it okay i'ma pull the plugs we're gonna have to dig into the timing side and fix the magneto retiming bike and try again it was very frustrating but it was nothing new for barbilla this place wet I was wet what gasps often sure you didn't wipe the water off of it cuz if I had water on that and looking like looking right on this edge there yeah you're right you're gonna do checked all the bolts on the carbs and manifolds and stuff again that would be great tell you one thing Bonneville does not recognize the lock washer yeah we're locked a spit or lock tight [Music] all right let's slow down just give it a little bump bump a little bit more it's two degrees off on last but totally random though no way meant back to tip now you know what about 38 I was right of the money I stirred up easily 40 but I'm like right on the line okay we got the timing dial back in table l3 good just to the filter which would make it way easier for me to shift yeah primer change little tight don't have time to fix it hopefully will not blow it out the front of a big case just take it easy yeah I think we're ready to rock and roll early in the morning yeah and hopefully lower altitude cooler weather yeah absolutely run a little better for sure get a good plug plug reading after that you know without having a spark disappear right pretty much a typical day in mono though it was day two at Bonneville and my turn to give the triumphal ride [Music] [Music] [Applause] we'll be that trucker than you glasses try turning your head to the side see maybe dip it down to the right this is gonna break my paint yeah that's the way it goes [Applause] I wouldn't take away but it might be over it's I mean if you want me to kick it Wes [Music] take a look alright setting the other bike yeah do it Todd that one's on hold budget homestay from the dead Wes you want me to to kick it so don't get tired out you don't want to be out of breath you know taking off yeah if I don't get it a couple kicks off [Music] come on baby [Music] we just tried a couple more times [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] or is he just dying of exhaustion you all right man that was awesome okay I didn't know if you're looking at something praying or half-dead right here man right now all right yeah guard the bike Thanks you push up a partyer what yeah pushed quite aways now yeah got pretty far I think we're I didn't get up in the fourth no what happened no I mr. Schiff going a third loss on my arse and pretty much buzz the course at 6,000 third you're in 30 missed a shift what drop to our PM's a bit and then just buzz never could get back up and I didn't want to downshift at that point yeah cuz I figured either way I do so you brought it it won't go past six and three and third after the now and it was just putting - just motoring along [Music] 85 it's what I exactly what I said - I never got into fourth gear yeah I'm mr. shift in the third and never got my arse but you said that my first shot on the bike was a big disappointment for me turns out the carburetor had slipped its mouth and it was not getting fuel to that cylinder so he ran about 85 miles an hour and third gear unable to shift up into fourth after I fixed the carburetor in the pits I decided to let Tyler have another go at it he seemed to have developed a good relationship with the bike man few more cars let's see we can make the two this time even if you yeah you have to go through it third yeah yeah I'm gonna try and ease up through the gears you know through the revs and maybe you try and go through the go through the mile on third just shifting in the third and then slowly wind it up and maybe it like a mile and a half mile and 3/4 shift in the fourth and tuck real good and if I feel like I'm still picking up speed through like two two and a quarter I'll just go to the three yeah and see if she's running good if I feel like I'm killing it I'll pull off but okay I pretty high hope something's going on good [Music] wide open spaces man no other place like this on earth various man it felt so good I was pulling speed still through the second mile you know and just talked and held it like seven 272 and they're just flew man it felt great it's awesome my arms are getting tired like I didn't even notice that yesterday but like a mile a mile and a quarter I realize you know my butt scooter back so far pretty much my whole upper body's and that weird position with my arms bent like so it's like you're holding you know your entire way to you yeah then I was looking down make sure my knees weren't in the car mouths and they're fine you know the key party outside there's plenty of air right between them my position towards the end I position so my knees were even tighter I've got my left knee on to that primary cover a bit to let me get down lower and I put so much strain on my upper body yeah and it felt good man popped into fourth dropped down probably around 50 200 and then just freakin right back up to seven like nothing then no problem whatsoever awesome full throttle I mean I was at full throttle through the three yeah the whole from second mile the third mile it was full throttle just trying to talk and get down low in my face and I was like he was that tack you know right in my face like that I felt great I felt like I was going pretty fast I'm thinking it was over 100 [Music] [Laughter] [Music] right now 119 that's fast we did 119 119 4 miles off the record having missed our goal by only 4 miles an hour we had to give the bike one more ride with a little luck maybe Tyler would beat the record this time [Music] I think we got some more there man really good I couldn't turn off till three and a half because I was going too fast I didn't feel any problems with the plug you know kill switch this time we're perfect we're done was a lot of oil out of that push rod - yeah check out my left knee it's not my knee was right down here so the part that oil coming past yeah have your helmets stow that and we'll load it up grab the ramp I'm taking about two minutes to catch my breath for some reason cuz you're racing yeah 1969 V short the number is 121 dropped off like 24 1 2 big dot for two and a half miles tell you the 121 I know it's totally not suitable who's going me two miles off the record just awesome that's just awesome I love you we only missed the record by two miles an hour but it was the end of the week time to pack it up and go home for another year hey hello week huh yeah see that it's crazy out fast we ran yeah better than I thought starting out with some problems but that's not anything new at Bonneville yeah we're gonna have to bring it back out here maybe you pull Mirage yeah I'm gonna bring back next year around out here yeah fix a little pad record yeah 121 is just too little yeah 123 I think Thea would be proud yeah and except here bringing it back out and racing into it but just sitting somewhere rotting away or just being looked at yeah yeah when it's built to go so fast anyone fast despite the lack of a world record we were proud of our accomplishment and we knew that the salt flats then that record would be waiting next year while we're at Bonneville we learned that Theo passed away in 2004 in honor of him and the legacy of the bike we wanted to bring some of the salt from Bonneville to his resting place [Music] they'll keep his bike running and bring it back for another shot at the record I think Thea would want it that way you you [Music] [Music]

Channel: lowbrowcustoms

Views: 545,545

Rating: 4.8268399 out of 5

Keywords: Lowbrow Customs, lwbrw, lowbrow life, triumph, pre-unit, triumphs, land speed racing, Theo Ozen, Fritz Kott, bonneville speed week, bonneville, salt flats, salt ghost, nitro express, the nitro express, the salt ghost, 650cc, triumph pre-unit, world record, land speed, land speed record, motorcycle racing, motorcycle history, lowbrow, customs

Id: z4vz_SL7yes

Length: 61min 58sec (3718 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 30 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/nacnud77]

Watched this a few weeks ago. It's good.

[u/TerrorSwain]

One of my favorite Docs on YouTube

[u/noobnewsmileyface]

What a beautiful looking bike