DWT wheels carry the Wilmeth father and daughter duo to new Guiness Land Speed records...

06.18.2007

“Natalie achieved an overall record of 134mph for a new record, but nearly lost the ATV when the rear axle came dislodged from the carrier and shifted nearly six engines, tossing the chain, at nearly 100mph. Crew chiefs Pete Fisher (owner of Powroll Performance) and Jeff Urbach (owner of Fullbore Innovations), with the help of the on-scene firefighters, were able to salvage the rear end, but the team decided that it may be only temporary and I should make my runs now. Natalie had to accept her best two runs but she was confident she could have exceeded 140mph.

My initial set up of the rocket pack found that I had inadvertently fried every single injector solenoid. Pete chastised me for neglecting to install a fuse and we rapidly jury rigged some replacement solenoids from the spares kit. I set up for my engine only runs and made a couple practice full-speed passes and only achieved 129mph through the traps. Wow, Natalie was actually faster than me! But, since the Rocket Raptor 5.0 seemed to be holding up, I decided to not tempt fate and go ahead with a full on rocket burn through the traps before we lost the rear. Jeff and I ignited the rocket thruster at idle and off I went. My first run was only 140 mph with a strong head wind. I turned around at the far end of the track and met with Pete Fisher and his daughter Nicole. We discussed how to beat the wind and accepted the fact we could do little and it was gonna get worse. So, I opened up the remaining fuel oxidizer bottles, activated the secondary injectors and decided we would burn down the track with all the rocket had until it could do no more.

I took off with Pete giggling like a kid (he’s a Bonneville veteran and eats this stuff up). The bike felt incredibly twitchy and I hit the rocket pack as the speedo climbed above 100mph. Holy Crap! It was flying! The horizon was a blur and I focused on keeping the bike steady but I noticed I was actually getting lift from the front spoiler. I wasn’t sure why things were going so bad but I finished the run and check with Jeff on the radio at the far end. He reported that I had gone through the traps at an amazing 164.5mph. The front end vibrations and twitchiness also cost me the steering stabilizer. It literally blew out it’s guts. I wasn’t gonna get another chance, so I reloaded the rocket with oxidizer and off I went. The return trip was just as scary, but the headwinds severely affected my speeds. As the runs progressed, thr rocket began to lose power and the winds got significantly worse. I couldn’y back up the 164mph run and had to settle with a 154mph best average.

After we stopped, the photographers set up to take pictures. I was asked to light off the rocket one more time at low power for a photo. I obliged and just as I hit the injector, there was a loud bang (explosion) and smoke/fire enveloped my rear end. I immediately jumped off RR 5.0 and saw that the rocket casing was on fire immediately below the O2 and secondary Nitrous Oxide bottle. The onsite Dirt Wheels rep, Ken Andrus, immediately ran to get a fire extinguisher and shot it straight up the exhaust nozzle, extinguishing the fire and most likely saving RR 5.0. Jeff Urbach actually just missed being struck by shrapnel and found a good size chunk of the casing on the ground, He kept it and has promised to make a key ring out of it.

In the end, we survived some close calls and were successful. I couldn’t have done it without all of you and your incredible support.”

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