Welcome to the site Don.

It's cool you have all those pics and videos from the old racing days still.

It's a shame you're a Sea Doo guy. You REALLY need to try out an old (1997-2000) Polaris Pro 785. (135-140 HP) Those are a lot of fun and still placing in races today.

These guys are REALLY hard core Oddy lovers. So any suspension tips you can share would be great. Many guys on here use "shock savers" on them in order to limit rear wheel travel in the event of a broken U joint. The idea is to try and prevent the rear shock from being destroyed if a U joint did fail. (I highly suspect that is what happened to the other driver in your video with the tire that fell off)

Please keep the nostalgia coming. Thank you

Super awesome

Impossible to wear out w our welcome with this crowd. We love our oddy and love it when we can learn new ways to make them better. We also can not get enough history behind them. I wish I was around in the 80s to see all this and possibly have raced.
You should see if he still has your oddys even tho its been so long you never know.
The more pix a d videos on this site the better lol hopefully more customized parts and Engine/gearbox/axel pix lol
Again glad you found us your knowledge and experience is worshiped here lol legend

OK, here is another video. It is a race at the LA Coliseum in 96 or 97. Those pesky Briggs cars got me. :( Great high speed track. Big fast jumps.
I found a magazine article I think you will like.... coming soon.

Another cool vid Don, that track did look fun.

What do you do for a living in NC these days Don?

Jumping out of the coliseum looks like a blast. Jumping in .... I think would have my stomach in my mouth.
It looks like a blind drop. Do you remember the max speed you reached on that track? Thanks again for the history.

First, I am an engineer for a pharmaceutical company. Always been mechanical. Actually I became an engineer to learn more about materials to keep the race cars from breaking!

The Coliseum was an amazing place. Besides being a home track, it was just fun. I loved and did much better at the fast stuff. The cars hit around 55-60 top speed there. Jumping out was a trip because there was a pre-jump that you had to hit hard and fly all the way out. If you hit it soft, then you may hit the rear tires on the lip and OH &@&T! Especially tough if the guy in front of you did not commit... But if you flew it too hard, there was a 90 degree turn shortly after you landed. Cars, trucks and buggies ended up in the seats every year. Dropping back in was totally blind. All you could see was the other side of the stadium. The trucks just floored it and went all the way to the bottom. For us it was different. It was actually faster to back off some so you could accelerate down the hill instead of free falling. The first turn coming after the start was fun too. Hold your breath and dive in.

So here is some more stuff. First, an article from 1992 on a Challenger conversion kit. Those cars were ground breakers for the sport. But they had pretty weak suspension and short legs. The next is a review of the Red 1982 FL250. And finally, an article on my MTEG Pro-ATV car. Enjoy! I have another mag around here somewhere testing the FL350 that I helped them in. I had to do it from dropbox due to the size of the files.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/626 ... lenger.pdf
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/626 ... dyssey.pdf
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/626 ... Action.pdf

You must really know how to tune the Engine to go a whole season on one piston and just a couple rings changes. That's impressive. I'm not all that good and have learned the hard way.

LoL! We all learned the hard way! Good race gas, great oil, a great Engine builder, extra piston clearance, TONS of plug readings, EGT temp probes, all help keeping them alive. Also, we only put about 45 minutes HARD run time on them per race. So only 20 hours or so a season. The desert motors were no where near as sensitive. But honestly, these 350 motors and cranks are pretty strong. For me, the motors were way stronger than the gear boxes. We were not very nice to them...

Did I read tha t correctly, You swapped out the ODY 350 gear box for the 250 box?
Oh and the old magazines are great! I had so many of the magazine pictures on my paneled bedroom walls for so long that when I took them down there was a "shadow" left on the paneling.

When we built that car, the FL350 was just out on the market. I got the motor (( Internal Combustion Engine ? )) in a crate from the Honda dealer and never actually owned an FL350. We had lots of 250 boxes around so we used it. The 350 was heavy and really unknown on how much stress it could take. Early ones had some issues. I never blew up the 250 box in that car, but did use a lot of chains to be sure. For Riverside, I used an all gear kit inside that someone had made. It gave it a taller gear for more top end speed. It helped on the long straights. The main thing I wish it had was reverse. Later MTEG made us use reverse boxes so we would not get stuck on a track. As a side note, none of my cars used a charging system either. Just a loss system. Less stuff to go wrong. Just had to recharge all the time.

I check this site every day how the heck did I miss this post ??
Awesome stories and pics --- thx for sharing Superlite_Don.
Welcome to the site.

Back in the early 80's I was racing road race cars at Seattle, Portland and Westwood B.C.
I remember when I saw the first FL350 --- man I wanted that car bad but couldn't afford it.
Now after reading this post I can honestly say that I missed out and couldn't afford to have missed it.
Oh well life aint fair --- some people eat better than others.
Great thread.

Don, This is awesome. Please quit your job and just write these posts. Love this stuff. Being a lifelong resident of the east coast, my exposure to the MT superlite races was mostly just the still shots in the magazines and some pics from friends of mine that lived in Anaheim back then.

It must have been a rush to win in front of all those people in Pasadena? Very cool.

A couple years ago I attended Robbie Gordons SST events at the Coliseum hoping some of that old MTEG spark would be reignited. It was certainly cool. They had the dirt right up and through the peristyles and those trucks do move along. I don't know that it was the same as the old days though... mostly cause I wasn't there! I did feel like I was paying my homage to the house.

Guys- (and maybe gals), your responses have blown me away! When I was in the middle of it, I guess I didn't realize that others could not do it as well. I kind of thought of it as a quirky hobby that consumed ALL MY TIME AND MONEY. I spent all my time at these races where the REAL stars were the Sport Trucks, Ultra Stocks, and Stadium Buggies. We had great races, but were always second to those guys. I have been going through boxes of old magazines and honestly am floored by how many I have with pictures of my cars and the races we were at. Dirt Wheels, ATV Sports, SCORE News, Dusty Times, 3&4 wheel action, 3 Wheelin, Crash & Burn, ETC. It was very special for me, but your response is special too. I was very lucky to have been part of it.

BTW, that LA race I posted was actually in the early 90's. That second place Briggs car that passed me was Rene Awana. He was employed full time by Natures Recipe to keep their stable of cars in perfect shape. They had a full test track they built right next to the shop. I got to test at it once. It was a great advantage for them. And the winner was some punk named Jimmy Johnson. Yep Mr. NASCAR himself. So I don't feel too bad with my 3rd place finish. Check out this picture and caption.



So I scanned in another mag article. I was hanging around Pro-ATV one day and the mag guys were there and asked me to help out on a photo shoot. "Uh, do you want to thrash a brand new FL350 before the public gets to drive one?" UMMMM, YES! I think that was the ONLY FL350 that I ever drove. Fun day though. Fun reading
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j6buttr3fhv9r ... t.pdf?dl=0

I have some more tidbits to post later after I scan them. Maybe another vid too.

Love following this topic. Awesome to have you here Don

OK, here is some more mag stuff.

These are all out of the first issue of Dirt Wheels in 1980. I worked in a liquor store and we had this on the shelf. I read it a million times. Cant believe I still have it. Those pictures of the cars on the sand dunes blew me away. So I looked in the Recycler (like the autotrader for everything) and found my first Odyssey. So this is the mag that got it all started for me. Parked my XT500 Yami and went playing in the sand. The articles are great. An FL250 running alcohol back then!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xthodtwyn1jym ... s.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/isxpfy0x0da66 ... c.pdf?dl=0

LOVE IT!

Thanks

OK, Don, I thought of a few more questions if you don't mind.

Have you done any offroading at all since moving to SC?

Were you ever approached to drive for Bob Briggs at any point?

Do you ever make it to NJ for any reason?

Those are all good questions.
I have not really done much off-roading since moving. The main thing is that I don't have any toys for it. I left it all in California when I left. I got married and started a family. Most of the time has been being with the kids so I just never bought a bike or what ever. It wasn't in the budget. Also, I didn't have friends here that rode so starting up was tough. And I am used to the deserts and not woods type riding. So it all added up to no dirt toys. :( Not complaining, just how it worked out. As noted, I am now a Seadoo guy to get my two-stroke mechanical fix.

Leaving racing was pretty emotional. I had done it for over 13 years nonstop. I was all in. But as things progressed, I had a few years of hard struggles at the end. I had great sponsors that helped me with parts, but no real financial support. As the cars got more and more sophisticated, the costs really went up. We could see what would help, but the dollars were just not there. Randy Smalley from H&R dumped his life's savings into that shop and bled cubic dollars. My last car was awesome, but the series changed so much we never got everything out of it. And it became a balance of money in VS fun out. So I started a more limited racing schedule. Just as we were getting it dialed in, my work was making noise about moving and I met my future wife. That was all great and then someone broke into my garage. They did not do anything with the cars, but they stole all my tools, my gear bag with my helmet and driving suits, and my race setup tool box. That box had at least 100 mikuni jets/spraybars, etc. It also had all of my Works Performance valving sets and tuning tools. So that forced an end to it all. I had a car and no way to race. And it did not make sense to buy it all again for a few more races.

I have raced a little since moving here. My kids went through the YMCA Indian Guides and Princess programs. We build pinewood derby (not soap box derby) cars just like the cub scouts do. We I am an ALL IN racer so we built a two lane 30 foot track complete with computer timing for our house so we could test and tune. We won 7 years in a row without a loss. We still have one race this year with my daughter. But she now knows all about friction, potential energy and can airbrush a car just fine thank you!

About Bob Briggs- I never spent much time with him. He was a tough competitor when he raced and it was kind of a rivalry thing. Guys in our shop didn't like him so I just never got to know him. I was a decent friend with Rene Awana who worked for the Nature's Recipe team. He was fun and cool. The other team members and crew were fun as well. But Bob was a little distant. When his team was really picking it up, I was entrenched at our shops and honestly not doing that well. So no, he never wanted me to drive for him.

Harold and Rory Holiday from HRD were awesome. They helped me out a bunch with clutches and just good friendship. Rory was really tough on the track. When you are traveling all over the country, we all pooled resources to make it work. And everyone helped everyone if they needed it.

I don't get up to NJ very often. If I ever do I will PM you first.

So, longwinded answers. I think this forum is turning into a counseling session for me. Very good to get it all out...

To reward you, I will post another vid of my going round and round.. Not sure where this one was. Kind of a typical stadium design. Lots of action going on. Not a great race for me. Broke a tie rod in the heat and was stuck in the pack for the main.

Superlite_Don besides the trophy did you get any $$ for winning a race or the championship ??
Looks like a lot of spectators there. Back in the 70's very early 80's we got a lot of spectators too but by the late 90's it was pretty much over for road racing here in the pacific northwest. Then the terrorist state (B.C) took the track from us and built houses.
Nice hole shot at the end of that tape.

Those cars had serious suspenders on them!

"I don't get up to NJ very often. If I ever do I will PM you first. "

Yeah man.

Man whoever wrote that caption for that pic sure knew what the hell they were talking about

Just checking something out here. Want to see if this thread shows when I hit active topics.