FIFTEEN MINUTES WITH ELMER TRETT

FT: What has caused the remarkable surge in performance this year, all the way from the 6.90's to the 6.60's?

ET: It's a combination of a lot of things, better motors, and we've learned quite a bit in the cam area, fuel system, clutch, tire, just the overall combination.

FT: A lot of people who follow the sport have expected t hose kinds of E.T.'s for a long time, what with the 6.85 two years ago, early shut off 204's etc. It seemed only a matter of time until it started to put the big numbers down with some regularity.

ET: We've had a lot of horsepower at a lot of different times. Sometimes you get so involved in making horsepower that you overlook what it takes to make it really go quick. Without the right combination of power, chassis etc., you can have all the power in the world
and you are not going to go fast. You've got to be able to use it.

FT: When you first put the billet head on your bike, you had been breaking so many cast heads, did you think the breakage was over and you were going to step right up and go this fast right away?

ET: Sure. Boy, were we ever wrong. The billet head did its job and showed us all of the weak stuff we had that we didn't know was a problem. The cast head was just like a fuse. The head just broke before something else did. The billet head wouldn't break and it also needed a completely different fuel system. It's hard to believe what the head did. It made all the stuff you thought was good look like junk.

FT: Why does the billet head need a different fuel system? All of the car guys have gone to the billet heads. Nobody runs a cast head anymore.

ET: There's a lot of different reasons. For one, the head doesn't lift up off the barrel, which keeps the cylinder pressure up pretty good. Another thing is the billet head builds a lot of heat and holds it in the chamber. With nitro, it's a viscous circle. Once you start building heat it takes fuel to cool it. The more fuel that you put in, the more heat that it builds. It was like you couldn't put enough fuel in these things to cool the head down, to keep it from burning valves out and such. Of curse, when you are putting all of this fuel in, the more you put in, the more power it's making. Then all at once, your sprockets, chain, drive train parts, everything isn't strong enough to handle all this power you're putting in it.
I remember when cars first started to use billet heads. They were running around 265 MPH. With the billet heads, they started to put in more fuel, bigger fuel pumps, etc. Everything they did was to build more heat, which demanded more fuel, which made more power. Some of those guys went from 6 or 7 gallons of fuel per pass, to 13 or 15, and they are now going 290 MPH. You know, whether it's nitro, gasoline or peanut oil, if that thing's going to burn more volume, it's going to make more power.

FT: At the SCR Spring Nationals in Atlanta, you unloaded a 6.69 at only 202 MPH. Then a 6.77 at only 195 MPH. Why were the MPH's so low for such quick E.T.'s?

ET: that was the first time out with the bike this year. We had made some changes. I had it set really rich at the top of the gears. When it went out and ran 6.69, we were quite excited and didn't really make the right choices on the second pass. I knew it was really fat. I could feel it nose over. When it runs a 6.60, it has to accelerate tremendously to do it, so when it noses over on the top end, you can really feel it. Plus, I thought it spun the tire in the mid range a little bit. So when I came back to make the next pass, we had taken 2% out of it. Softened it u a little bit. This really richness it up on the top. We knew it would do that, but we felt it would still go as quick if we could take the tire slippage out. But it was worse and it nosed over even worse. That pretty much told us that it wasn't tire slippage. It had actually gotten rich at the top of low gear and when I shifted, it actually slipped the clutch. With an automatic clutch, the clutch is real horsepower sensitive. We took it back and turned it, taking a little fuel from here and adding some there. We felt it would run a real good pass. In the burnout, it got "happy" and I got excited and shut the throttle too quick and it lost fire so we really didn't get to see what it really would do.

FT: Normally, when you take it out for the first time, do you run it fat on the top end so that it won't hurt itself while you see where you are?

ET: Oh yes. We soften it up a little bit everywhere. You know, you can't tune a motor that's hurt. They run much faster on fuel then they do on aluminum.

FT: Well, then you took it up to Maple Grove, took it right out of the trailer and ran a 6.60 at 213.77 MPH. Was that set "soft"/

ET: We took it out of the trailer with the motor set exactly the way it was when we went to run the finals at Atlanta, and we felt that it still wasn't at the point where it would hurt itself. It ran the good numbers which showed me that the changes we made were definitely the right ones.

FT: You have run at Maple grove quite a bit, and you have run right at 200 MPH and always used up the whole racetrack getting stopped. Could you tell about half way down on this pass that you were really on a lap and you just might be driving it out into the pasture?

ET: I didn't have to get half way down. I knew that if a chain or belt or something didn't come off of this motorcycle, it was on a pass. I knew it was one of the best ones I'd ever had going. I also knew I had a problem stopping the motorcycle. The only thing I had going for me was that every piece of brake was brand new. It was such a good pass, I just couldn't stand the thought of getting out of it.

FT: Regardless of where it was going to stop.

ET: Well, I knew I was going to use it all. I had been down at the end earlier and I knew they had some sand (sand trap). Also, Larry (McBride) had broke and I was on a single. You know when you get down slow, you can start using both sides of the racetrack and you can pick up footage that way. Before I ever got to the lights, I had put both hands on the brakes and had taken the slack out of the levers (note; top fuelers use two hand brakes). When I saw the E.T. lights, I stood on the brakes and I couldn't believe that the motorcycle was stopping that fast. I had almost started to relax when everything got so hot that they just didn't work very well. By the last 200 feet of track I just didn't know. I think I was dragging everything I could throw off, feet and all, to slow it down. I'll tell you one thing, PM (Performance Machine) has got to have the best brakes around. That's the first time I ever got off and looked at rotors and they were still red.

FT: When you are running those kinds of speeds and E.T.'s it's critical that you run the best parts available. You don't go shopping for the best deal on brakes do you?
How much does your bike weigh?

ET: The motorcycle weighs over 900 lbs. Setting on the starting line and about 885 on the other end. When you have a motorcycle that will run 213 MPH and 6.60 E.T.'s, you don't have to be price shopping for any parts on it. You need to use nothing but the best you can possibly get. I can't think of any other brake than PM that I would rather have on it. Perry's ((Sands) has got a very good product. If it wasn't, it would not be on there. You know, there has been an awful lot of people offer to give me brakes.

FT: So, on the second pass you couldn't run it all the way through because it had no brakes.

ET: Not only that, but the motorcycle, you could hardly push it around, it had so much drag because of the warpage of the rotors.

FT: So where did you shut it off on the second run?

ET: Some observers said 8 or 9 hundred feet. I shut it off at the end of the bleachers where I was pitted and was told by the track personal that it was 9000 feet.

FT: And it ran 6.66 at 176 MPH.

ET: It was on a better pass then.

FT: what do you think it would have run if you would have had brakes and could have run it all the way through?

ET: You hate to jump and say it would have run a half second quicker or such, but shutting it off where I did and it running a 66 (6.66) it would have had t run a low 50 (6.50) or even a high 40 (6.40). I don't think that's out of the question at all. You are talking 30-35 MPH. I think 35 MPH is good for a tenth and a half.

FT: What was the 60 foot time on both of those runs?

ET: I can't remember on both. The best I remember because it is one of the best I've ever had, was a 1.07.

FT: I know they didn't have the eighth mile clocks working up in Maple grove. When you ran the 6.69 in Atlanta, what was the eighth mile time?

ET: a 4.32 and I think 176. I'm not sure.

FT: Let's talk top fuel racing. There for a while it had slacked off, IDBA had dropped the class and then along came Southern Cycle Racing who featured the fuelers, and I understand that the IHRA is going to run a full motorcycle program next year which will include top fuel. Do you feel that will be good for the sport?

ET: Sure, I feel that any kind of motorcycle drag racing activity is got to be good for the sport. The more people you get involved, the better. I feel Jim Turner (Southern Cycle Racing) has been really good for the sport. He has been doing race promoting for a long time, on a small scale, but he's getting bigger and better. They have put on some really good races.

FT: How come we don't see top fuel bikes at IDBA races since they allowed them back ( a couple of years ago)/

ET: I can't speak for any of the other racers, I can only speak for myself. A lot of my racing is match racing, and booked in shows. A lot of it is done at car races, etc. and these people pay good money for me to come and do this. It also cost a lot of money to build, maintain, and run this thing. So as far as my not running IDBA, it's all dollars and cents. I can't go run a motorcycle and make a minimum of 5 passes, and it cost more to make the 5 passes than the total purse pays. That's not good business. I don't even think that's good for the sport. You know, a guy can only take so much of a whippin'. You know there are a lot of things you can go do and take a chance of seriously hurting yourself, that you don't have to invest money in. so when you invest this kind of money and this much work, you should be paid something for doing it.

FT: What kind of a purse do you think it would take to get top fuel motorcycles to show up regularly at an event? I mean, real top fuel motorcycles, not just anybody willing to pay a hundred dollar entry fee and be called a top fueler.

ET: It needs to ay at least $2500.00 to win. There has to be a contingency program set up, a points fund deal. You will then get real professional motorcycles. People are just not going to build these things and go run them for nothing. $2500.00 is nothing compared to the car racers and their purse deal.

FT: Do you feel that if someone, Jim turner, IHRA, etc. put u $2500.00 t win in top fuel and funnybike too, they cost a bunch to build and maintain, that there would be a payoff of additional spectators in the stands? Right now there are no spectators at most of these events.

ET: When I go to a race, I don't really concern myself with spectators. That's not my job. I'm a racer. My job is to get my motorcycle to run up and down the racetrack as fast and quick as I can for the money I'm being paid. It's the promoters job to get enough spectators in the stands to pay both my fee and his. Jim Turner does a heck of a job of this. You can pretty much look at this as a base line. If I travel in the neighborhood of 500 miles and I come to run for you, it is going to cost you $1000.00 a pass with a two pass minimum, and most of the time three. When you can get bookings for that kind of money, and can run as much as you possibly can, you can't go run for some organization that hardly pays that much to win, plus joining, paying to get in the gate. Next time a track operator calls, how can you tell him you have to have twice as much, guaranteed.

FT: After he just read in the racing paper that you were running in open competition for less money.

ET: I can tell you what the track promoter will tell you because I've done been told. He won't pay you that kind of money, guaranteed, when you are running for less money and have to win it.

FT: Does the match race thing keep you pretty booked up?

ET: Yes. I think we will use between five to seven, fifty five gallon drums of fuel this year.

FT: Wow, for someone that busy, we thank you for taking the time to talk with us.