Three licensing runs at 125mph, 150mph and 175mph were required to show the ability to control a high-speed motorcycle. (Photo: Scott Odel) » More Photos

The whole story started when I headed off to an East Coast Timing Association race weekend in Maxton, North Carolina, a while back to investigate tales of incredible 200mph plus street bike action. Here I met one Mr. Scott Guthrie, known in land speed racing circles as the “Sultan of Speed.” With a current top speed of 259mph on a motorcycle and 256mph in a car at Bonneville to his credit, as well as not one, but four 200-plus mph street bikes in his stable, Scott Guthrie certainly knows a thing or two about his chosen subject. It was during this visit that Scott came up with idea for me to come back to see if I could join the ECTA 200mph club, at the time boasting just 42 members. Oh how it all seemed like a great and noble idea in the company of a few club members, but alone and heading to Maxton I was having a few doubts. “You are going to do what?” “Are you crazy?” I hadn’t met with a lot of positive feedback from anyone outside of my close motorcycle circle, and even a few of them had expressed concerns. “You are a street rider, what do you know about land speed racing?” “Oh they go 200mph all the time” was my main line of defense, but pulling into the track under a cold, gloomy sky, I wasn’t so sure I was feeling too convinced with my argument.

Worry not. Scott and Top Fuel pilot Wayne Pollack were awaiting my arrival and quickly had me filling out ECTA forms and signing into the correct class. To qualify for the 200mph club, I not only had to do the speed, but also had to break a land speed record for the standing mile at the same time. As probably the most knowledgeable person in existence when it comes to the subject, Scott had found a suitable class: S/F 2000: S for streamliner, F for fuel, and 2000 for the engine capacity limit. With no existing record in this class, all I had to do was run down the course, break the timing lights, and leave with a land speed record. Doing time in the porta-potty before my first run, it was beginning to seem like a really good idea. Who needs to go 200mph anyway?