In the spring of 2000 we took the Pro Fuel Bike to Phoenix, Arizona for an AHDRA race. We always invite people to come to the races and this event was no different. A friend who had moved to Texas said he'd be there for the weekend and drove up in his new Excursion.

We thought we had a decent tune dialed in on this bike but one or more gremlins was out to get us, and if I remember right we broke a rocker arm and didn't have any spare parts to get it fixed.

It makes it a long weekend when you drive 1100 miles from home and then something breaks and you can't compete and a bunch of your friends are there.

One of the friends was extremely bummed that we broke the bike and he worked out a deal with Arlie to possibly purchase a bigger, better bike for me to ride. He had some money to spend and was willing to take on the huge task of paying for a bike if we could find one we liked. Reality Motorsports has been with us since that weekend in Phoenix and has always had faith in my ability to ride and faith in Arlie's ability to tune.

In May we had negotiated to purchase the Pro Fuel Bike that was currently in the possession of Mike & Patty Romine and owned by Competition, Inc. of Pearland, Texas and the deal was made. I spoke to Lonnie about my ability to ride the bike and he felt pretty confident that I'd be able to handle "the big tire bike." I wasn't so sure but after talking to Lonnie and a bunch of other people I thought I should give it a try. How would I know if I never tried?

I had seen this bike at the races and had always admired it, and Mike made it look easy. Little did I know! I am about 5' 5" and Mike Romine is over 6 feet easy. The first thing we had to do was move the foot pegs forward about 8 or 10 inches, and then add about 4 inches to the back of the seat. These modifications were necessary so I could put my feet on the pegs AND reach the handlebars (at the same time). We sent the body work out for paint and did the modifications as quick as possible as we were planning on making our debut in Top Fuel at the Denver Mile High Nationals in June just a few weeks away.

I made some test passes before heading to Denver and had no idea if I would be able to get the bike down the track under competition conditions but figured I'd give it a try. I'd been riding a fuel bike since 1995 and racing since 1990 so it wasn't like I was brand new at this.

We named it the Wildkat. It came back from the painters as a shiny black drag bike with pink flames on the tank and fender struts. The name just seemed to fit. The motor in this bike is a 150 cubic inch Jim McClure Overkill held together in a Weekend-modified Race Visions Frame. It has dual injectors and runs a 900 Waterman Pump. We run a Koenig front end and PM wheels and brakes and finally got the Dyna Data Acquisition Computer to actually record data that we down- load to a lap- top right at the track. If you ever want a Big Brother to see how you are doing on the track, you need a data acquisition computer that will tell you when you are on the throttle and what your clutch is doing. It's been a great learning tool for me. Sometimes I am not happy with the results but that's what I need to help me do better on the next pass.

June of 2001 was my one- year anniversary for riding Top Fuel. I have run some seven second passes and still have a long way to go. I get frustrated at times if the bike acts funny or if I am not up to the challenge of handling it under full power. It is a big bike and it can be hard for me to ride. My old Pro Fuel bike was 122 inches. The Wildkat is 150 inches. The Wildkat weighs about 200 pounds more than the old bike. When I run a seven second pass I feel a big sense of accomplishment. It would be easy to focus on the aborted passes but what good would that do anybody? Instead I focus on the good passes and the clean runs. This is what will help me become a better rider and eventually I will get a handle on it and will be able to ride the bike they way it was meant to be ridden.