Xr Street-Tracker
XR STREET-TRACKER
Danny Thompson's dirt-track dreambike
DIRT-TRACK REPLICAS SUCH AS THE CONVERTED Yamaha streetbike on the preceding pages are tantalizing, but they'll only ever be kissing cousins to their track-bred brethren. Those interested in owning the real thing should forget all about AR and think XR, as in Harley-Davidson's XR-750.
Since its 1970 debut, Harley's production flattracker has been the number-one choice of circle burners. So when Danny Thompson, son of famed motorsports promoter Mickey Thompson, decided to build a street-tracker of his own, an XR-750 was the logi cal choice. "I grew up going to Ascot," rationalizes the 48year-old, "so I always wanted one of those things."
Now, he has one. In 1992, Thompson acquired an ex Chris Can motor and commissioned noted XR-750 tuner Jim Kelly to build it to full-race spec, with twin Mikuni flat-slide carburetors and dual SuperTrapp high pipes that meet in a boombox muffler. The rolling chassis is equally rockin'; a C&H chromoly frame is upheld by WP suspen sion, and rolls on Kosman 19-inch wheels carrying Performance Machine brakes and Goodyear tires. Kosman triple-clamps locate the dirt-track handlebar, and provide a mounting place for the headlight/numberplate. Asked the significance of the number 8 on the front of the bike, Thompson chuckles and replies, "I just wanted to have a number, and the headlight fit in the bottom of the 8."
Drawing on his experience fabricating race cars, Thompson made many of the trick bits himself. And these parts, which include the right-side shift lever and brake pedal, the aluminum sidecóvérs and the fiber tailpiece, might be the only positive outcome of the `92 L.A. riots. Recalls Thompson, "I locked myself in my shop in Wilmington and couldn't leave for four or five days!"
Au told, the project took six months to complete and cost $12,000-$14,000. So, does the result live up to the owner's expectations? "Oh, yeah!" Thompson exclaims. "The first time I rode it down the alley behind my shop, I couldn't get my hand off the throttle quick enough. The rear wheel slid, the front wheel went up and my heart rate went up, all at the same time!"
Thompson is now busy building a streamliner with which he hopes to reclaim the land-speed record held by his father in the 1 960s. But he keeps the XR parked in the office of his new home in Telluride, Colorado, and rides it whenever he can. It's just the ticket for rekindling those childhood memories. -Brian Catterson
