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| Easy Racers racing news, events and
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Clockwise: Chris Springer, Fast Freddy Markham
and Tanya Markham
Every Easy Racers recumbent bicycle has a little racing
blood in it. Even before we sold recumbents; we raced recumbents.
Gardner Martin started it all in 1975 when he designed and
built his first race bike. He's still at it a quarter century
later in the new millennium. Our bicycles have raced at such
prestigious venues as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the
Bonneville Salt Flats, and the opening ceremonies at the Tour
De France. We've won Top Speed Titles, Road Racing Titles,
Velodrome (track) Titles, 21 World Records.
In 1979, Fast Freddy Markham became the first person to exceed
50 mph on an unassisted bicycle. He was also the first over
60 mph. In 1986 Fast Freddy won the DuPont prize for speed
exceeding 65 mph. That bicycle, The Gold Rush, is now on permanent
display in the Smithsonian Institute.
During an 11-year period, from 1983-1993 the Easy Racer team
just dominated every form of racing. We set 13 world records
during those years and won almost every event we entered.
Along the way we also won the first and the second "Practical
Vehicle Competition". Then we retired from that competition
to give someone else a chance.
In Oct., 2001, the Easy Racers team made history again when
the Double Gold Rush, driven by Fast Freddy and Chris Springer,
set 3 new world records in the tandem category. They claimed
records in 200 meters, 1000 meters (kilo), and 1-mile distances.
Top Speed was 68.91mph. Check out a video
of the Double Gold at the finish line!
They went on to exceed the women's records for the 1000 meters
and 1 mile when Tanya Markham, Fast Freddy's daughter went
51.5 and 50.8 mph respectively. Unfortunately this happened
on the last day of racing and Tanya had no opportunity to
"back up" her speeds, so the records are not yet
official.
Our heritage is racing and that is one of the things that
makes every bicycle we make at Easy Racers something special.
They are thoroughbreds, one and all.
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MY
FINEST HOUR
Check out the Video
Sometimes you just never know. I’m a pretty
good judge of just how well I might do at any given
event, but that’s just why you “play the
game”. Before July 1st this is how I was looking
at the Dempsey-MacCready One Hour Challenge event.
At 49 and ten years past retiring from professional
cycling, I didn’t have any illusions about winning.
My only goal was to try and break the 50 mph mark
and that alone was a pretty high bar to jump. When
I look at the number one guy in the world, Sam Whittingham,
who set his world record at the Opel Test track in
Germany at 52.33 miles, well I just shake my head
and say, “No way I can beat that mark!”
Then I look at the number two man, Matt Weaver a guy
who has revolutionized HPV racing and is the United
States record holder at 51.42 miles and I think, “I
can’t beat him”. Looking further down
the list there’s Lars Teutenburg at 51.33 miles.
Lars is a professional cyclist and has many 6-Day
track races under his belt so I’m not going
to beat him either. Then there’s Rob English
who is going to be racing another Varna…..and
it’s clear he’s going to be hard to beat
too. And then there is Damjan Zabovnik in the Evie.
He’s a wild card and I think he perhaps has
the best chance to win the event. That leaves me down
in sixth place? Talk about a long shot!
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| Rob English set a new British record with Dave
Balfour's Varna |
So with that in mind I set out for Arizona with Tanya
who will launch me and Gabe, my crew chief. Our plan
is to make an attempt on Saturday morning. We woke
up early Friday in time to see Rob English make the
first attempt on the Prize. Rob set a new UK record
of 49.83 miles. It was already approaching 100 degrees.
I was thinking that it’s sure going to be hot
in my bike tomorrow, and maybe I can beat Rob.
Being race ready at 5:30 in the morning presents
problems. First, it’s hard to get the body totally
awake at that hour. Second, it’s not easy to
eat anything. My plan was to wake up at 3 am and eat
a light breakfast of yogurt and oatmeal and then ride
ten miles towards the track. At 4 am when I headed
outside it was already 80 degrees and I found it easy
to wake up and get moving. Tanya and Gabe picked me
up down the road. Then with the whole HPV contingent
in tow we caravanned to the Nissan high speed test
track. The test track was 5.6 miles per lap with a
total elevation gain of less than ten feet. The straits
were glass smooth, but the turns had multiple tar
patches and some places were much worse than I would
have liked. For the first time, I wondered about my
tire choice. Setting the bike up for an event like
this means making some choices. What tires and what
gears, how are you going to stay cool and what about
water. First, are tires. I wanted fast tires. The
ones I wanted to use are made by Vittoria and are
primarily meant for track racing on smooth velodromes.
I knew these tires might get me another mile an hour,
but are prone to blowouts. Was it worth the gamble?
Second, I was going to push big gears. I wanted to
set my gears up so that I only had a one tooth jump
between gears when I shifted. There was no place to
practice with the racing Varna, so we had to guess
on the gear ratios. Fortunately, we hit the gears
right on the money! The next big issue was cooling.
My plan is make it simple. I made a small naca style
duct in the canopy right where it would blow wind
on my face. Experience has taught me to wear only
shorts and shoes on one hour time trials. There is
always air circulating in the bike at the speeds we
were running. My body gets wet and the air cools you
down. We managed to find just enough room for a small
camel back bladder filled with ice cold water. The
hose was positioned so it was only inches from my
lips. As the event wore on and I started to be affected
from the heat I would suck out water from the camel
back and spit it on my chest and arms. While not being
hygienic it was at least tolerable. The airflow coming
into the bike combined with the water cooled me better
than I had hoped for.
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| Current Top Speed World Champion and previous
One-Hour Record holder, Sam Whittingham in his
Varna Diablo. |
We passed the time Friday afternoon and evening by
finishing up the final touches on the Varna. Chet
Kyle and David Gordon Wilson stopped by and chatted
with us for a few minutes. We had the bike on the
lawn under some palm trees and even though it was
still 100 degrees outside there was enough wind to
make it pleasant. I love the heat and as a racer have
always hoped for warm weather. It makes my muscles
much looser, and I seem to perform better in hot weather.
For the moment I felt real good, in fact even my lower
back wasn’t hurting!
We were ready to go Saturday morning and I have
to admit that for the first time in probably ten years
I was nervous. My first concern was the start. The
rules stated that if a vehicle was being hand launched
like my Varna, you had to be launched in 15 meters
or about 49 feet. This is almost impossible in the
Varna, because my first gear travels almost 36 feet
in one revolution! In fact it takes me about 75 feet.
At that point Tanya is running almost full speed by
the time the bike is under control. I was sure I was
going to have a hard time. I guess I was always a
little nervous about doing a one hour time trial.
You suffer badly and I didn’t know whether I
could make the distance or not. Tanya starts me and
I never got control of the bike and fell over on the
right side. I managed to hit the brakes just as I
fell and the damage was only cosmetic. That’s
never the way you want to start the day believe me.
To make matters worse I’m restarted where I
fell and this time got going only to be stopped a
mile down the road and restarted again back at the
start/finish line. This next launch was perfect, Tanya
really came through and I was off. I got going, steadily
building up speed and I was quite happy when I rolled
past 50 mph in about one mile. After that, I was even
happier when I rolled past 57 mph. I was never sure
until this moment what kind of speed I could attain.
The Nissan test track is quite flat, but has a ten
foot elevation change between turn one to turn three.
My speed would fluctuate between about 53 mph in turn
one to about 56 mph in turn three. I came out of turn
four on lap one, I looked down the track and saw people
standing in my lane, I wasn’t wearing my contact
lenses so I couldn’t really tell what they were
doing. I knew three things. First, surely they know
I’m coming and will get out of the way. Second,
the timing tape is only on the first lane, and I want
that first lap split time. Third, I figure they know
what they’re doing. Sure enough they get out
of lane one. As I flash past at about 55 mph to my
left I notice what looks like people standing in lane
two awfully close to my lane. Another second and the
whole scene was forgotten until later. The chance
for disaster is always around the corner. I’ll
explain in a moment. I completed lap one in less than
seven minutes. Lap two was even better. For the first
time in years I felt the
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| Damjan Zabovnik was on world record pace untill
he blew a tire. |
feeling I used to get as a pro racer when I was on
the hunt. I went from thinking I might do a personal
best to “I can win the whole thing!” That
feeling lasted another lap until my mid-drive fell
apart. With it went my chance of winning anything
that day. Was I disappointed? How would you feel if
you found $18,000 and suddenly lost it? After I calmed
down I realized that it was an easy fix, and I could
run again tomorrow morning. In fact this whole episode
worked for my benefit. As we were driving to Arizona
I mentioned to Tanya and Gabe that the best thing
I could do would be to start a run and then abort
it fifteen miles into it because that would set my
legs up perfect for the next day. The reason is that
after you taper your fitness for about a week, you
usually need to do some hard maximum efforts to get
your body back up to full speed. We head back to the
hotel to sleep. Then Gabe and Tanya to do some repair
work on the Varna. Remember I said there was a chance
for disaster? When I was launched in the morning I
was starting ahead of Damjan Zabovnik. We were both
staged on the track at the same time. After I got
under way the official in charge, Al Kraus, waited
until I got about halfway down the track and then
launch Damjan. Damjan had a slight delay and then
trouble launching. Al, knowing I was now getting close,
decided to hold Damian where he was and wave me around
on the outside. Remember, I wasn’t wearing my
contact lenses. My vision was good enough to get me
around a super speedway, but not good enough to see
them try and wave me around Damien. So I just went
straight figuring everyone would get out of my way,
which they did. It must have been quite a sight to
get buzzed that close at 55 mph for Damien and everyone
else who surrounded him. I was right about Damjan,
he was the fastest of the bunch, but ended up winning
the hard luck trophy. He crashed after 50 minutes
when his front tire failed on one of the bumpy turns.
50 minutes is a bad time to crash because you are
physically used up at that point and you wouldn’t
be able to make another attempt for days. At least
he walked away knowing his amazing bike, the Evie,
was on world record setting pace when he crashed.
Unfortunately for Damien he had no spare and a replacement
couldn’t be located in time to make another
attempt. I on the other hand was thankful for
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| Lars Teutenburg in the Whitehawk held the One-Hour
Record at 51.33 miles before Sam Whittingham surpassed
it. |
one last shot at the title and now I had a little
confidence. The only thing I was unhappy about was
that I was going to have to get up a 3am, again! I
went to sleep at about 9 pm partly because I wanted
to stop thinking about tomorrows run. I kept having
anxiety attacks which I wasn’t used to. I knew
I could win the race and with it $18,000. The only
person who could stop it would be Matt Weaver and
he had a good chance. For almost 24 hours I tried
to keep my mind intact and not think about the race
which I knew I could win….it was hard.
By 12am it seems like I’m checking the clock
every half hour and by 2:30, I just get up. I’m
no morning person, but today I was awake! Tanya and
Gabe position the Varna on the starting line along
with Rob English who will start behind me. Tanya gets
me off the launch stand and carefully steadies the
bike. I start pedaling and despite Tanya’s best
effort I just couldn’t get control of it in
the 15 meters and I went down again. I got out, walked
back to the start line and got back in and was ready
to go not more than three minutes later. This time
Tanya’s launch was one in a million and I was
off. What a relief! I hammered it. I hit 50mph in
just over a mile. I hit 58.5mph two miles later in
turn three. I was feeling good and the bike seemed
alive it was so fast. I covered the first lap from
a standing start in 6 minutes and 52 seconds bringing
my total average speed to 49.42 miles. By the end
of lap two my 55mph lap speed brought my total average
speed to 52.34mph, which was the current world record.
By lap three my average speed was up to 53.14miles.
At the end of lap four I had covered 22.64 miles in
25 minutes 27 seconds. I was moving and I knew it.
Now I had two things going for me. One, I was ahead
of Sam Whittingham’s world record pace. And
two, $18,000. I was not going to crack! It got hard,
I got hot, I felt sick and time dragged on, but I
was not going to crack. I just knew it. I hung on
through lap five, six and seven. The Varna is enough
of a handful that it’s a full time job focus
wise to keep it going straight down the road. I don’t
even have the luxury of taking a hand off of the handle
bar
s. Starting lap eight I had my worst moment physically.
My speed dropped down to 52 and I was hurting. Then
the bike turned the corner through turn one and essentially
headed downhill towards the fastest part of the track.
On previous laps at this point I was able to gain
speed and recover ever so slightly. I was never so
glad to see 56mph on the speedometer at this time
because I knew I was going to save the lap. Then I
realized that I would only have time for one more
lap! I just might do it! Like a stable horse headed
to the barn I poured everything into that lap. By
the end of lap nine I had raised my average speed
another half mile to 53.42. I blasted by the start
finish line for the last time with everybody yelling
and screaming. I remember seeing Tanya right next
to the track video taping as a raced past. I felt
like screaming right along with everybody. I still
had about three minutes to go and I was just hanging
on for dear life at this moment, going as hard as
I could, the bike getting a little wobbly from my
fatigue. I know I didn’t exactly look good,
but I felt good. In a strange way I almost didn’t
want the hour to end. When it did run out I was on
the back straight doing about 56 mph.
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Matt Weaver's Cutting Edge in the wind
tunnel at Texas A&M. |
I continued to pedal for another minute until I was
sure it was over and truthfully at this point I was
toast! I felt better than I would have thought. I
could have done this event and finished with 49 miles
and probably wouldn’t have been able to walk
for days. When you win, sometimes you feel like you
could dance and I might have, but I am always the
realist and I knew Matt Weaver was getting ready to
launch. My latest hour world record might not last
the next hour. Here was a guy who during his last
hour record attempt ran at over 56 mph for several
laps, so I knew he had the speed. Matt’s bike
the Cutting edge II had the ability to be self launched.
His start was pretty slow and I knew that his first
lap was going to be off pace. As Matt completed lap
one and passed the starting line he looked like he
was super sonic. Right then I knew I couldn’t
stand to watch Matt’s progress and I turned
away and walked over to our van to focus on anything
else. Matt looked promising for a few laps, but it
was clear that it wasn’t going to happen this
day for Matt as he completed 48.67 miles, clearly
not his best.
With that I was declared the Dempsey-MacCready Prize
winner with a world record speed of 53.43 miles or
85.99 kilometers. Just a hair past 4 kilo’s
or about two and a half miles short of the 90 kilometers.
A very long two and a half miles to me! At the awards
ceremony I told Dr Paul MacCready that his goal of
90 kilometers in an hour was indeed possible, it just
didn’t happen. Present at the event was a who’s
who of HPV legends. I couldn’t have asked for
a better audience or a better run event.
My Dempsey-MacCready Hour Challenge story doesn’t
end there. It actually began in late 2001 when Gardner
Martin approached me to make an attempt on the prize.
I was in the worst shape of my life and started the
long process of getting back into shape. We purchased
Matt Weaver’s camera bike and started making
attempts. I had lots of trouble right away. I crashed
at over 65 mph once, three times over 50 mph, once
at 40 mph and once at about 25 mph. I also ran into
Gardner at the local velodrome knocking him to the
ground. I suffered from claustrophobia, vertigo and
self doubt. At one point I actually wondered if I
had any cycling skills left. Despite all of my problems
I actually thought I was
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| The moment of victory as the chase
vehicle pulls alongside to mark the end of the
hour. |
going to win the prize. Then the racing program was
suddenly scrapped and that was the last time I thought
of the Dempsey-MacCready Prize for a long time. That
is until after Gabe DeVault did some design work for
Nissan on their gravity racer last year and met the
right people and the Nissan Challenge was announced.
It’s worth noting that my incredible distance
was made possible by a very slick bicycle, the Varna
Mephisto and the man who made it, George Georgieve.
I want to thank George for making this all possible
and encouraging me race the hour. I also must acknowledge
my friend, Denton Coetzee, who told me to “indulge
yourself in your passion for cycling”. I want
you to know that when he said that it mentally prepared
the way for me to push on in my training. Denton backed
me all the way. As always I couldn’t do much
with out the support of my family. I’m thankful
Tanya was there to see me win the big one. She has
one of the hardest jobs of all and that is launching
her Dad in a Varna, but she always does it with poise.
And to my wife Dee, who still hasn’t put her
foot down and stopped me from racing yet, I love all
of you and you all helped to make this race my FINEST
HOUR.
Here are some brief highlights: During the seven years
of the prize, the World HPV hour record has been broken
five times and the distance raised from 79.136 km
to 85.990 km. My fastest lap was 89.51 km or about
55.6 mph. followed by Damjan Zabovnik at 87.52 km.
Then Rob English at 87.18 km and then Matt Weaver
at 84.29 km. Matt has the distinction of running the
fastest laps at a prior attempt at the 90 km prize.
Official
Results
Image
Gallery
Video
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Easy Racers sets 3 new world records at the
2002
World Human Powered Speed Challenge
Tanya Markham/Mackie Martin Double Gold Rush 53.483MPH!!!
Tanya Markham Gold Rush LeTour 52.295MPH!!!
Mackie Martin Virtual Rush 60.75MPH!!!
Click HERE for photos
and videos.
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| Easy Racers HPV's |
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Virtual Rush
Gold Rush
Gold Rush America
Gold Rush Le Tour
Gold Rush Colorado
Double Gold Rush
Belly Bike aka "JAWS"
*under construction
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| Easy Racers Racing History |
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This shot taken during the road race at the 1984
IHPVA championships in Indianapolis. I'm leading Carl
Sundquist in the super fast Lightning X-2 at the Indianapolis
raceway park. This shot is taken at the end of a long
straightaway and I'm just setting up for a corner. I won
this race by almost 2 minutes. |
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Fast Freddy, Greg Lemond shake hands before the start
of the first stage of the 1991 Tour de France in Villerubanne.
You can just see the Gold Rush I used the night before
to set a kilometer world record up on the stage where
the racers all sign in before the event starts. left to
right Gardner,Fast Freddy,the Mayor, director of the Tour
de France and Greg Lemond. |
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The winner circle at the Michigan International speedway.
This photo was taken after I set a new hour world record
of 45.3 mph. Sept. 1989 |
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Standing with the Gold Rush America at the Bonneville
salt flats. This photo was taken at about 2am as Gardner
and I drove back from the IHPVA championships in Michigan.
Two weeks later I would be back to set a world record
with John Howard in the Double Gold Rush |
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This is at the Major Taylor velodrome in Indianapolis,
during the 1984 IHPVA championships. This is a practice
session, but later that night I would lower the time for
my current world record in the 4000m pursuit to 3 minutes
43 seconds. |
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Sept. 1993 in Alamosa, Colorado. A good shot of me and
the Gold Rush Colorado. Despite being in really good condition
during the 93' season, I lost my first top speed title
since 1986 to Sam Whittingham by 1/4 mph. I did manage
to up my own world record for the flying kilometer in
this bike though. |
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In the Double Gold Rush - With Chris Springer braking
the Top Speed Tandem World Record |
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With Chris Springer and Easy Racers' creator Gardner
Martin in the center |
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Chris Springer, Tanya and Fast Freddy with the Gold
Rush Le Tour and the Double Gold, the worlds fastest tandem.
This was taken in Oct. 2001 |
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July 3, 1991 Gold Rush Le tour in France. One of the
great things I've done over the years is ride on some
beautiful tracks....both car racing and velodromes.
This was such a nice place and the track smooth and
fast. Here I am at speed testing the bike on the day
before my world record attempt |
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July 3, 1991 Good shot of the bike at speed at the same
track in Lyon, France. Things are looking good here, but
man, can things change in a hurry! |
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July3, 1991 This is usually the end result of a blown
front tire on a steeply banked track. Gardner is now contemplating
how much work he needs to do before the race tomorrow
night to fix the damage as I walk away disgusted. We know
now it turns out OK, but this was a little unsettling
for us |
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Aug. 1992 IHPVA speed championships in Yreka, Ca. This
is what the Gold Rush looked like after I lost control
of the bike between 65-70 mph. I've now had three 60+
mph crashes. This was my second and by far the hardest
and no doubt fastest. Can you believe that after all this
I still managed to win this race by 14 seconds! |
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Aug. 1992 IHPVA speed championships in Yreka, Ca. I
like this photo...you can see the outline of my body on
the Gold Rush. After I hit the ground I was very nearly
ejected from the bike, but my leg was stuck and it kept
me from being thrown out. The windscreen was damaged beyond
repair and my helmet had scratches on it. You can make
out my foot, calf, leg, hip and arm. |
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1991 IHPVA speed championships at the Milwaukee Mile.
This is the starting grid for the 1 hour TT. You sure
can't say nobody showed up! I finished first, about a
lap up on second place. |
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October 1989 at the Bonneville Salt Flats. John Howard
and I competed in Speedweek for a special ESPN show called
Great American Events. We set 2 world records....one for
the fastest kilometer and one for the mile. |
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May 6th, 1979 the belly bike becoming the first bicycle
to exceed 50 mph. My first world record and with that
was entered in the Guinness book of world records. This
photo taken at the old Ontario Motor Speedway in Southern
California. |
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May 1979 learning to fly, or so it seems. That's Alan
Osterbauer on the left and Gardner on the right. This
photo could be of my record run on May 6th. Alan would
become very instrumental in the development of the future
Gold Rush...a title he never fairly received |
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This shot is taken at the Milwaukee Mile in Wisconsin
in April of 1990. I'm in the middle racing a Aero Moulton
against two far faster bikes....there was a 25 mph cross
wind blowing across the track and I used both of those
bikes as shelter from the wind. In fact the wind was so
bad the Infinety crashed , the lead Moby with Paul Swift
driving had a mechanical and then with out as much protection
from the wind I crashed, but was able to get back in and
still win the race! |
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The Markham family - Freddy, Dee and Tanya - My daughter
inherited the speed-freak gene from me. She currently
holds the World Speed Records for Flying Kilometer Women
Single, Flying Mile Women Single, and Top Speed Tandem
Junior together with Macky Martin. |
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On the podium during a Friday night track race with
my team mate Matt Chambers after winning the madison team
race....I don't think I ever rode with a better partner
than Matt. I owe him many victories! |
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1991 Olympic Sports Festival, los Angeles, ca. This
is a 50 kilometer points race, 150 laps with a sprint
every 5 laps....yea it hurt, I won by lapping the field
three times! This shot shows me leading a small group
of riders on what was my second lapping of the field |
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April 22, 1979, I'm winning a National Prestige classic
event. NPC races were the toughest criteriums to win.
In this case, 150 racers started a 50 mile race in a pouring
rain. I managed to avoid all the crashes, broke away and
beat this small group in the sprint. Being a national
team member back then I was wearing a USA national team
jersey |
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August 1978 Munich Germany, world championship 50 kilometer
points race final. I'm leading a group containing three
future world champions and other animal cyclists....that's
why my heads down because I'm going so fast I'm trying
to get as aero as possible. I finished 15th, becoming
the first american to finish a points race at the worlds.
This track was just beautiful to see and race on. It was
278 meters, banked to 48 degrees in the turns and was
about 30 feet high |
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I'm about to start the kilometer time trial in the world
championships. Despite being surrounded by men in suits,
I don't really notice them.....kilo's are real nerve wracking....I
guarentee you I'm about to explode right about there.
This ride would get me 12th place and would be a U.S.
kilo record for about 5 years |
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June 1976 While on my way to making the Olympic team
that year I also won a few road races. This was a Nor
Cal criterium and late in the race Mark Vandetti who was
a up and coming road racer broke away and looked like
he had the victory in the bag. On the last lap I was closing
incredibly fast, but looked like I wasn't going to be
able to catch him. I never backed off though, and was
rewarded by Mark throwing his hands up about 30 feet before
the finish line. I shot past in that instant....you can
see his hands are on the way down and my arm on the way
up! In the back ground you can see Nic Farats-Ban in the
National champions Jersey watching from the infield in
amazement |
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Far west track championships in Encino California, Oct.
1978. This is a match sprint race final and I'm on the
outside attacking my Schwinn team mate, Kurt Miller. This
photo was taken coming out of turn 4 with 1 lap to go.
I really liked this photo because it shows me at full
speed and Kurt has yet to realize how fast I'm going.
I passed Kurt but he nipped me at the line for the win.
I lost this one, but went on to win the overall championship.
The Far west was the last big event of the season and
it was a nice way to end the year. |
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Just so nobody thinks I'm perfect! This is a good shot
of what I looked like when I used to have a bad day at
the office. The track is Trexlertown and this is a Friday
night track race probably in late june or so. This event
was a "miss and out" and I'm definetely out.
Jack Simes is about to give me a hand |
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Fast Freddy joins the 70 mph club!!!
Fast Freddy, the 1st to break 50 mph on a bicycle over
25 years ago, is now the 3rd fasted human on the planet
at 71.835 mph. Click
here for a video of his run! |
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All dressed and ready to race....awaiting the start
at Battle Mountain in the Varna Mephisto. Sept. 2003 |
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Soaking up the last bit of fresh air before being closed
up inside in the Mephisto
Sept. 2003 |
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Posing for the cameras |
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Posing for the cameras |
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Launching underway........this is not easy, I lost it
a couple times |
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Inside the Virtual Rush. This is one evil handling machine.
Give me a windscreen any day! |
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Feb.10 2002 - Not a good date by any means really. This
is at the Las Vegas motor speedway and this was my first
attempt in the Virtual Rush and the weather did not cooperate.
By the time I started the winds were up to 20 in gusts.
Two 50+ mph crashes later we decided to abort. This photo
shows the damage from crash #1. |
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The helpful crew from left to right
Garrie Hill, Mac Martin, Gardner, Gabe DeVault, Chris
Broom, Unnamed(sorry), Paul Gracey, Bill Gains Mackie
Martin and me |
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This is May 4th 2002 at the California speedway. Gardner
and Mac prepare the VR as I try and stretch my hamstings
so early in the morning....about 6am. |
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Gabe and Gardner watch as I climb into the coffin...I
mean Virtual rush |
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The VR at speed during our 1 hour attempt. I did cover
46+ miles and for the first time had for the most part
a trouble free ride. |
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Even though I had lots of room...it sure didn't look
that way through the video screen. To make matters worse,
on every lap the rising sun in turn two almost completely
washed out the contrast in the video monitor leaving me
blinded for several seconds. |
 |
How the hell this photo get in here! Oh well, yea I
crashed it on my cool down lap....my arm was to tired
to pull the gear down and as I pulled it down, I bobbled
the bike and down we went at about 25 mph. Ok, so lets
recap the crashes in this pig A 64mph crash..you can see
the video of this one, three 50+ mph crashes, 45mph, 25mph
and I ran over Gardner at the local velodrome knocking
him to the ground. Before you think I've lost it, most
of these crashes were all wind related....except for the
Gardner thing....that was his fault! |
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Gabe and Mac pick me up as my whole family looks on.
That thin line of fluid is my sweat that has pooled in
the bottom and leaking from the seams in the bike |
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I can honestly say Tanya looks a lot better than anyone
else in there. |
*under construction
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| Easy Racers Records |
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| EASY RACERS LIST OF WORLD RECORDS 1979
THRU 2001 |
| DATE |
|
EVENT |
SPEED |
DRIVER |
PLACE |
| May |
6 |
1979 |
Top Speed Single |
50.84mph |
Freddy Markham |
Ontario CA |
| Sep |
28 |
1984 |
4000 Meter Pursuit |
3.43.01 |
Freddy Markham |
Indianapolis IN |
| Sep |
29 |
1984 |
1 Hour Time Trial |
37.5mph |
Freddy Markham |
Indianapolis IN |
| Oct |
15 |
1985 |
Top Speed Single |
61.44mph |
Freddy Markham |
Indianapolis IN |
| May |
11 |
1986 |
Top Speed Single |
65.48mph |
Freddy Markham |
Mono Lake CA |
| Aug |
28 |
1986 |
1Hour Time Trial |
41.78mph |
Freddy Markham |
Vancouver BC |
| Sep |
15 |
1989 |
1 Hour Time Trial |
45.38mph |
Freddy Markham |
Michigan Speedway |
| Oct |
1 |
1989 |
Flying Kilo Tandem |
60.49mph |
Markham/Howard |
Bonneville Salt Flat |
| Oct |
1 |
1989 |
Flying Mile Tandem |
58.81mph |
Markham/Howard |
Bonneville Salt Flat |
| July |
4 |
1991 |
Flying Kilo Single |
53.43mph |
Freddy Markham |
Villeurbanne France |
| Sep |
16 |
1993 |
Flying Kilo Single |
60.36mph |
Freddy Markham |
Alamosa CO |
| Sep |
17 |
1993 |
Top Speed Tandem |
65.05mph |
Markham/Whittingham |
Alamosa CO |
| Sep |
17 |
1993 |
Flying 500Meter Tandem |
64.89mph |
Markham/Whittingham |
Alamosa CO |
| Sep |
17 |
1993 |
Flying Kilo Tandem |
64.39mph |
Markham/Whittingham |
Alamosa CO |
| August |
1 |
1994 |
24 Hour Record |
607.03 miles in 24 hrs. |
Myhee |
Eureka CA |
| May |
31 |
2000 |
Top Speed Tandem Junior |
43.56mph |
T.Markham/M. Martin |
Watsonville CA |
| Oct |
1 |
2001 |
Top Speed Tandem |
66.87mph |
Markham/Chris Springer |
Battle Mt. NV |
| Oct |
5 |
2001 |
Top Speed Tandem |
68.91mph |
Markham/Chris Springer |
Battle Mt. NV |
| Oct |
5 |
2001 |
Flying Kilo Tandem |
68.51mph |
Markham/Chris Springer |
Battle Mt. NV |
| Oct |
5 |
2001 |
Flying Mile Tandem |
68.36mph |
Markham/Chris Springer |
Battle Mt. NV |
| Oct |
6 |
2001 |
Flying Kilo Women Single |
*51.27mph |
Tanya Markham |
Battle Mt. NV |
| Oct |
6 |
2001 |
Flying Mile Women Single |
*50.58mph |
Tanya Markham |
Battle Mt. NV |
*Unofficial |
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