| Author | Message | ||
     Court |
Ohhhhhhh yeah!  This is going to be a very busy and a very fun week. I've done these trips in 4 decades and am not sure I ever recall looking forward to one more than I am this week. Erik Buell Racing . . . . like a child taking it's first steps . . . is just starting to get on it's feet. The good news is, for the first time in the history of Erik Buell's various racing efforts, that this time they stand in no one's shoes but their own. Fresh from an October 15, 2009 kicking to the curb . . .some very talented folks with nearly no access to intellectual property developed by Buell Motorcycle Company . . went to the drawing board and started from scratch. For the first time ever they weren't constrained in their innovation . . . nothing had to be the "best you can make, but it has to mate up with a Sportster mount". Erik Buell Racing is, indeed, FIERCELY INDEPENDENT. Last year, working on a budget that consisted of pretty much what Erik had in his back pocket . . . Erik Buell Racing rolled out the all new 1190RS at Mid-Ohio. Geoff May logged a masterful season, placing the 1190RS in the Top 10 in each and every race with not a single DNF. Other, much larger firms, sought to do the same thing and failed. It was testimony to the focus of the folks at EBR. This year folks have been busy. EBR knew that to get on the trajectory Erik envisioned the first fuel the program needed was $$$ . . .what to do? It'd take money to roll out the new EBR models and continue the racing heritage that has long been the core, through all the ups and downs, of everything Erik Buell has ever sought to do. Make now mistake, Erik is a racer at heart. What to do? One thing EBR had, that was of great value, was some of the most talented, creative and innovative engineers in the world. The could do things that no other company in the world could, big or small. Marketing of that talent begun and has yielded tremendous opportunities beyond what could even have been imagined during the years the round Buell was diluted by efforts to be driven into a square hole. Spin the clock ahead. It's a new world. Americans are once again emerging as the "go to Team" for world class engineering. What was impossible 10 years ago is now common place. As I type this I've a live image of a friend, 17 hours away, on my screen . . . we're visiting, face to face, as I write. The nexus of powerful technology, incredible talent and the erosion of boundaries, technical and geographic, has given EBR an advantage that other American firms will eventually discover. It's no secret, Americans are the best in the world at a couple things. Erik Buell must race, Erik Buell Racing must race. Some folks, as EBR struggle over the past 2 years, to get up off the mat wondered "why race? . . why not just build street bikes?" Racing, while wildly expensive, is far cheaper than building, distributing, supporting and promoting street bikes. EBR had to go to their heritage to make a name for themselves. If you're going to carry the name Erik Buell RACING, you better damn well race and race well. Geoff May did nothing short of a masterful job last year. He, like a Naval Pilot, was given a top secret "Mission Profile" and executed it flawlessly. It's a tribute to his talent as a rider, in fact I'd call him a "riding scientist" that he was able to execute it so effectively. Geoff, down to the smallest detail, followed a plan, gathered the data and accomplished the mission . . . .all this while the chess pieces we being moved to support 2012. It worked. It was a gamble few can imagine. Erik Buell literally bet 100% of what would have been a comfy retirement, knowing full well that if one move missed, he'd be moving to an apartment in Milwaukee and looking for a job at 62. Normal people aren't wired to empty their pockets onto the green felt table of business and bet that they can go to the plate and hit 5 grand slams in a row. This is going to be a fun week. Geoff's back. . . . with his talent, personality, intense focus and he'll be bringing his wife Jodi and his folks. Danny's home. . . . with his talent, excitement, enthusiasm and ability to quicken the heart rate of even the most hardened racing faces. He never stops smiling, never has a bad word to say and raises the bar each time he throws a leg over anything. Mike Kirkpatrick, a long time Badwebber who's hit the big time, will be directing the efforts. I'd seen Mike before, met him a number of times but, for the first time, got to see him in action last year. There is no one better suited for this role, anywhere at any price. Mike is the "Danny Eslick of the Pits" . . .pure skill driven by unbridled enthusiasm and warm personality. Erik's driven to win. It kills him every time he sees one of those bikes leave the pits and he can't be the one riding it. But he's focused that intensity into team building and the fruits of his effort show. I've been watching Buells race for going on 30 years. While I'd like to see a great performance I confess what I am more consumed with is sheer pride. Pride in what Erik has done, pride in all the people behind the scenes and proud of the new iteration of Erik Buell that the world gets to see. So . . . .like I've said since I saw the first RR-1000 in 1987 . . . ."See you at the races". Court | ||
| Dano_12s |
Thanks for the write-up Court! Looking forward to the action of Daytona! Have a great time! | ||
| Ratbuell |
Hm. That sounds like the prologue to a new book...  Best of luck to everyone down in Daytona this week. I'll be glued to Speed here in Maryland, wishing I could be there. I can't wait to see the results! | ||
| Motorcyclemike |
The results are already in!! Erik Buell is back in business and we all win!! Wishing EBR and all the Buell races teams the best of luck this season. | ||
| Reepicheep |
You nailed it Court, as usual. | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
How I'm feeling.... this says it all  Can't wait to put a EBR on the road and eat ups the miles! | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
Really nice words Court. It's going to be a very interesting, and I hope very rewarding weekend for the whole E-B-R crew  Go E-B-R!!!!  | ||
| Firstbuell |
Tuesday 3/13 update: I finally have more confidence in Speed's site info - their latest schedule actually matches AMA Pro's press release & Comcast's look-ahead: DAYTONA - Pacific programming for Sat 3/17: 10:30am SuperBike & SuperSport 11:30am Daytona 200 2pm XR1200s take a break - 3pm-4:30pm 4:30pm Indy SX [live] 7:30pm Daytona dirt short-tracks [2] | ||
| Court |
16 hours until qualifying . . . this is gonna be fun 11 | ||
| Rex |
whooohooooooo! Tweet, facebook, email, and put on badweb for some of us at a conference. thanks, REX | ||
| Rex |
Char, great photo of you, Erik, and Court! Hobnobbing with the big boys.... | ||
| Court |
We are on the move . . . . worked late, with Mike, last night getting gear prepped, checked and packed. Rolling at 0400 and on the way. Hopefully . . . starting reports later this afternoon. This is going to be an unusually exciting year. Court | ||
| Reepicheep |
I can hardly wait for the updates to start rolling in Court... keep use there with you! | ||
| Davegess |
Any one having any luck getting live timing on the AMA site up? Practice starts in half an hour and all I get is last years last race! | ||
| Davegess |
Now it's up. Go EBR! | ||
| Jerseyguy |
Best of luck to the Team. Us old timers will be watching! | ||
| Court |
A few pics . . . more bike pics tomorrow and the story behind some of these . . . I'm running on 3 hours sleep . . checking out tonight.                       | ||
| Court |
You can't possibly imagine how exciting it is to see all these folks so amped up representing EBR. I got to visit with Shawn, Danny and Geoff (who by the way will become a father for the first time) . . . . . nice visit with Erik, who has so many irons in the fire it's scary . . . Great visit with Mike Kirkpatrick and Kemp Asbeck and I couldn't help but get more and more excited about how folks like Kemp, who is so talented and has wielded his skill at Buell for years, and Mike, who came on board just 2/23 . . . have stuck up such and interesting and powerful collaboration. I can't wait for today . . . . this could get good. Can;t recall the last time I was this excited. Fingers crossed. | ||
| Court |
The Power of Believing . . . I’ve seen it before but never fail to be amazed . . . each and every time you think you’ve seen Erik Buell hit his last ball over the outfield fence into the parking lot . . . he steps back up to the home plate of life and outdoes himself. I’ve been around the world of Buell since the days, and some of you have heard the stories, when all the owners in the world could ride to lunch together in a Ford Econo-line van. We celebrated, and I still have the piece of paper, when we had to start a second page, on a legal pad, to keep the Buell Owners Club member list. Things were good then. Simple. Good. But, following an unceremonious emancipation on 10-16-2009, Erik Buell became an “ICDCFZ”. . . . an “Innovation in Creativity and Design Constraint Free Zone”. No longer would a committee member who’d never set foot in the building give a pep talk stating . . . “we urge you to be innovative, creative and think outside the box. . . but just make sure whatever you do will bolt up to a Sportster mount”. Buell, the person, the company, the amazing folks who work there, the families and the vendors were set free to be not “really good” but the best they could be, the best in the world. The new world order in East Troy, WI USA was be the best you can be, then collaborate with your peers, refine and never say you’re done until you can honesty take the “Buell Test” . . . “is this the BEST you can do?” and answer a resounding “Yes, it is”. It’s amazing. But times are tough and as Erik Buell desperately tried to find someone who’d believe in the dream the fear among many potential partners was palpable as a good portion of the world vowed to keep head in sand in the face of a less than certain economic and business climate. Erik never gave up, never lost sight and was well aware he lacked both time and capacity to accept a “come back in 3 years when things are better” offers. But the world pretty much, though “man caused” ups and downs, continues to rotate at a fairly constant speed about an axis. To the wise, those souls who relish flying in places that softens the wax on their wings, there is a way. It’s a new world, a smarter world, a faster world, a more principled world and a world that beckons to the wildly intelligent, well educated, creative folks with a appetite whet for spinning the yarn of dreams into the fabric of business. My wife is a Wall Streeter. I heard about all of her BRIC work for a year until I understood she wasn’t dealing pottery on weekends. I asked and she explained “Brazil, Russia, India and China” and how these markets possessed unique attributes of growing economies set to realize explosive growth. As Erik continued to seek the support he needed . . . it was much like a fairy tale . . along came a HERO. It wasn’t so much him seeking them as them seeking him. HERO, the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world, was poised to realize amazing things. They had capital, they had resources, they had a reputation, they had leadership and they had labor. What they needed was cutting edge engineering. They had access to great engineering but Mr. Pawan Munjal saw things far beyond great . . . he had all the pieces and needed the best engineering in the world. He was poised to do amazing things if he could strike an allegiance with someone possessing amazing engineering and design. HERO believed in Erik Buell and Erik Buell Racing and Erik and Erik Buell Racing believed in HERO. I’ve been around Buell through a number of business cycles . . . more iteration of ownership and leadership than I can count and Erik and I have cycled through life in some ways evolving into wingmen for each other. Through the ups and downs, one of us is always up when the other needs it. It’s a symbiosis that’s worked at every level. I had the opportunity today to meet Mr. Pawan Munjal in person and was amazed. It took less than a minute to see why he and Erik have connected in some many ways on so many levels. It’d be simplistic to simply say he’s an “Indian Erik Buell” but it’d also be accurate. Like Erik, his enthusiasm is genuine and deep. He doesn’t just like excellence, he aggressively pursues it. Like Erik, he’s proud of his accomplishments. Geoff May and Danny Eslick were provided with small HERO motorcycles as pit bikes and as Danny was talking about his I was fascinated to see Mr. Munjal begin pointing out features, parts, design ideas and generally looking like a proud Father. It speaks volumes when a person who makes a million motorcycles a month lights up with pride as he looks at just one. It gets better. It took almost no time today to see that the entire continent visiting from India was as taken with racing as the Buell faithful gathered for the 2012 Daytona 200. This was a new experience and, with the rapid increase in the popularity (many of you saw the plans for a Moto GP track in India) of motorsports in India, I think today’s experience was fun for everyone. It’s obvious that Mr. Pawan Munjal and his staff has a deep conviction and commitment to not only racing but to making the Team HERO /EBR name mean “World Class Racing”. By now you’ve all seen the results from today. While it was a shame to see Danny, who’s so happy to be back among the Buell world he’s nearly giddy, leave the race early. . it was obvious that he’ll once again be a force to be contended with. Danny brings a level of enthusiasm and thrill to about anything with 2 wheels he gets near. Today he proved his HERO pit bike to be just as capable of providing those thrills. Then the “ever steady, dependable about to be a Dad” Geoff aMAYzing brings home a 6th place finish at Daytona. Wow . . just, WOW. It’s been a great day. It’s now 2:00am and I’m busy trying to help craft a plan that may put some lucky Buell owners on an ERIK BUELL RACING 1190RS tomorrow for some test rides. Hopefully, with a bit of luck, some stars will align and by tomorrow night the first “seat of the pants” real reports will come in from the Buell faithful. But . . first things first . . . practice starts in 6 hours, the bikes are being prepped as I write this and we’ve a race to run at 11:00. Note to self . . . . never count an old racer out of the game. Truly . . . we live in amazing times. Court (Message edited by court on March 17, 2012) (Message edited by court on March 17, 2012) | ||
| Court |
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| Lemonchili_x1 |
Nice words again Court, and really cool to hear a personal account of the interaction between Hero and EBR, and Mr. Pawan Munjal and Erik. Buell, the person, the company, the amazing folks who work there, the families and the vendors were set free to be not “really good” but the best they could be, the best in the world. The new world order in East Troy, WI USA was be the best you can be, then collaborate with your peers, refine and never say you’re done until you can honesty take the “Buell Test” . . . “is this the BEST you can do?” and answer a resounding “Yes, it is”. This strikes such a chord with me... Working on my own music I sit back every now and again and take my own "Buell Test" and just *listen* to what I've done... and then go back and make it better. I admire (and am a little envious!) of EB's ability to inspire this kind of passion and pride in his people. At my own work I push people to do better, but the constraints of time and budget win the battle more often than inspiration does. It's really good to hear the atmosphere at EBR is about being the best in the *world* and finding ways to beat the constraints. Great pics too, the close up of Geoff with EB in the background is an awesome shot. | ||
| Dano_12s |
Thank you,Court! What great times ahead! Keep the action coming! | ||
| Reepicheep |
Thank you Court, that was one (of several) posts I was waiting to find. Go EBR! Go Danny, Geoff, and Mike! Go Elves (former, current, and future) everywhere! | ||
| Knwyman |
Fantastic! How appropriate that having walked the path of the Hero (ala Joe Campbell), Erik & EBR end up coupled with Hero Motorcorp?! Once again, life follows myth. Beautiful! Can't wait to read about today's activities... Thank you Court! | ||
| Ratbuell |
Very cool stuff. Enjoy the demo rides! | ||
| Deanh8 |
Demo ride? Hope we have those at the races at Infineon or laguna here in california | ||
| Davegess |
Demo rides! NOW Court has really gotten himself in trouble. I can almost see the steam coming out of Erik's ears on this one  | ||
| Court |
It was an incredible day on so many levels I don't know where to start. Actually . . . . I've got a 4AM wake up call and am working on about no sleep . . . so I'll start with a couple pics and follow up with more tomorrow. Suffice to say this was an amazing weekend of racing for the folks of Erik Buell Racing. I am really proud of these folks. Court                                         | ||
| Slaughter |
Way cool pics... maybe help us who aren't in the know of all the people - captions on some? (please) | ||
| Buelldualsport |
Court Great job Daytona is always Daytona At least the bike guys did not hit the jet dryer like the NASCAR Cup guys. Congratulations to Eric and the whole crew. |
