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Many Utahns remember a movie from a couple of years ago called "The World's Fastest Indian." It tells the story of a New Zealand man who tried setting the land speed record on a motorcycle on Utah's salt flats in 1967.
Today a Utahn tried to set a new record.
The current record is 265 miles per hour on a motorcycle. Breaking that record is a goal Utah's Ken Merena has been pursuing for several years. After months of preparation, today he gave it a try.
Merena isn't your average motorcycle racer. At 60 years old, he is attempting to break a record by going faster on a motorcycle than anyone ever has. Instead of riding on the salt flats, he wants to break the record where he believes motorcycles are meant to be: on the highway.
"This is a 33-foot-wide roadway. It's a different proposition, keeping it together here. But we have an additional challenge on this section of roadway in that it's short," he explained.
With the cooperation of Tooele County officials, he got a permit to close the stretch of road today for his attempt. His goal is to beat the current record of land speed on a motorcycle by setting a new record of 270 miles per hour.
"I hold the current record for the highest speed ever recorded on a U.S. highway. In the overall scheme of things, it's way below what we want to do out here today. It's 241 miles per hour. People say that's only 30 miles per hour slower, but you don't get it. The difference between 240 and 270 is not the difference between 30 and 60," he said.
Merena credits his race team and the designer of his turbo motorcycle for helping in his attempt, and Tooele County officials for securing the road for what is certainly a dangerous attempt.
"Let's face it, it is an inherently dangerous activity we are doing, something that has never been done before. Nobody has gone this fast on this kind of bike, and nobody's certainly done it on a highway," Merena said.
Merena's top speed today was between 215 and 220 miles per hour, so he fell short of the record. His team will now try to make adjustments to the engine on his bike, and he plans another attempt later this summer.
E-mail: spenrod@ksl.com
