“You just gotta trust that you’re going to go as fast as you possibly can and you’re gonna be OK at the other end,” says Indian’s bagger racing champion Tyler O’Hara on his ultimately successful attempts to grab a new nearly-200 MPH record at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Working with S&S Performance and Indian’s factory-supported Wrecking Crew race team, and riding a modified version of his typical two-time championship-winning MotoAmerica King of the Baggers road course bike, Tyler just wrote a new chapter in the American motorcycle maker’s racing history. Not only did he set a new AMA land speed record, but he was OK at the other end.
“Have fun, go fast, make Burt proud!” was the call as O’Hara shot off from the start line en route to a record-beating 192 mile per hour run. Unlike the historically significant “World’s Fastest Indian” Munro runs in the 1960s, O’Hara ran without full streamlining on a much larger motorcycle and managed to go even faster than Burt’s fastest run of 191 miles per hour back in 1969. That’s got to be one of the greatest feelings in the world.
There’s just something about the Bonneville Salt Flats. Once the salt gets its hooks into you, it’s an addiction that keeps you coming back for more. Mr. Munro himself kept coming back year after year until he ran out of speed, money, nitromethane, and pistons to blow up. This is the altar of the gods of speed, and they demand their annual pilgrimage to prove your allegiance. I don’t think Indian is done with this record, I don’t think Tyler O’Hara is done with this record, and I don’t think the salt is finished with either of them.
The Bonneville Bagger
With a few tweaks and second run at 196 miles per hour to set the class record, Tyler and the Wrecking Crew are firmly in the American Motorcycle Association record books with a 2000cc APS-AG (that’s class A for “special construction motorcycles”, PS for “partially streamlined” and AG for “altered gas”) two-run average record of 194.384 miles per hour. The previous record in the class was set by one J. Angerer aboard a Triumph in 1972, running 169.828 miles per hour. Sure, it took a factory-supported full race bike to take the record, but they took it by almost 25 miles an hour!
What’s it like riding a 600 pound modified Indian Challenger out on the salt? In Tyler’s own words, it reads like poetry. “You know, we’re out there and you grab sixth gear. You’re leaning into it and you get the green flag and you’re doin’ your best you can, to go as fast as you possibly can. The bike’s goin’ left-to-right and your mind’s tellin’ you to roll out of it, but then your gut’s tellin’ you to stick with it. It’s just uncomfortable, it’s sketchy, you’re going 190 miles an hour, and then wooo, you’re across the finish line.”
With a few tweaks I bet this team could come back in 2026 and get Tyler into the 200 mile per hour club. In fact, I truly hope they do. Make Burt proud. Do the double ton.
