Sonny Routt's Dragster
COOK NEILSON
IT Is A POPULAR misconception that all the
first-rate drag machinery comes from California. The reasoning behind this is logical enough: more competition, a longer racing season, more interest. On September 11, 1966, however, at an all-bike drag meet held at Lions Drag Strip, the two most highly coveted awards were taken not by Californians, but by an obscure (at that time) Iowan named Leo Payne and by an even more obscure native of Hyattsville, Md., named Hubert E. ("Sonny") Routt.
Payne remained in California for a few weekends, and, in a short period of time, made it known that his "Drag Sport" was the quickest fueler in the country. Routt, on the other hand, loaded up his bike and the Top Gas Eliminator gold, and eased on back to Maryland. He also brought back a little certificate, signed by AMA referee Earl Flanders, which stated that Sonny was the national record holder in the unlimited gas dragster class, with an elapsed time of 10.67 seconds and a terminal speed of 140.62 mph.
Both figures are rather remarkable. The strongest gas machines in California at that time were consistently in the low lis and occasionally in the very high 10s, with terminal speeds somewhere between 120 and 130. Perhaps even more remarkable is the fact that young Mr. Routt was somewhat disappointed by his California performance.
"I guess I got a little excited out there," he said. "I wasn't too familiar with the starting system, for one thing, and for another, I was a little scared of bogging down coming out of the gate. I was leaving with the engines turning about a thousand rpm higher than usual, and I wasn't getting the bite I need to turn in the low 10s."
We were talking in Sonny's shop just outside of Washington, D.C. The shop itself is a real motorcycle hot-rodder's dream. Custom Harleys with fantastic engines and out-of-sight front end treatments lurk under dark and dusty covers; the parts room is littered with exotic speed equipment, some of it homemade by Sonny; the rest of the space is occupied by chrome goodies of every conceivable nature. Fenders, tanks, chrome frames, exhaust pipes, and sprockets hang from the rafters. We noticed a frame with an automobile engine in it hiding between a Harley chopper and an all-chrome Honda.
"After I wrecked my first twin-engine bike in 1961," Sonny explained, "I thought a car-engined bike would be the cheapest way to go. So I got this aluminum-block Buick motor, put an Isky cam and kit in it, Oldsmobile pistons, stuck it in a frame, and there it sits. I might finish it sometime."
As soon as Sonny could get free from the shop we journeyed out to his house to get a few details about his present machine, which is aptly named, "2 Bad." The bike was still on the trailer from the previous weekend's racing.
"I never work on it," Sonny said, "except in the winter. I don't really have the time, and besides, the thing seems to be so reliable that it doesn't need too much attention. I leave it on the trailer, and just hook the trailer to the car on Saturdays and go racing."
SONNY ROUTT'S DRAGSTER
If you didn't immediately notice the unusualness of the rather ominous shape beneath the beautiful red cover, you'd swear he was talking about a Class C stocker. While we were there, Sonny pulled out a box containing four Amal Series 900 carburetors, items which are extremely rare in this country.
"I tried them out a few weeks ago, and they feel they ought to be able to pull up to 145-146 miles per hour. But I can't seem to get a decent e.t. with them. I guess I'll play around with them this summer and see if I can't set them up for a little better bottom end."
After a photography session we dropped "2 Bad" back in Sonny's garage, and, over lunch at a nearby restaurant, we discussed this rather remarkable contrivance. It did not take long for us to realize that Mr. Routt was an exceptionally astute mechanic-engineer, as well as a fascinating conversationalist. We went over the bike from stem to stern, and the following, for all intents and purposes, is what he told us.
The frame's rear section is stock Triumph rigid, vintage 1954. The engine mounts were fabricated from 3/16-inch steel plate. From the transmission forward, the frame is handmade from mild-steel tubing. The head race has been machined to take oversized bearings, top and bottom. The forks themselves are set for five-inches of trail on the front wheel, with 33 degrees of rake achieved through the use of a 1962 Triumph stem and crown. The forks are stock Triumph, with aluminum fork tubes. Sonny uses an Avon 18-inch slick on the rear and a Pirelli 2.50-19 up front. He feels that the Avon is all right, but a well-made, wider slick would be worth a couple of tenths — a sentiment, by the way, which has been voiced by many of the top men in the drag racing game.
Sonny uses a standard Triumph preunit-construction gearbox; the gears themselves are wide ratio, and Routt utilizes only third and fourth. This gearbox has been the only source of trouble for "2 Bad."
"The gears," Sonny said, "last for about 50 runs, and then the teeth tend to come off of fourth gear. Since I keep pretty close track of my runs, I just stick in a new fourth gear every once in awhile. The case itself is okay, since I welded a 3/8inch plate on the clutch end of the transmission, which keeps the box from spreading." The clutch is stock, with the exception of the plates, which are made by Barnett. Sonny has had little trouble with the clutch; in fact, the plates, at the present time, are more than two years old. Two Lucas competition magnetos are used, firing Champion N-3 plugs.
Now comes the interesting part — the soul of this fabulous machine, the engines. The cases are 1962 Triumph 650s, and the lower ends date from 1965. Sonny balances them at 70 percent, but other than this, they are standard. The connecting rods, as well as the wrist pins, are likewise stock.
Up on top, the heads are standard 1965 Triumph TTs, except for the fact that Routt has welded tubes in the ports and opened them up to an inside diameter of 1-1/4 inches, and fitted 1-3/16 inches Amal Monobloc carburetors. The valve train is hardly exotic. Sonny uses Harmon and Collins No. 6 grind cams, with stock steel-tipped Triumph push rods, and stock aluminum collars and keepers. The rocker arms are also stock, as are the tappets.
By now you must be wondering — wherein lies the magic? Everything up till now seems to be pretty much stock, and we all know that you can't put two nearly-stock Triumph engines in a frame and turn a best time of 9.99 seconds at 144.06 mph on gas.
The secret, of course, lies in the barrels, which are manufactured by Routt under the trade name of Webcor. Nearly indistinguishable from standard barrels, they produce, with a stock stroke, a displacement of 48 cu-in. They are rough-cast by Motor Casting of Milwaukee (a firm which also casts Harley-Davidson cylinders and flywheels, as well as some special oversized cylinders for Dytch), and Sonny fin(Continued on page 92) ishes them himself. The only visible difference between Webcor barrels and standard Triumph barrels is the machining of the base flanges around the studs. The outside diameter of the barrels, of course, has been increased in proportion to the inside diameter, but the overall size of the cylinders, including the cooling fins, has remained the same as Triumph. The pistons are made by Jahns. Interestingly, a comparison in weight between Webcor 48 cu-in. barrels and Triumph 40-cu-in. barrels would show that the Webcor set is only one half pound heavier.
We asked Sonny what the installation of his cylinders entailed, and he said, "The only modification necessary is boring the cases a little (0.025 for unit-construction models) to accept the sleeves on the bottom of the barrels. The barrels themselves are cast from 60,000-pound (tensile strength) alloy. Incorporated in them are nickel and chrome; it's the strongest casting anyone makes for the average market.
"In installing these Webcor barrels, there are no modifications necessary to the head itself. We supply the proper sized head gasket, pistons, rings, and wrist-pin clips. So, except for the cases, it's pretty much a bolt-on job."
Sonny manufactures his barrels in four sizes: 45 through 48 cu-in. The reason behind the 45 cu-in. barrels is that a customer might want to stay in a particular class for TT racing or for the Bonneville Salt Flats. The Webcor barrels are topgrade quality. Each piston is individually fitted to its cylinder, and checked with an ingenious device known as a pull-gauge. For his gas customers Routt sets the pistoncylinder clearance at 0.005; he allows a little more for the fuel engines.
We asked Sonny if he knew for sure if his barrels would stand the tremendous pressures created by healthy loads of nitromethane fuel. He told us that Rich Richards, noted California super-tuner and Bonneville ace, was using a set of his 45 cu-in. barrels (the older model, with a mere 35,000 pounds of tensile strength), and, the last he heard, Gary, Rich's son and chief piloto, had meandered down the strip in 10.32 seconds at 143.76 mph, setting a new B fuel record in the process.
In a telephone conversation, Rich told us that he was overwhelmed with traction problems! He was asked, "Where do you go from here?"
"Faster," Rich replied. "We expect to get into the nines in awhile, which isn't bad for a single-engine Triumph." Or a singleengine jet, for that matter!
What all this boils down to is that, yes, Webcor barrels are capable of handling nitro. And not just a little nitro, either. It is rumored that Rich Richards won't leave the back yard on less than 80 percent. But we digress . . .
We had the opportunity of watching Sonny Routt's "2 Bad" in operation at Capitol Dragway. This machine has more visceral appeal than any bike on the Eastern seaboard when it's charging down the strip. At all other times it is as docile as a lamb. It starts instantly, idles at 800 to 1,000 rpm, and, astonishingly, gets good gas mileage. Sonny can start it up, get the engines warm, make a run, drive back to the starting line, and make another run — all on one tank of gasoline. This unexpected economy stood Routt in good stead during the Eastern Championships held in the Fall of 1966.
"I was getting ready to run against someone on a big stroker," Sonny said. "Well, I fired up and was idling on the line, and the other guy hadn't even gotten started. When he finally did get to the line, he overshot it, backed up, overshot it again, and then jumped the flagman twice. All this time I was sitting on the line, idling. After the run was finally over, I drove back to the pits and still had plenty of gas left."
After he returned from California, Sonny waltzed off with Top Gas, Top mph, and Top Eliminator at the Eastern Championships, held in Ateo, N.J., turning an easy 10.31. He was having traction problems, as there had been a big meet the night before and the starting line was somewhat greasy. His performance at other strips in the area has been much better — 10.09 at St. Mary's Dragstrip, 10.00 at 75-80 Dragway, and a heart-stopping 9.99 at Capitol.
During the winter of 1966-67, Sonny decided that he no longer had time to keep a close eye on "2 Bad," so he detuned the engines by dropping the compression ratio from 13-1/2:1 to the present 11.2:1. He hasn't suffered too much, however. At a recent meet at Capitol he turned a 10.30 at 141.06, 10.33 at 140.18, and a final 10.33 at 141.50 — not only very fast, but very consistent.
Sonny Routt, physically, is not a small man. He weighs somewhat in excess of 200 pounds, and is presently eyeing a small (150 pound) compatriot for future driving duties. Besides, Sonny has other hankies in the laundry. He will presently begin construction of a double 45 cu-in. fueler. Richards, that California chemist nonpareil (or is it Kalifornia Khemist?) will help him set the engines up for nitro. For Routt, it seems, the sky is the limit.
Triumph enthusiasts can get in touch with him by writing Webcor, 4715 42nd Place, Hyattsville, Md. The 45through 48-inch barrels retail for $225, which strikes us as somewhat of a bargain, considering the craftsmanship that goes into their manufacture and the tremendous boost in performance (20 percent, assuming no other modifications) that is available.
Sonny Routt has proven that mechanical aptitude and perseverance can go a long way in overcoming the Eastern burden of a short racing season. Things are happening, not only in the East, but all over the country in the gut-rattling world of motorcycle drag racing. Even now, ominous rumblings are rolling out of the midwest from the shop of Mr. Tom Rudd. It seems that he has mounted two 76 cu-in. Sportster engines side-by-side in a lightweight frame, and during break-in runs on gasoline, has eased down the strip in 10.06 seconds at 146-plus mph, burning an eight-inch slick down to the cord in three runs.
We were able to reach Mr. Rudd on the telephone. Unfortunately, it's all true . . . Californians, look not too long to your laurels. ■
