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Bad To The Bone
Story and Photos By Fabrizio D'angelo
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Just
outside the city of Santa Cruz, surrounded by vast floral nurseries,
secluded homes and suburban wilderness, a narrow dirt driveway snakes
its way to several laboriously landscaped acres. This 5,000-square-foot
facility in LaSelma, California, serves as the headquarters for
Holeshot Performance Products.
The
facility incorporates Dale Walker's residence and "Think Tank" (it
doubles as a sauna), and is more of a compound for a man to explore his
motorcycle hot-rodding prowess than it is a typical work site. Each
building is
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impressively organized and maintained, a reflection of the
proprietor and his high work standards. The office is like a ministry,
enshrined with a litany of artifacts paying homage to 25 years of
Walker's racing accomplishments and products. A drag-racing prodigy at
15, Walker's career includes more than 50 National ET and speed
records, and four national drag-racing championships. I haven't seen so
many black-and-white photos since reviewing my high school yearbook.
The 44-year-old Walker established Holeshot in 1980
to provide performance products to the industry. His first and most
recognizable product was the Holeshot Electric Powershifter Kit, an
ignition cut-off system that allowed high-performance, full-throttle,
clutchless upshifts. His new Holeshot Pushbutton Shifter 3 allows for
clutchless and footless upshifts with the push of a button. Over the
years, Holeshot has offered a multitude of drag-racing and street
performance products and services for many motorcycles, but today
Walker has narrowed his focus to a smaller number of products,
services, and bikes. The product line concentrates on specialties for a
handful of select motorcycles including the Suzuki Bandit and Yamaha
V-Max. How does Holeshot select the bikes it develops? It's a fairly
scientific process: if Dale likes them, they get developed.
Walker is not only a legendary drag
racer, but also an avid street rider and ex-road racer, not at all
intimidated when the road ahead demands severe countersteering. He's
also the consummate hot-rodder known for uttering the word "stock" as
if it were an obscenity. So when Walker was shopping for a new street
bike in 1997, he found inspiration in the generic Bandit. The beauty of
this pairing was that the knowledge he has attained from years of
successfully developing big-bore, air-cooled Japanese multies is
directly applicable to the Bandit's 1,157cc air/oil-cooled, 16-valve,
DOHC powerplant. After a few thousand miles, and years of development,
the Holeshot Bandit-12 is in its final manifestation. The result? A
snorting, 150-horsepower beast capable of 9.70-second quarter-mile
blasts, and menacing back-road achievements.
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NEXT>>>
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