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 1988 THE INSPIRATION   SIDECAR WILLY   1991 BOB SCHESKIE   1992    1993  1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  
     
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   THE MAN AND HIS PLAN

                    

Sidecar Willy is a reclusive indivigual who lives in a solar powered Starship of his own design and construction. He came to Daytona Beach in 1968 because of his love of motorcycle racing. "Motorcycles have always been a part of his life. I was weaned on a wizzer and cut my teeth on an Indian hill climber My mentor was Brownie Betar the famous Indian wrench ,my hero was Burt Munro the Bonneville racer from New Zeland."  Willy attended  the  prestigious American Motorcycle Institute in 1977 . In 1981  in collaboration with Alex Longstaff he operated Cycles of Yesteryears the largest motorcycle museum ever produced on Main street during Bikeweek. During the late 80's and early 90's he produced antique motorcycle shows at the Cabbage Patch. But by 1988 "I had become a bar jockey" Willy says always going on about what I had done never doing anything new. Then Willy left the bar with the bar coster ,with the scribblings about unicycle drag racing on that fateful night and life has never been the same since. I went home that night and threw the contents of my pockets on the coffee table so when I got up in the morning to have coffee there was that dammed beer coster staring at  me. I stared at it through bloodshot eyes and wondered if it was possible to race on one wheel. Over the next week the bar coster seemed to be everywhere taunting him, challenging him to race, begging him to compete, till finally he accepted the challenge of building a gas powered unicycle. The first unicycle was born in Willys kitchen the premise was simple a  go cart wheel was attached to the middle of a 2x6 board a lawnmower engine was bolted to the front of the board and an old Harley police seat was bolted to the rear. For the first week Willy and his friends just sat on this new contraption and drank beers trying to get the feel of balancing on one wheel  finally a set of handlebars were added then a centrifugal clutch and a fan belt to power the wheel a few more beers and the worlds first attempt at a powered unicycle run was ready. This attempt proved that almost everything that had been so carefully planned was wrong it was as if Murphy himself was running the test. Wrong balance, wrong throttle, wrong seat ,should have put the beer down, all resulted in a really smashed face but valuable lesson  #1 was learned, under power forces are transferred to the rear of the unicycle but under deceleration all forces are transferred to the front of the unicycle therefore the center of gravity moves from the rear of the unicycle to the front  during the attempt, conclusion: there would have to be some type of skids front and rear. Over the next 2 years new designs were tested, more beer was drank , and refinements made but by 1990 Sidecar Willy best attempt was only 68ft. his goal of 100ft on one wheel still remained elusive. It was then that a friend of Willys by the name of Bob Scheskie said  "I believe I can make that run if we build a new unicycle, drink some more beer, and let me drive". Considering the beatings that Willy had taken over the past 2 years from the BEAST as the unicycle was now referred to, he was more than happy to welcome a new test pilot.