IN WERNER''S WORDS
11 April 2006 - SuperTrapp Industries, Inc.

Bill Werner is the most successful tuner in AMA Grand National history with 13 championships to his credit.

He spent 38 years as a racing mechanic for Harley-Davidson, always striving to squeeze every last bit of power from the Harley engine. He''s been using SuperTrapp mufflers since the 70s when he discovered the tuneable technology allowed him to meet sound requirements and still gain power.

After his retirement in 2004, Bill agreed to lend his expertise to SuperTrapp to help develop race and street systems with ultimate power and performance. He''s also agreed to share some stories and words of wisdom with you, the readers of Pipeline.

The Season After the Season
Most people think of the off-season as a time for rest, but believe it or not, a tuner works harder during off-season than during the actual season itself. During the racing season, tuners are basically in maintenance mode. There really isn’t enough time between races to make major adjustments during the season so tuners are just looking to ensure that the bike’s performance doesn’t degrade as the season goes on.

Tuners really look forward to off-season because that’s when it’s all about development. It’s a time to take a look at your team to see where you and the team are compared to where you want to be.

Once tuners assess these strengths and weaknesses, their job is to manage resources. When making a change to a bike’s setup, the two key resources that need to be considered are time and money. Some changes can be made relatively quickly and inexpensively, but other changes require a major consideration of both time and money.

Know the Schedule
When deciding how to distribute resources in the off-season, next season’s schedule becomes a key consideration. It’s a good idea to evaluate the amount of races at each particular distance to determine where to focus your efforts.

This season will be especially unique as the flat track Championship will be split into two series, twin-cylinders and single-cylinders. It will be difficult for teams to be competitive in both series, so it will once again come down to the tuner’s decision about how to distribute resources in the off-season for the team to achieve maximum results in 2006.

The main difference when preparing for the two series is that the Harley XR750 has been around for over 30 years and most tuners know a lot of the tricks of the trade. This puts much more pressure on the tuner because he must work harder to achieve a significant advantage over his peers. With the relatively new single-cylinder bikes, the aftermarket options are much greater. This makes a tuner’s job a little easier because there are many more options from which to choose.

No Rest for the Weary
During the off-season, flat track racers like to participate in golf and other off-the-track hobbies. But, for a tuner the off-season is all work and no play. In fact, any top tuner with an off-season hobby and time to enjoy that hobby probably isn’t a top tuner after all.

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