My name is Hap. I cannot take any credit for any of the good things about the Keepers, as Mark Boyd does all the work. I AM responsible for any Fung-Shue issues 24/7 though. All he has to do is the measuring, cutting, drilling, aligning, welding, grinding, repairing, diagnosing and all those other "little people" jobs. Hey, go get me something cold to drink, this Fung-Shue stuff is really killing me!
Nothing happens in life without somebody a whole lot kinder, smarter, more devoted or more giving than you. In our case, that person is the incredible Denis Manning. Denis has spent his whole life pushing the upper flap of the motorcycle speed envelope. He probably has forgotten more than I will ever learn in my poor life. And then to top it off, he goes and leases the Salt Flats from the BLM and invites anybody and everybody to come and see how fast they can go on it. He puts up bonds of his own money, grades the Salt for two weeks before we get there, and cleans up after all us whackos go home. Find me a star athelete who gives this much back to the game, and I'll buy him lunch.
Mark was the pitcher for UC Santa Barbara when we met in 1966 and went into a bush league up in Canada after he graduated. He has more talents in more areas than most people have teeth. He was recently honored at the All-Tribe Pow-Wow held up in the hills above the Bonneville Salt Flats. His Indian name is "Can't Weld For Squat".
Mine is, of course, "Falls Off His Horse".
I would like to take credit for the World's First Solar/Electric/Steam vehicle design, but the truth is, we went in to write our names on the stall door of the ladie's room in the Greyhound Station in Barstow, and there on the wall was the whole drawing. We just copied it and built the bike. Rest is history.
We've campaigned an electric powered bike for the last four years. Two years ago, it caught fire 7 (major) times, and gave us four runs. This year, it was three fires for one aborted run. We've retired the Battery Beast and are starting a new, lower voltage bike. The best Father's Day present I've ever gotten was a homemade card with Evel Kneivel's picture on the front with a saying of his. Inside was a caption under my picture on the Beast, reading "Hey, My bike's on fire!"
When we ran the thing for our National Record, I had my hand holding one of the main contactors closed. It was burning pretty good, but I figured "Hey, I didn't come here to turn off the course" and besides, I was racing toward where the Wendover Fire Department parked their truck!
Jim Weston USMC, my cousin Al Jones USMC, COL Peter Sowa, Jr. USAAF, Dr. David Weddle, Phd., Burt Munro, Denis Manning, Fritz Kott, Dave Blunk, Dick Mann, Horst Rösler, "Wrong Way" Corrigan, Harpo Marx, Fred Rogers, Parker O. Ackley, Chuck Mahwinney USMC.
Keepers of the Blue Flame's Details
Status:
Married
Here for:
Networking, Friends
Hometown:
Santa Barbara, CA
Zodiac Sign:
Aquarius
Keepers of the Blue Flame is in your extended network view more
Hap DeSimone and Mark Boyd are an unlikely duo of tinkerers who, for whatever reason, decided to start building... shall we say "unique"... motorcycle contraptions. To date, four of these have appeared at the Bonneville Salt Flats for the annual international speed trials.
For years, I have watched my dad weld, grind and hammer on these bizarre machines until (usually at the last possible minute) they were wheeled into the back of a beat-up truck and hauled off to Bonneville. I watched as "The Keepers" built faster and faster bikes, garnering an increasing amount of media attention for their work. Two of their creations even started life as motorcycles of mine that had "bitten the dust", but The Keepers managed to breathe new life into them. I could not be more proud of my dad, so as a token of my appreciation for his work, I set up the web site BlueFlameKeepers.com and this MySpace page.
In the near future, management of this page may be taken over by The Keepers themselves, but for the time being I am the custodian of record. Rest assured that any messages I receive for either Hap or Mark will be passed on to them.
Who I'd like to meet: J. S. Bach, Eric Hoffer, John Garand, Nicolai Tesla,
Chuck Mahwinney USMC, Alberto Santos-Dumont, Dr. Jonas Salk, MD, Otto Lillienthal.
