A couple years ago a very entertaining movie came out called The Bucket List.

Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman starred as two terminally-ill cancer patients who decide to break out of the hospital and live their last days to the fullest in director Rob Reiner’s seriocomic road movie. Though initially the pair seems to have nothing in common, conversation gradually reveals that both men have a long list of goals they wish to accomplish before they kick the bucket, one of which was racing the fastest machines on four wheels.

The Bucket List arrived on Christmas Day in 2007 to remind us to live life to its fullest and leave no cliché unturned. And while most of us would confess to not exactly seizing each day as if it is our last, many of us adventurous types have seized upon the idea of a bucket list of things we’d like to accomplish before kicking the preverbal bucket.

One such bucket list goal of fellow motorcyclist and local MSTA member Rick Dorfmeyer was to attempt a motorcycle land speed record at the Bonneville Speedway on the Bonneville Salt Flats near Wendover, Utah. The salt flats were first used for motor sports in 1912, but didn’t become truly popular until the 1930s when Ab Jenkins and Sir Malcolm Campbell competed against each other to set one of the first land speed records.

Rick’s long time bucket list dream has been to break a motorcycle land speed record. The record Rick chose to attempt has stood since 1986, set by Les Ranger on a Honda in the 650cc APS-BF motorcycle class at 180.733 mph.

Thus was born Project 212. For the past year, Rick and a small army of friends and family have helped him see his bucket list dream come to be with his attempt at the 650cc APS-BF motorcycle class record. He made the attempt last week on the Bonneville Salt Flats on a modified Honda CBR600.

Rick’s first experience started off with some qualifying runs last Thursday that revealed that their aerodynamic body design was very stable at speed. They were able to achieve a 155 mph run Saturday morning and followed those attempts with 165 mph and 168 mph runs during the afternoon attempts. Like all “speed” projects, lots of little gremlins tend to rear their heads and lots of small adjustments can result in incremental improvements towards a goal. That’s racing!

With the clock ticking down Sunday, Project 212 made their last attempts at the class record. Rick’s last run was 173 mph, a mere 7 mph short of the record, ending their first experience at the Bonneville Salt Flats. The always positive Rick and his crew are already speaking of the head start they have on chasing the record once again in 2010. Their hard work and determination are definitely inspiring to all of us speed junkies with a dream of fulfilling a bucket list experience.

I’ll see you all next week at www.redbullindianapolisgp.com.

Greg