Top row from left to right: Steve Potts, Joe Shirado, Carmen Rivers, Mark Slate, Jeff McQuiney, David River. Bottom row, left to right: Joey Peterson, Roy Rivers, Todd DeAngelis
1987 was great for WTB – the TV, Team Vehicle, consisted of Mark Slate’s Pontiac LeMans and the team terrorized the country, subjecting race courses to the fury of their Hardpack and Ground Control tires. However, in typical Mark Slate fashion, why settle on something normal without making it better? The LeMans was truly transformed. He put a larger motor in when he blew out the 350 in Green River on a trip back from Moab and the suspension was anything but stock. A non stock transmission upgrade pretty much had the team fashioned above a GTO. Team riders rolled on a full set of WTB componentry – SpeedMaster brakes, Grease Guard hubs and Grease Guard bottom brackets, modified shifters, handcrafted or aluminum taper stems, WTB converted Edco Grease Guard headsets, fixed angle seatposts, type II forks, and a whole host of other goodies. Can life get much better than rolling around in a drop top muscle car racing bikes in the early days of dirt? I submit that it cannot.