Hank Scott began his involvement with racing more than 30 years ago. Hailing from California, Hank began traveling with his older brother, Gary. as he raced flat tracks all across the country. That year, Gary finished 2nd in the nation to Mark Brelsford. While in Chattanooga in 1972, Hank formed a friendship with noted flat track cycle owner, Drew Pate. The initial impression proved to be a good one, as Pate called Hank in November of 1972 to offer him a ride on one of Pate’s potent flat track cycles.
Armed with all his belongings packed into the back of his ’67 El Camino, Hank struck out for Tennessee, leaving his native California behind.
The association proved beneficial, as Hank went on to win 27 AMA flat track features in 1973 while riding for Pates and was the AMA number one Junior in the nation in 1973.
In the process, Hank gained the attention of the Harley factory team, who thought it better to put Hank on one of their potent rides for the upcoming season. Again riding for Pates, Hank captured his first national event on the mile at Syracuse, NY and finished 8th in the country in AMA points.
The next few years saw Hank ride for Shell Thuet and Carl Patrick, two of the top builders in the country. With Patrick, Hank was the first racer to average 100 mph for an entire event in DuQuoin, Ill in 1978. Not one to rest on his laurels, Scott bettered that mark in 1980 at the Indy mile, improving to over 102 mph.
Making the victory even sweeter was that Hank was riding on his own equipment with a power plant that he built himself. 1980 also held heartbreak for Hank, losing the year-end title to Randy Goss (now a crewchief for Greg Biffle on the Winston Cup circuit) by 1 point. Entering the 2-day events needing only a respectable finish, Hank was sidelined by what he termed “a $2 part” while leading and saw his shot at the title slip through his grasp. Even with nothing to gain, Hank showed up at the final event determined to leave an impression. When the final race took place at Ascot Park in CA, Hank went out and set a new track record in qualifying the nite before at the Ascot Gold Cup tune up race, then set fast time the next nite at the national. Even after a bad start, Hank worked his way to the front, staging a stirring side by side duel with Goss before finally finishing 3rd to Steve Eklund. One more lap, one more position would have given Hank the title but, sadly, it was not to be.
The next year saw Hank right back out front, but having serious problems with good quality parts from Harley at the time. Poor vendors and quality control from Harley relegated Hank to a number of DNFs while leading. Hank found that he could not keep a good set of cases under the horsepower he was making. The last race that season at Ascot again found Hank a solid 4th in points, so he let brother Gary use his cycle. Gary was locked in a points battle with rider, Mike Kidd, and Hank wanted to give him every advantage. Gary’s advantage turned out to nearly be Hank’s undoing, as Gary’s was not up to Hank’s normal standards. Hank took a horrible spille, breaking his femur, pelvis, and collar bone. It nearly killed him.
It took Hank a full year to return to the winners circle, again at Du Qoin, this time riding for the Honda factory. Sadly, Hank would never return to his previous high level. In 1984, Hank returned to his own Harley equipment, giving them their only wins of the season at Du Qoin and Indy. Even the Harley factory riders were unable to duplicate what Hank was able to do building motors out of his own, 2-car garage.
Working on his own motors for countless hours, striving to find the horsepower hidden from most engine builders, Hank’s efforts now pay off every time one of “his” drivers pulls into victory lane. Hank cares about his customers and feels that when they win, he wins. Winning is something a true racer never gets tired of.
What Hank learned can be used to your advantage now. I persist in the knowledge of beating my competition. He never stops trying to develop more horsepower for his customers.
Thank you for visiting me online, For more than 25 years I have been building race engines for motorcycles. We are the most successful engine building facility in the nation for Legends, Baby Grand, Kenyon Midgets, and Mini-Sprint engines. I have taken great care in preparing these racing engines, using the best parts available with updates developed by HSR/RRC and the many, many things we have learned building more than 6,000 Legend Engines. Our machine work is the latest state of the art available and be assured you will find no better. As with any racing engine, there are no guarantees. The FJ/XJR 1200 & 1250 are as durable an engine as we have seen, but it is designed to haul a 600 lb. motorcycle around, not an 1100 pound car with a driver at extended periods of high RPM With the weight of the car, high RPM, and added heat, engine failure can occur. I cannot guarantee against part failures in your engine, but we do all we can to guard against it from ever happening.
We include many modifications to help alleviate failures, but it still happens. If the failure is a direct result of some error ill machining or improper assembly, I will repair it. If however, you have a part failure, well, that is what you have, a part failure. The most common failure in these motors is the weak link, the connecting rod. We are one of a select few who re-size rods each and every time an engine comes apart. We are also diligent when it comes to inspecting Crankshafts for stress cracks, catching it before it costs you more than just a race win. You will notice a Big difference in power we trust. Every engine that is built is Dyno tested in house to make sure it meets our standards. We want our engine to Win and that means I want YOU to WIN! Give us a call today and let's get started on building YOU a winning motor! Good Luck.