The cover story of Editor/publisher Floyd Clymer’s November 1956 issue of Cycle magazine is the story of the world motorcycle land speed record set with a normally aspirated, fuel-burning (80/20 methanol/nitromethane) Triumph streamliner piloted by Texan Johnny Allen at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

In fact, the salt racing team from Dalio’s Triumph in Fort Worth set a total of six class records that September day in Utah nearly 70 years ago. Their record haul included:

FIM World Records

• 650cc, 750cc, and 1000cc streamlined: One kilometer (214.17 mph) and for one mile (214.40 mph) in a Triumph Thunderbird by Johnny Allen.

AMA National records

• 30.5 cubic inch Class A streamlined over one mile: 198.020 mph in a Triumph Tiger 100 by Johnny Allen.

• 40 cubic inch Class A streamlined over one mile: 214.40 mph in a Triumph Thunderbird by Johnny Allen.

• 30.5 cubic inch Class C non-streamlined over one measured mile: 128.91 mph on a Triumph Tiger 100 by 16-year-old Jess Thomas.

Allen’s records erased the world record of 210 mph by Wilhelm Herz, piloting a supercharged NSU only a month earlier at Bonneville. At the time, there was no class distinction between forced-induction and normally aspirated piston-powered machines. Jess Thomas’ Class C record displaced the AMA National record speed set only days earlier by 18-year-old Phillip Fagan, also of Fort Worth, on a Norton 88. Fagan’s two-way average speed for the measured mile was 127.32 mph.

Cycle’s coverage explains an oft-repeated story about the FIM not recognizing Allen’s 1956 record because no FIM representatives were present when the record was set. However, based on the information Cycle provided, it was the 192 mph record that Allen had set in 1955 that was not witnessed by FIM representatives and disallowed; the FIM had representatives on hand for the 1956 meet.

Nonetheless, according to author Peter Carrick, writing in the Encyclopaedia of Motor-Cycle Sport, the FIM investigated the assertion of Allen’s 1956 world record claim at NSU’s. It wasn’t until April 1957 that the FIM denied the recognition of Allen’s record run. For reasons not explained by Carrick, the FIM reopened an investigation into the issue two months later, and again decided against recognition in October 1957.

Cycle noted that, while the Triumph streamliner dubbed the “Texas Cee-gar” copped the magazine’s cover and headlines with runs over 200 mph, it wasn’t the only machine that broke the 200-mph barrier at Bonneville Salt Flats in 1956.

Even though it was not a record-setting effort, according to the Cycle coverage, C.B. Clausen/Bud Hood’s Harley-Davidson-powered, fuel-burning streamliner was the first motorcycle with an engine built in the U.S. to break the 200 mph barrier, reaching 207.37 mph on its down run. Unfortunately, that remarkable performance couldn’t be followed up in the opposite direction due to engine failure, so no record was set.

Another interesting bit of motorcycle history in the November issue of Cycle was a full-page advertisement for the Ariel Square Four Mark II. That advert included mention of the results of the road test: “This motorcycle repeatedly ran the ¼ mile drag in 12.9 seconds!” Also, the ad’s subhead proudly boasts that the Ariel Square Four is “The ONLY 4 cylinder motorcycle available in America.” Sadly, before the 1950s ended, the Ariel Square Four was no more. The next four-cylinder motorcycle imported into the U.S. was the NSU Prinz-powered Münch Mammoth, brought into this country in 1967 by none other than Floyd Clymer.

For more of our coverage of Johnny Allen’s World Record, read our retrospective on his achievement.