Look for the house: Walsh Race Craft changes locations, but not character.(SHOP TALK)

Publication: ATV Sport

Publication Date: 01-DEC-04

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COPYRIGHT 2004 Ehlert Publishing Group

Driving in the Connecticut countryside, you will pass many small houses situated along the road. Inside these houses reside many men, women, children, pets and the occasional welding jig and tube bender.

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This is the story of a boy and his house.

Sitting inside that non-discript house alongside the road is Walsh Race Craft. Mike Walsh was just a boy when he would help his dad build and maintain drag racing cars in his boyhood garage. It was there that he learned the skills that sparked his curiosity about making things perform better.

When he started racing ATVs in high school, it was only natural that he wanted to go faster and smoother. His first stab at fabrication was A-arms for his 1986 TRX250R. He asked his dad for some advice, and started welding.

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"I didn't have a jig; I put the frame on the table and mounted the spindles 2 inches wider than stock," says Walsh. "Then I started running tubing and welding."

The A-arms didn't work too well, and after the first ride, according to Walsh, they bent. They bent bad enough to have a gullwing-like bend that made them look like a cheap pair of Roll Design knockoffs. It was back to the drawing board to figure out what went wrong.

Walsh credits two people for helping him get into the chassis business. The first is his dad. According to Walsh, his dad knew the basics of chassis design well. "He taught me about spindle rotation (caster, camber, etc.). I was able to go from there; it was me cutting and welding," Walsh explains.

The second person Walsh credits is Mark Laeger. In the early days, when Walsh was building parts for himself, Laeger offered advice.

"He sold me a CR500 swingarm and I cut apart my '86 250R frame and threw the CR link in it with the Laeger's swingarm," Walsh says. "Laeger gave me a little drawing to show me where all the mounts...

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