This unique machine was the first of its kind, an attempt to incorporate into motorcycles the streamlining techniques and technology developed in the burgeoning automobile land-speed culture of the 1930’s. The brainchild of Oakland's Indian dealer Hap Alzina, the 1938 Indian Arrow was the first fully encapsulated American motorcycle built to break speed records. Its inception is considered to be a response to Smokin' Joe Petrali's record of 136.183 mph, set the year prior at Daytona Beach onboard the lightly streamlined Harley-Davidson Knucklehead. Petrali’s record was actually made without any of the body panels however as he found that the experimental fairings made the now iconic Harley difficult to manage, an issue that also crippled the Arrow. At the heart of the Arrow was a 1924 1000cc, 8-valve Indian factory racing engine designed by Charles Franklin and tuned by Red Fenwick. Alzina built the chassis using an amalgam of lightweight stock components, a number of which came from the Scout 101. His sales manager and friend Bill Meyer designed the aluminum, balsa wood, and fabric shell which was built by Pete Anderson. One of Harley's former golden boys, a founding member of Harley’s famed 1920's Wrecking Crew, Fred Ludlow, who was at the time in his mid 40's was enlisted to pilot the Arrow. Initially the team began testing at Muroc Lake, but by September of 1938 they had arrived at the Bonneville salt flats to officially challenge Petrali’s record. Ludlow hit 135mph, less than 2 mph shy, but the design was simply too unstable at speed. After a few modifications an unofficial speed upwards of 145mph was reported, but the speed wobble was too much for Ludlow to over come, allegedly snapping the handlebars off on his final run, and the record attempt was abandoned. The trip was not a loss however as Alzina had loaded up two other machines as well. Setup in compliance with the relatively new Class C specifications, Ludlow piloted a factory 750cc Sport Scout to a speed of 115.226 mph, and a Chief to 120.747 mph, both American speed records and achievements that would lead to the factory debut of the now coveted high performance Bonneville engine platform in 1939.