The bike is named Devil and it belongs to Logan now, but it’s been in his family for 15 years, belonging first to his uncle and then rebuilt for Logan as a race bike. Most of the work has been done on his family’s bull and horse rodeo stock ranch, The Bar J, in Mannford. This incarnation of Devil is its third. “We rebuilt the engine, set it up as a street bike instead of a drag bike,” Logan said. “We did it during two extended deployments, so we kept moving it around in boxes and sometimes brought it back to my family’s place. We’d just load it up and take it back to Oklahoma and put it in the garage.”
With it’s 2” drag pipes, Super G carb, and velocity stack, it’s clear that Logan still kept a bit of drag bike DNA in the rebirth of Devil. While stationed at Fort Campbell in Tennessee with the 101st, Logan turned to “the best people” for help with his rebuild. Booger Watson of Clarksville put the motor together for him. “Booger races Harley flattrack,” Logan said. “His dad owned an H-D dealership and Booger took it over. He ended up selling it and doin’ his own thing. Now he runs a bike shop.” For powdercoating he turned to Clarksville Coatings, and for polishing he turned to Chrome Wizard in Nashville.
Between deployments and rebuilds, Devil has seen plenty of action. “This past year we welded the frame back up after it broke,” Logan said. On further questioning, I learned the Paughco rigid frame didn’t just break. It had a little help, and that powerhouse 105” engine egging him on certainly played its role. “Yeah, I broke the frame doing a wheelie down Main Street in Mannford. I was racing another bike, and I wasn’t gonna have it. I knew he couldn’t touch me.” But maybe the craziest part about that wheelie down Main Street was that Logan was so busy reveling in his victory — “I beat him, he didn’t even realize what happened. It will run 9.38 in a quarter mile” — that he didn’t notice anything was wrong with his bike. “I didn’t even realize I broke the frame. I drove it back home like that. I didn’t think I set it down that hard, but the downtube broke, the transmission mount, and of the four L9 bolts holding the motor down I broke three of ‘em. I didn’t know it. I just thought my clutch was slippin’. I put the bike in the garage and went back to Iraq, and six months later I found out how much damage I’d done.”
Logan is no stranger to speed. “I’ve raced cars, bikes, flat track, dirt bikes. I’ve had my hands on everything that’s a vehicle,” he said. His wild side hasn’t been without its consequences, however. “I went into the service ‘cuz I just couldn’t stay outta trouble. My police record is kinda impressive.” Do his parents mind this gleefully wild streak running through their son? “Oh yeah, they mind,” he said, laughing. “But I don’t go to bars anymore, I grew up. I save my money and put it into my toys and now I have something to show for it…But I still have fun.”
In the next couple of months, he has his sights set on a Fat Boy for his next build. “This kick-only stuff is getting a little rough on me,” said Logan, who has undergone two knee operations. “My brother, Boomer, just got out of the service in April. He wants to build a bar hopper himself, he has a little Panhead now.” They’ll be doing all their building on their parents ranch, but unlike when they were working on race cars, the bikes take up less space. “Plus, I can throw three or four bikes in my truck better than a trailer with one car in it,” he said.
After two tours in Iraq, Logan is in the process of getting a medical retirement. He’s stationed in El Paso now, just waiting to go home to Oklahoma and The Bar J Ranch. All I have to say is look out Mannford, because Logan Jones is comin’ home and he’s bringing the Devil with him.
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