It was that voice again. The same voice that spoke horsepower in big, raw chunks. The one that introduced me to my first hair-on-fire, eyeballs-to-the-faceshield eight-second quarter-mile run.

"Kent... this is Lee. Hey, I've got some more bikes you should ride." It was Lee Shierts on the phone, offering up more of his wares that live by the credo "Too much horsepower is not enough." If a new motorcycle is introduced that cranks out big power in stock form, you can be sure that Shierts is already tinkering with one in his shop, devising ways to extract even more speed out of its motor.

After creating a 220-horsepower, Hayabusa-motored Suzuki GSX-R600 monster ("Baby 'Busa," April 2000), Shierts was understandably interested in Suzuki's GSX-R1000 when it made its debut in 2001. Any motorcycle that cranks out 140-plus horsepower and 75 foot-pounds of torque in stock form, while weighing in less than some 600s, could be considered fresh meat for Shierts. But what really got my attention was when he claimed his latest GSX-R1000 punched out nearly 200 horsepower on the dyno-with no turbos, nitrous or foul-smelling rocket fuel.

This I had to see (and ride). But to make the trip out to Charlotte, North Carolina, really worth it, Shierts assembled a gaggle of machinery for me to try out that had seen his magic horsepower touch in one way or another. These included not only his own GSX-R1000, but a customer's GSX-R1000 as well; Shierts' personal Hayabusa dragbike, equipped (in its latest incarnation) with a near-1500cc, progressive-nitrous-injected motor pumping out 370 horsepower; and another friend's highly customized turbo Hayabusa that cranks out a very streetable 272 horsepower on pump gas.

Things had changed quite a bit since I'd last visited Shierts in Charlotte. The biggest difference was his new Lee's Performance Center shop that he'd had built from the ground up (www.leesperformance.com, 704/599-1507) complete with built-in dynos for both car and bike, large workstation areas staffed with full-time mechanics, an engine assembly room, a full machine shop with an on-staff machinist, and a very well-stocked parts department. This is most definitely not your basic disorganized little shop located in the back unit of an industrial complex. Lee's Performance does a major business in modified bikes, and has a few dozen bikes for sale on the showroom floor as well.