As we bring in 2016, we’d like to take a moment to look back on the highlights of this past year. While everyone will have their own favorites, here are a few of ours that we won’t forget. 2016 will be Dragbike.com’s 19th year in service to motorcycle drag racing and we couldn’t do it without our site sponsors and our loyal contributors. We are grateful for all the racers that run our decals and support us year after year. You are the driving force to the growth of this site. Good Luck to you in 2016!
Drag Racing Lost a Legend : Ray Price
The greatest Top Fuel Nitro Harley pilots of all time, the Father of Funny Bikes, Mr. Ray Price passed away peacefully December 16, 2015. this was the saddest and most unexpected news of the year. Ray was a legend and an inspiration to many people on and off the track.
Ray Price started motorcycle drag racing so many years ago, most of the people who will read his story were not born when Ray started drag racing. He began burning nitromethane in his drag bikes during the 1960’s. It’s quite likely that Ray Price has burned more barrels of nitromethane than any other fuel bike racer, dead or alive. What’s most important to think about at this time of great loss with the passing of Ray; is that Mr. Ray Price was a racer all the way. He raced all he could till he could race no more. Read more…
Vantine’s 5.77 Amongst World’s Quickest
David Vantine and the Canadian/American Vantine Nitrosports Top Fuel motorcycle team continues to rised to the echelon of Pingel Top Fuel history, running a 5.77 at 239 mph to win the Kibblewhite/Mann Hill Garage Manufacturers Cup World Finals at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Valdosta.
The pass was one of the all-time quickest of the sport. Read More…
Sam “Five Second” Wills
On November, 14, 2015, Top Fuel motorcycle racer Sam Wills recorded his first ever official five second ET in competition at the Man Cup World Finals event. At 5:55 PM, during qualifying, the 60 year old Oklahoma City chassis wizard stopped the SGMP clocks at 5.88 seconds, at 243.93mph
Mike Dryden and Sam, who are indeed the Nitro Conspiracy Racing team, completed the initial build on this bike in late 2013. Together they have put their fair share of hard work, money time and effort into getting the motorcycle into the five second elapsed time zone. They’ve qualified well at every race they have entered since the bikes inception, but dipping into the fives has been elusive. When asked what it took to get the bike into the elusive 5 second elapsed time zone Sam replied “about forty years of experience and close to a million dollars.”
Larry McBride Catches Some Heat
At the IDBL Orient Express US Motorcycle Nationals at Atco, Top Fuel Motorcycle legend Larry “Spiderman” McBride suffered a severe engine explosion during a match race with Dave Vantine. McBride suffered 2nd degree burns right calf, left thigh and left calf. ‘Blue’ is perhaps the most historic machine in the sport of motorcycle drag racing. McBride ran the first five second run in the sport on Blue in Houston on October 31, 1999 with a run of 5.99 seconds. In the over two decades it ran, Blue brought McBride to 13 national championships. Read more…
Joey Gladstone and DME Racing Repeat
In 2014 at the Man Cup finals, Joey Gladstone shattered the no wheelie bar record with a 6.50 at 227mph run. Not only did this pass make Joey Gladstone the quickest and fastest man in the world with no wheelie bar, it made ‘Tink Tink’ the most feared no-bar bike in the land, with no one willing to line up to her in Grudge competition.
Now fast forward exactly one year and here we go again. DME Racing once again terrorized Pro Open, just as they had in 2014. Once again Mark Rendeluck would meet Joey in the Final round of Pro Open for 2015 for what would ultimately be the same outcome as last year.
Tink Tink once again, made the entire No Bars bike community, world-wide, gasp in awe when the SGMP score board lit up with a 6.46 @ 220mph! While it’s plain to see Joey’s driving skills are definitely a factor, Tink Tink is without a doubt the most feared no-bars bike on planet earth.
But ‘Tink Tink’ wasn’t the only bike giving DME Records. Their Pro Street bike, ‘Black Betty’ crushed the Pro Street ET record with a 6.720 at the IDBL season opener. And the entire season went by and no other racer was able to knock them out of that #1 position. They will be a force to be reckoned with in 2016!
Teasley/Millholland Kill it on the Kawasaki Ninja H2
With the new release of the Kawasaki Ninja H2R with a 50K sticker price, it was considered unobtanium by the regular motorcycle rider. So Brock Davidson stepped in and did what he does best, make things Stupid Fast. Brock and his team at Brock’s Performance spent half a year in R&D to create a product line for the H2 version. The H2 sticker price is ‘only’ 25K, making it attainable for the masses. After many months in R&D, Brock brought in drag racing champion Jeremy Teasley and Land Speed Racer Zack Millholland to put their products to the test on the drag strip and in the standing mile. Jeremy Teasley ran a 8.99 at 166mph on the stock wheelbase H2 equipped with a Brock’s Performance Slash Cut full exhaust system, Stage 2 Flash and a Power Commander with a Brock Map. In the same weekend they headed to the Ohio Mile where Zack ran 219.40 MPH making the Brock’d out H2 faster than the 50K H2R! Read More…
IDBL Succeeds MIROCK with Record Growth
At the end of 2014 IRG Sports + Entertainment™ and Jason Miller announced the launch of International Drag Bike League (IDBL) for 2015. IDBL was dropping the MIROCK name along with the Rockingham events to move forward with a more consistent race program across all events.
Like many of the races held a the beginning of 2015, the first IDBL event called for 80% chance of rain. Loyal racers showed up despite the forecast, yielding 486 entries for the event, that’s up 60 entries from 2014. Jason and Chris Miller made sure those racers were rewarded with a completed event! This event set the stage for the rest of the year as the entries numbers grew at every event, making each event a record breaker for 2016. Almost 900 entries showed up in July for the IDBL’s 15th annual Bike Fest! IDBL has shown its strength and we see no slow down for 2016! Dragbike.com will be there for every event. Find out more at www.raceidbl.com
AMRA Celebrated 30 years
AMRA celebrated its 30 anniversary in 2015. And what a year it was for the American Motorcycle Racing Association. They held seven races which were all a success with great weather, that was a feat in itself with a rainy 2015! The AMRA typically contests sixteen classes a race, and this year fourteen of their classes all shattered records during the year. Tommy Grimes broke the Top Fuel MPH record with a 231.60, Jim Doyle broke the Nitro Funnybike mph record with a 213.95, and Johnny Vickers broke the Pro Fuel ET record with a 7.181, just to name a few.
The Pro Mod class also saw a histroical mark when sponsors came together to offer the largest Pro Mod purse in their history at the US131 event to award $2,500 to the winner. AMRA is still going strong and showing no signs of slowing down with the release of their 2016 drag racing schedule featuring seven events. Find out more at www.amraonline.com
Man Cup Hits Five Years
The Manufacturer’s Cup racing organization, or MANCUP sanction as it’s more widely known today, has been at it for five years now since its creation during the summer months of 2010. They held their first drag race in November of that year and with half a decade of racing behind them, here’s a look back at it and how it came together through the eyes of the two men who now head up and run MANCUP, Mr. Jay Regan and Dave Schnitz.
There are several great outstanding achievements MANCUP racing has accomplished during its first half decade of operations. One, the Manufacturer’s Cup racing organization completed what the AMA/PROSTAR sanction started with the MTC Corporation in filling out the eight slots of the Official MTC 5 Second Club. And two, the fastest pass in Top Fuel motorcycle drag racing history happened on April 10th, 2011, at the Spring MANCUP event at Georgia’s SGMP when Korry Hogan, piloting the Hogan, Dryden, Alwine Top Fuel bike, stopped the clocks with a historic 255mph official pass. And of course let us not forget it was the MANCUP organization that brought Eric Teboul of France, with his rocket bike, to the USA, to run the world’s quickest pass by a motorcycle. A stunning 5.12 second elapsed time run was the result laid down during the Battle of Bradenton on November 9th, 2013. Read More…
Dustin Lee was the Sportsman of the year
After Jeremy Teasley won the inaugural year of the Dragbike.com BAMF, many sportsmen started out the year ready to throw down for the 2015 title. However, it wouldn’t take long for Dustin Lee to crush their dreams.
By September Dustin had accumulated more points than last year’s champion Jeremy Teasley by passing the 31 points mark with several races left. When Lee rolled into the final event of the year he was unbeatable! He ended the season with 46 total points accumulated by 11 wins, 7 runner-ups and 4 championships! In 2015 Dustin won more rounds than some racers will win in a lifetime of racing. Chew on that. Read More…
THORNLEY TAKES PRO FUEL HARLEY
Janette Thornley became the first woman to win the NHRA Pro Fuel bike championship! Thornley went into the final race of the year only 5 points behind point’s leader Dennis Fisher. Thornley took home four event wins during the year to go along with the season championship in the NHRA Harley Series. #girlpower
Grudge Racing Resurgence
While the grudge racing technically hasn’t gone anywhere, 2015 saw more organization from the race promoters and more involvement from manufacturers supporting these events. With ideas pooled together from the likes of grudge racing promoter Rasheem Clark (KOG) Kings of Grudge founder; Ms. BLL’s, (Bud Light Lime) “Call Out” Grudge race series; long time grudge racing supports/ promotes Dano “Mite” Mcgee with “Dano’s Grudge-fest” series and Christopher Mark’s very successful “Mardi Gras & Battle on the Bayou” events entering its fourth annual occurrence.
2016 is sure to provide plenty of “white knuckle” grudge racing action. With the sophomore year of the newly formed (AGR)-Association of Grudge Racing pooling together ideas and resources, I’m sure the motorcycle grudge racing scene has a very bright future ahead of it. The 2016 grudge racing season officially kicks off every year with the Mardi Gras on the Bayou event held in Port Allen, Louisiana at State Capital Raceway and cumulating in Bradenton, Florida with the Kings of Grudge season finally at Bradenton Motorsports Park. The motorcycle grudge racing scene has gone through a resurgence in recent years, not with the diehard grudge community, but with more casual fans attending events in record numbers in 2015. With the addition of Association of Grudge Racing (AGR) and events scheduled spanning from Indiana to Maryland, as far south and west as Florida and Texas. The 2016 Grudge racing scene is sure to provide plenty of racing excitement along with mind-blowing displays of speed and completion! Look for our new column from our Grudge correspondents, Brian and Julian Glascoe from Asphalt and Opportunity coming soon.
Greg Neal reaches 302 Records in Land Speed Racing
138 new Land Speed Racing Records, 3 World’s Fastest Speeds, 61 records set in a single event, 31 records set in a single day and the Bike Shootout N/A 1000cc Class Champion. The total amount of records set now at 302, arguably, but not really, making Greg Neal number 1 on the list of total records set by a single rider. 2015 was simply a historic racing season for TLN Motorsports full of unimaginable success and single season numbers that are simple unheard of. It was the payoff for long days and nights and a tremendous amount of hard work. Read More…
NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Notables
Karen Stoffer who in 2014 talked about sitting out the 2015 racing season, showed up to the Gatornationals and defeated three-time world champ Eddie Krawiec in the final with a 6.900 on her Suzuki Extended Protection Suzuki to claim her second victory at this event. Appearing in her first final since Indianapolis in 2013, Stoffer defeated Steve Johnson, Angie Smith, and Shawn Gann en route to the final. This was a surprise win for sure from the Suzuki team.
Hector Arana Sr. takes a win at Atlanta to end a LONG win-less streak! Hector Arana’s last win came at the NHRA event in Dallas en route to his first and only NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Championship in 2009, no one would have guessed that it would take over five years before he won his next national event. After making the final round 11 times since his last win, Arana strode into the winners circle after riding his Lucas Oil S&S-powered Buell to a final round victory over the Harley-Davidson of Eddie Krawiec at the Summit Racing Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. “I never gave up, I kept going forward,” said Arana. “I know I struggled but I never gave up hope.”
Jerry Savoie wins Englishtown, Indy and Texas as well as demolishing the performance numbers for a Suzuki at the Dallas race with a 6.744 run! This is the quickest pass in the Pro Stock Motorcycle since 2012! In the words of Lewis Bloom, it was an EPIC RUN! Savoie and his team showed they were in championship contention all year, finishing in 3rd place only 15 points behind #2 Eddie Krawiec.
Andrew Hines dominated the 2015 season in the points battle earning him a 5th consecutive championship! In 203 consecutive races, this is the most Pro Stock Motorcycle championships in history! John Force holds the most consecutive championships at a 16!
Did we miss something you think should have highlighted? E-mail us at editor@dragbike.com and let us know. Good Luck to all our readers in 2016! We look forward to seeing you at the races, and remember to get those Dragbike.com decals on your bikes. Need some? Send a SASE to PO BOX 340635, Beavercreek, OH 45434 and we will send you some.
The post 2015 : Motorcycle Drag Racing Year in Review appeared first on Dragbike.com.