Vintage Drag Bike Ressurection at Wheels Through Time

 I'm not sure just how this escaped my attention for so long, but I recently noticed a post on the FakeBook group for Mark Wang's True Vintage Dragbike Racing with part three of this story.

As it turns out, even part 3 of the series is labeled "3 years ago" so if this is old news to you, I'm not surprised. However I thought it might be worthwhile to put links to all three of the videos here in one place for those who, like me, have been living under a rock and missed it.  

It seems that Matt Walksler is carrying on his father's legacy by making sure that the vintage motorcycles displayed in the Wheels Through Time museum are all in running condition. In this case, Matt has gone a couple steps beyond by researching, finding and piecing together a vintage drag bike with some history to it.  In other words, a man after my own heart. 

Les Myers with his '58 Pan dragbike

In part one Matt tells about some of the history of the bike and the odds defying story of how the project came to be, part two shows some of the work involved in getting the bike back into one piece, and part three shows the finished bike and initial start-up. Hats off to Matt and his crew for bringing this very cool piece of drag racing history back from oblivion.

Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse.  For most, the name immediately brings to mind the famous Native American warrior of the 19^th century, whom legend says was the one to kill Custer at the battle of Little Big Horn.  But, despite the gray hair, my memory doesn’t go back quite that far.  When I hear the name I can’t help but think of Russ Hendron and the many wild rides down the drag strip I watched him make on his nitro burning Sportster, nicknamed Crazy Horse, just over a century after the original.  In fact, one source gives the literal meaning of the name Crazy Horse as “His-Horse-is-Crazy.”  If that is accurate, then Russ could not have chosen a more fitting name for his drag bike!  If you picture a lean young man with his body being tossed about like a rodeo cowboy as his bike attempts to pitch him to the asphalt, but never easing up on the throttle no matter how close that Crazy Horse came to separating him from the saddle, you’d have a pretty good idea of how I remember the majority of Hendron’s passes.  Oh, yeah ...and getting to the finish line first despite all that!

The first time I met Russ was in the line waiting to get into Humboldt County Dragway for the inaugural Iowa Hog Drags way back in 1985.  His bike, a 90 cubic inch High Gear Sportster was on an open trailer right ahead of us.  I remember being quick to reassure my then racing partner Bobby that he didn’t have to worry about racing that bike because its slick showed it to be a pro class bike rather than a “Street Racer” as ours was classified.  Having never been to a drag race before, I was encouraged that the very first racer we met was a genuinely nice guy who was happy to make small talk with a couple of “nobodies” like us.  In fact, instead of the well-heeled professional we expected, Russ was a happy go lucky guy who had talked his friend Jerry into making the trip from Indiana with him to act as a temporary pit crew.  In fact, they were not even sure if they had enough money left between the two of them to get home after the race, so they were very hopeful of placing well enough to get into the “money rounds.”

Well, that race had a very happy ending, not only for Bobby and me, but also for our new friend Russ.  He made it all the way to the finals in Hot Dragster (the HDRA’s name for the high gear nitro class), before finally being edged out by Ray Lafayette on his record holding Sportster out of C&S Harley Davidson in Nashville.  After the race, Russ tells of how he asked Jerry to go the tower and find out if they had any money coming.  Jerry soon came running back with an envelope stuffed full of tens and twenties, saying, “I don’t know how much is in here, but it’s a lot!”  As it turned out, there was nearly $1000 in the envelope, which not only got them back to Indiana, but in true racer fashion, also paid for a set of 5 inch stroke flywheels.  

Those flywheels enabled Russ to increase his engine size from a 3-7/16” bore x 4-13/16” stroke 90 inch up to a 3-7/16” bore x 5” stroke 94 cubic inches.  This proved to be the magic number that made the difference between continually placing second to Lafayette (which had become the norm) and finally beating him the following year at the Havana, Illinois race.

While looking through some of the old clippings from my racing days which I had stashed away, I found a few write ups about Russ and Crazy Horse.  Here are some quotes:

From United Racer, August 3 1987, by Brad Henry

AMRA Cecil County

B/Fuel – Trying out a new engine combination this year, Russ Hendron (Winimac IN) nailed the pole position in qualifying with a coasting 8.80, Steve Hopkins followed in 2^nd with a 9.04.  Paul Plummer was 3^rd with 9.45 ….

First round had the stands going nuts as Russ Hendron, on a solo pass, put those B/K heads to the test as he tore nearly 2-tenths off the record.  When the smoke cleared the new ET record sat at 8.46 at 138.46 mph. 

….In the semis Russ idled out an uncontested 8.77 / 146.81 solo pass to put him in the money round. Paul Plummer with a 9.29 /129.49 trailered Hopkins 9.86 / 124.65.  The finals had a very confident Russ Hendron pitted against the “local boy” Paul Plummer.  Russ, putting a road race type slick to the test, man handled Paul with an 8.56 / 140.62 over a 9.71 / 93.84 to taking his first ’87 win.

From Hot Bike, November 1987, by Mark Ropel

In B/F Steve Hopkins earned a shot at Russ Hendron by putting Mike Henry away.  Hendron took care of Dale Nungesser, then kept everyone on their toes as he pogoed the eighth in 5.485@131.58 MPH while Hopkins posted a 6.36@103.22.

Russ in the near lane.  Photo by Mark Ropel.

From United Racer August 3, 1987 by Brad Henry

AMRA Iowa Drags

Russ Hendron’s 103-inch “Crazy Horse” Sportster did it again!  Streaking to an unprecedented third AMRA National Event title in a row.   Hendron sailed to a 5.48 /131.58, annihilating Steve Hopkins’ 6.36 / 103.22.  Hendron has had a spectacular season so far, and rumor has it that a new “Truett” chassis is in the works to make Hendron’s “Crazy Horse” quicker than it already is.

Russ again in the near lane.  Photo by Brad Henry.

 

There you have just a few of the recorded highlights from the early part of Russ’s drag racing career.  By the close of the 1987 season, Russ had again enlarged the size of Crazy Horse’s heart, this time increasing the bore from 3-7/16” to 3-5/8” for a total engine size of 103 cubic inches.  Over the next several seasons he continued to totally dominate the high gear carbureted nitro classes, setting nearly a dozen national records in a three year period.   With his 103 cubic inch Crazy Horse, Russ won the AMRA’s B/Fuel National Championship in 1987, 1988, and 1989.  In 1989 he even did enough “moonlighting” to win the HDRA Pro Dragster National Championship.  Wow.

The later version of Crazy Horse.

 

But of course success rarely comes without the expense of very hard work.  Russ recalls how he had teamed up with the legendary Ron Trock to prepare his stock ’72-’74 XL cases to take the big bore 3-5/8” cylinders.  Despite never having a catastrophic crankcase failure, even Ron’s expertly performed reinforcement to the flimsy stock cases could not prevent them from cracking due to the extreme pressures generated by using nitro-methane for fuel.  A typical call after a race would go something like this:

Russ: “I cracked my cases.”

Ron:  “How long ‘til the next race?”

Russ:  “Two weeks.”

Ron: “Okay, bring me a set of cases to weld.”

The result would be that a week and a half later Russ would take delivery on another set of 3-5/8” bore Sportster cases, beefed up as required for use with nitro.  But of course that would leave Russ with a mere two days to finish the engine build so that he could once again go out and smoke the competition!  There is very little doubt that a lot of late nights, both on Ron’s and Russ’s part, were involved in going out and making it look easy to take home the money on race day.   

Ron Trock reinforced cases.

By the end of the ’89 season the 114 and 120 cubic inch Big Twins were finally starting to occasionally outrun Crazy Horse.  The handwriting was on the wall.  Ron and Russ mutually agreed that it was just too much work to keep a little 103 inch bike at the top of the food chain, and decided to put Crazy Horse out to a well-deserved pasture.

And now you know …. the rest of the story!

Three Stooges and a Disappearing Act

About a week ago my old friend and racing buddy, Uncle Aard, dropped by the shop.  I hadn't seen him for a number of years, and while perusing the many pictures on the walls he mentioned that he no longer had any pictures from his time involved in drag racing.  That thought stayed with me long enough to spend a few minutes later in the week sorting through a stack of old photos that had accumulated in a small box on my desk.  That, in turn, inevitably led to this post.

 

 

 

I like to call this one "The Three Stooges"

 



The photo above caught my eye first.  Obviously taken before we became savvy enough to build stands to hold the drag bikes up off the ground high enough to save on the back.  But then, we were all young then and likely did not notice.  On the left is Uncle Aard hard at work on his Shovelhead.  Yours truly is in the middle attending to the Pro Stock Knucklehead and Neil Ryan on the right is probably chasing down leaks in his Shovelhead's air shifter.  My guess is that the picture is from 1989.  If so, that was the second year for the PMFR chassis with 8-1/2" slick on the dual carb Knuckle.  Neil also ran a PMFR chassis on his Shovel; the first one ever built for a Harley (mine was the second).  Neil's sported a 10" slick which he put to good use behind the 114" Shovel.  This picture may very well have been taken the weekend that Aard first put a 7" slick on his Shovel, promptly breaking the front motor mounts off his crankcases.  Nothing like the tire really hooking up to stress test everything else in the drive train!

Below is a series of photos from the early 1990's.  The dual carb Pro Stock Knuck had been replaced by a 120" Knuckle with a centrifugal supercharger in a lay down Top Gas chassis with 10" slick.   That's Dangerous Dan, our long time crewman (in black with red bandanna) enjoying the view ...well, at least for a moment.  I am pretty sure that is Aard piloting the bike, since he always wore a dark colored helmet and mine was white.  It was probably taken at the Sturgis race.

 

Going ...Going ...Gone!

Harley Hot Shot

Almost 2 months back I posted about an old Hot Rod magazine article featuring a Big Stroker.  As luck would have it, the same magazine from 1960 had a second vehicle featured with a Knuckle motor; this one a Bonneville car.  Yes, I said car as in automobile ...but with a Harley Knuckle motor.

 

 

The car was hand built using a mold taken from an English Cooper racer, two inch tube frame and Ford Anglia front suspension.  Rear axle was none other than a Harley Davidson Servi-Car (trike) unit.  

 

 

A fellow by the name of Bill Burke was the car's owner.  While Harley enthusiasts may not be familiar with that name, he is a Bonneville legend, credited with building the first belly tank racer.

The engine builder may be more familiar to those interested in early motorcycle drag racing, since it was well known racer C.B. Clausen.  He built this Knuck motor to 90 inches, modifying the heads for a pair of Riley carbs and supplied his own cam grind.

 

The car ran 151 MPH at the '59 Bonneville meet, coming up short of the expected 180 due to galled pistons.  I think all of us Knucklehead fanatics out here can empathize with that; myself perhaps more than most!  It would be interesting to find out if that 180 MPH speed was ever attained, and where it is now. 



Big Stroker from the Past

I recently acquired a copy of a 1960 Hot Rod Magazine. I purchased it on-line because the description mentioned that it contained an article on a Harley drag bike.  1960? - Check.  Harley? - Check.   Drag bike? - Check!  Yep, sounded like it was right up my alley, and worth the price of admission just to see whose vintage drag bike it was.  A few bucks and a few days later I was pleasantly surprised.  Stan Dishong!  Truly one of the pioneers and innovators of the sport.  Here are a few highlights:

 

 Heliarc welded and low mounted fuel and oil tanks were certainly unusual for 1960, as was the fiberglass rear fender/seat combo

 

 

 

Knuckle engine was brought out to 100 cubic inches via custom built cylinders and flywheels.  Bore was 3-9/16" with a stroke of 5"

 

One of the coolest aspects was the starting system - a set of rollers powered by an Indian twin

 

 

 

Stan Dishong will be a familiar name to even freshman students of early drag racing history.  Stan was definitely not shy about trying out new ideas, and from what I have seen he always executed them with beautiful workmanship. His partner and fellow fabricator on this particular bike was Terry Hines .  As you may guess, pump driven fuel injection is used, which explains the low mounted tank.  The article suggests that the engine could be converted from 16:1 compression ratio for use with alcohol, over to 9:1 when using nitro.  In other words, a crazy compression ratio for use with a sane fuel, and sane compression ratio for use with a crazy fuel!  Makes perfect sense to me. (no - really, it does)

Almost 30 Years Ago...

Due to a series of unforeseen and insignificant events (too insignificant to mention here), I came upon a published class breakdown for the HDRA (Harley Drag Racing Association) circa 1985.  This was from back in the good old days when Red Roberts owned and operated the HDRA.  Though titled 1986 Classes, I think these are the same classifications that were used in 1985 (at least they are in regards to the class I was involved in back then).  As far as I know the 1986 HDRA national tour did not take place due to circumstances beyond Red's control. Unfortunately I don't know the name of the publication this came from, so I cannot give proper credit.  I offer it only in the interest of presenting a little drag racing history to those of the younger generation who care about such things, and to jog a few good memories for those of my generation.

1986 Classes

Professional Categories

Open Fuel Eliminator: Will consist of (double engine supercharged) (single engine supercharged nitro) (fuel injected single engine nitro) (carbureted single engine 2 speed nitro) (light nitrous oxide dragbikes, under 425 lbs for sportsters, under 500 lbs for big twins)

Hot Dragster Eliminator: Will consist of (carbureted single engine high gear nitro) (double engine gas or alcohol) (supercharged single engine gas or alcohol) (fuel injected gas or alcohol)

Dragster Eliminator: Will consist of (carbureted gas or alcohol 94” & up)

 

Sportsman Categories

Street Eliminator

Class A: 45”Harley; 2 and 3 wheeled 45” powered motorcycles modifications unlimited

Class B: Handshift FL; Any hand shift foot clutch 74, tank shift, jockey shift, or slap shift, Any engine or chassis modification allowed as long as 74” is retained, must be street legal.

Class C: Handshift Stroker; Any hand shift foot clutch big twin over 74”, modifications unlimited as long as it remains street legal.

Class D: Stock XL; Harley Sportsters close enough to stock as to not have a distinct advantage over a normal street stocker.  Any pipes allowed.  Harley carburetor only.  6” maximum swing arm extension.  Must have all equipment needed to pass state inspection & electrical charging system.

Class E: Hot Street XL; Harley Sportsters with performance modifications including light chassis or late model double carburetor XR-1000 models. 72 cubic inch maximum.  Must have all equipment needed to pass state inspection & electrical charging system.

Class F: Street Racer XL; Harley Sportsters over 72”.  Must have operable headlight and taillight, normally aspirated only.

Class G: Super Street XL; Harley Sportsters with fuel injection, nitrous kits, turbo or superchargers, must have operable headlight and taillight.

Class J: Stock FL; Harley 74’s close enough to stock as to not have a distinct advantage over a stock 74.  Any pipes allowed.  Harley carburetor only, 6” maximum swing arm extension.  Must have all equipment needed to pass state inspection & electrical charging system.

Class K: Hot Street FL; Big Twins that are 1340cc and highly modified 74” bikes.  Must have all equipment needed to pass state inspection & electrical charging system.

Class L: Street Racer FL; Big Twins over 80”.  Must have operable headlight and taillight, normally aspirated only.

Class M: Super Street FL; Big Twins with fuel injection, nitrous kits, turbo or superchargers, must have operable headlight and taillight.

Modified Eliminator

Class H: Drag Modified XL; Sportster dragbikes under 74”

Class I: X Drag Modified XL; Sportster dragbikes 75” to 93”

Class P: Super Modified XL; Sportster dragbikes with nitrous oxide kits, superchargers, or turbochargers, minimum weight 426 lbs.

Class N: Drag Modified FL; Big twin dragbikes under 82”

Class O: X Drag Modified FL; Big Twin dragbikes 83” to 93”

Class R: Super Modified FL; Big Twin dragbikes with nitrous oxide kits, superchargers, or turbochargers, minimum weight 500 lbs.

Another Drag Racing Pioneer Gone

I received word about a week ago that Carl McClanahan had passed away. You may recall that I featured one of his last drag bikes here on this blog recently. Before commenting, I wanted to find an obituary online so I could link to it, however I have had no success.  It only seems fitting to at least provide some sort of words at the passing of one of the innovators and pioneers of motorcycle drag racing, so I have chosen to quote what is written about Carl on the back cover of his 1984 book "V-Twin Thunder."

 

 

Carl McClanahan started drag racing in 1958 on a 1951 74 inch Panhead.  Since then, he has collected record after record, trophy after trophy, and first place after first place.  Carl's bikes go fast because of the skills, techniques, and tricks he has learned over the years.  Among the records he has set and held are:

 

1963: Alton, Illinois. 11.75 seconds, 123.288 mph on a 66 inch Sportster with a lay down frame.  This bike ran 11.55, 125 mph later in 1963

 

1969: Alton, Illinois. AHRA world record A/Fuel 9.57 on an 89 inch Sportster in a Yetman frame.  This bike later ran consistent 9.30s to 9.40s.

 

1970: Gainesville, Florida.  Low qualifier Spring Nationals, at 9.44 seconds.

 

1970: Invited to Indy Nationals, Top Fuel.

 

1972: Assumption, Illinois.  Set IHRA record for B/Fuel on a 55 inch Sportster.

 

1972: Bowling Green, Kentucky. Ran 10.75, 130.62 mph.  Old record was 10.96

 

1972: Alton, Illinois.  Ran 10.47, 10.34, 10.33, 10.31, and 10.32, at 138 mph.

 

1973: Pevely, Missouri.  Ran 6.18, 119 mph in 1/8 mile race to win AHRA B/Fuel record on a 53 inch Sportster.

 

1974: Pevely, Missouri. Won AHRA A/Fuel record on a 108 inch (!) Sportster.

 

Carl also built what may have been the first twin engine Sportster, using a pair of 66 inch engines in line.  He fell off four of the first seven time out, and later dismembered the bike before it was able to dismember him.  In 1971, he built the first set of wheelie bars for motorcycles. 

 

A racer for 25 years, Carl still makes all the national events within 700 miles of his home in St. Louis.

 

Rest in Peace, Carl.

 



Vintage McClanahan Drag Bike Available

Recently one of the members of the NVMDRA bulletin board contacted me with information about a vintage drag bike that is for sale.  This particular bike could be best described as a rolling test bed for ideas from the fertile mind of one Carl McClanahan.  When I heard the name, it sounded familiar, but I could not place it.  A quick web search revealed that Carl is the author of V-Twin Thunder (subtitled "A Handbook of Inexpensive Performance Modifications for Harley Davidson Motorcycles.") published in 1984.  No wonder the name was familiar; the book graces a bookshelf here at my shop.  Another interesting thing about that search is that it turned up the fact that copies of the long out of print book are currently offered for sale ranging in price from $57 for a used copy, to nearly $300 for one in new condition.  That would seem to put Mr. McClanahan in some pretty exclusive company.  I can think of only one other author of performance modification books which command such large premiums for their out of print works.  The other author would be David Vizard; exclusive company indeed!

Carl McClanahan, now in his 80's, began drag racing in 1958.  He was one of the first to build a double engine Sportster, and may have been the first to build a set of wheelie bars for a motorcycle.  Looking over my copy of V-Twin Thunder to write this, I found a whole slug of performance tricks that I have used for years, but had forgotten where I learned them.  Looks as though I owe Carl a belated thank you.

The bike itself conjures up images of the glory days of motorcycle drag racing, when innovation was the name of the game.  Though Carl set numerous records and an untold number of wins in his long and storied racing career, just as with nearly every other long time racer, the bikes used were constantly being updated and/or replaced as technology advanced.  As stated earlier, this particular bike was used primarily to test new ideas and therein lies real the beauty of it.

A fuel Sportster with a tire that small probably needs all the down force a wing can provide

Pressurized reservoir supplied additional air to the intake

Anti reversion cones on the exhaust look as though they could have inspired the modern day Thunderheader

There is a modern "induction system" on the market which shares a similar shape

Note the dual float bowl conversion on the L Series Fuel carb

If you are interested in  purchasing this piece of history, send me an email and I will put you in touch with the appropriate party.

Stan Dishong; Drag Racing Legend

There is an excellent post over at Electra Glide in Blue on drag racing legend Stan Dishong. If you have any interest in vintage motorcyle drag racing it is well worth checking out.

Tool Box Pics

OK, this is some pretty blatant filler material, but I've been too busy to write a serious post, so you will have to bear with me.


I would guess it is pretty common for anyone who make their living turning wrenches to have a tool box with a bunch of pictures fastened to the inside of the lid, so that with the tool box open, you have a sort of gallery facing you. Normally there will be pictures of the girlfriend or wife (hopefully not both), children, and as you get to be my age; grandchildren. Sprinkled in with those there will usually be some pictures of you favorite car or motorcycle. My tool box is no different. Since they were getting loose, curled up and in need of remounting, I thought I would share some of the motorcycle pictures that have been on my box for more years than I care to recall.

This picture is from the spring of 1982. I had just built my first Knucklehead, leaving my '75 Shovel free for a little serious hot rodding. 88 cubic inches with an SU carb and 468+ Sifton cams gave it some "git up an go". Goodyear roadrace rain slick was very soft and sticky.

Pete and me. This was at a 1986 AMRA drag race in Belle Fouche, S.D. Dave, my friend and pit crew, asked the legendary Top Fuel Knucklehead racer to come over and look over my bike since he knew that Pete was my hero. Pete graciously obliged, and even humored me by rubbing the tank to instill some of his magic. That resulted in a new National record.

I always liked roller starters. This was taken in 1987, a couple years before they were banned for safety reasons. Talk about safety issues, can you believe full leathers were not even required for Pro Stock! The guy holding the wheelie bars is Robert, another friend and that year's pit crew

This has always been a favorite picture. Some would say that I have the wheelie bars set too high, but I have always maintained that they are more fun to ride that way. This was taken at the National Finals in Clarksville, TN. I think the year was 1989.

Here is our son Joey at the Sturgis Nationals on his 1200cc XL. I think he was either 16 or 17 years old at the time. As you can see, he learned how to do a smokey burnout early on.

Nostalgia Drag Bike part 4

I now have in my possession another original piece of the Gorilla, a Knucklehead dragbike from the early 1950's, that being the transmission. And a fine piece it is. Simple, effective, and a down right cool piece of drag racing technology/history.

note the huge trans sprocket

When I began drag racing in the mid '80s, Harley specific drag racing was something new, and it lured all lot of racers out of retirement. These were the men who had kept Harleys on the track through the 70's when it was getting increasingly tough to compete with the Japanese imports which came from the factory with such amazing performance. The Harleys of that era were still pretty impressive when you consider the farm tractor technology they were based upon, but they just were not keeping up on the strip. Some of these Harley racers who pulled their dragbikes out of the dark corners of their garages for one last stab at glory were still using this same basic transmission from 1950.

"finger" on the shift fork. springs would hold the fork in 3rd gear

shift lever pivots here

That is a pretty long lifespan for any type of racing innovation, and whoever came up with it deserves a round of applause (if anyone out there knows who this person was, please let me know)

So, the transmission is a stock Harley 4 speed case, modified to work as a two speed. Internally, there is mainshaft 3rd and 4th gears, along with countershaft 3rd and 4th gears. One shift fork does the gear change from 3rd to 4th via a handmade top cover that takes the place of the old "jockey" lid.

Back in the 1980's, I was lucky enough to have another racer explain how the transmission worked, so I have not had to spend time scratching my head and speculating. Obviously you would start the run in 3rd gear. A "clutch lever" was hooked to the arm on the shift fork on the custom lid. Once underway in 3rd gear the rider would begin to squeeze the lever as the bike got near the shift point. Once the engine passed its peak and the horsepower started to drop off, it would unload the shift dogs enough to allow the shift fork to slide over into high gear. Clutchless shifting under wide open throttle in 1950! Amazing!

In modern day motorcycle drag racing, you will only see Top Fuel bikes with 2 speed transmissions. Nearly any gas dragbike will have multiple gears to get as much mechanical advantage as possible. Three, four and five speeds are not at all uncommon. So why did this early 2 speed work with even the gas bikes of the time? The answer has a lot to do with the tire technology (or lack of it). There just was not enough traction available to take advantage of any lower gearing. Couple that with the near impossibility of shifting the old jockey lid 4 speed quickly, and you can see why this transmission was a winner. The approach that seemed to work the best was to gear high, and spin the tire through much of the pass.

inside the 2 speed

Vintage Drags Coming Soon

It is beginning to look as though the time for nostalgia drag bike racing may be nearing. Most people are aware that nostalgia drag racing for cars is already a big deal and has been for a few years. However, I have not been aware of much in the way of nostalgia drag racing as far as motorcycles go. There are a couple events coming up that will hopefully change all of that.

This spring at the V-Twin dealer expo in Cincinnati, my friend Watso of Axis 101 Motorcycles in South San Francisco, introduced me to Marty, the man who runs the AMRA (American Motorcycle Racing Association). The dialogue was about the feasibility of vintage motorcycle drag racing. Since then, Marty has called me to confirm that he has decided to add 3 vintage classes to the Sept. 6-7 Pacific Junction, IA, AMRA race. A vintage fuel class, a vintage gas dragster class, and a vintage street class. This is going to be done on an experimental basis, to see if it generates any interest.

Only trouble I can see is that Marty seems to be leaving it a well kept secret. I have yet to see it on the AMRA website let alone anywhere else. If you are reading this Marty, the word needs to get out pretty quick if any old codgers are going to be able to clean all the dust off their dragbikes by then.

Watso also called me recently to let me know about another race or interest going on out in California. This one looks to be basically a nostalgia drag race run the way they were in the old days; cars and bikes at the same event. Dragfest looks to be a pretty cool event with several classes for vintage dragbikes. It is coming up mighty quick (May 3&4) at Famosa Raceway.

Now I have my own ideas on how and why some venue for nostalgia motorcycle drag racing could be a success. For one thing, drag racing never completely gets out of your system. Secondly, most of us that spent a considerable amount of time on the drag strips of this great country back in the old days have little interest in spending their summers in a points chase. But, they could likely be lured back for one weekend a year, just for old times sake. I have to believe that there are plenty of vintage dragbikes that have survived in various stages of disrepair in their owner's garages or shops. After all, there never was a very good market for racing equipment that was no longer state of the art.

It also seem to me that there may be a new interest in third party "restorations" or fresh builds of vintage style dragbikes. By third party, I mean something on the order of what I am hoping to accomplish in gathering parts and info on a drag bike from an era earlier than mine. I know that I am not the only one with such aspirations. I have a friend who has never raced, but has been collecting parts for a Shovelhead drag bike.

As for what bikes fit the bill, I personally think anything Shovelhead or older should be considered in Big Twins, and Iron Head XL or earlier for Sportsters. Then I think foreign made bikes of the same vintage should be allowed to run with them. After all, it shouldn't be about winning or losing so much as having a good time celebrating the history of motorcycle drag racing. (unless you happen to be lined up against that same old nemesis as you were 30 years ago)

The toughest part may be to get the word out. That is why I am asking anyone reading this who knows any old retired drag racers to point them in my direction.

Drag Racing 1964

While doing a little research on early motorcycle drag racing I cam across this site with pictures from 1964 Lions Drag Strip. I thought it was pretty cool and thought I might show you a couple teaser pictures to entice you to click. The name of the site is HotRods Bikeworks.







First time I've seen triple Linkerts
Not sure I can see linkage to center one though















Racing action

Highly modified Knuck. Click the link to see closeups of the motor

Nostalgia Drag Bike part 3

In a previous post regarding my interest in building a nostalgia dragbike, I told of my purchase of a blower that had been used on a Knucklehead dragbike here . After receiving the blower and through further discussion with the party I purchased it from, I was put in contact with the original owner. I hoped that I may have purchased a part that came from an old dragbike which it might be possible to re-create. It had not really even crossed my mind that it should be a significant piece of drag racing history. Of course that would have been a plus, but I would have been quite satisfied just to find that the blower was from a '70s or earlier dragbike that had a little local history.



Well, I must say that I feel as though I have hit the mother lode! Not only is the blower from a bike with a history, that history goes back to the very beginning of organized drag racing itself!



As stated in previous posts, this S.Co.T. blower came off of a Knucklehead dragbike named the Gorilla, owned by Don Jones. A Google search really didn't give me any info on the Don Jones I was looking for, at least that is what I thought. The name came up in regards to motocross; obviously a different Don Jones. Wrong! When I called Don, he told me that he was pretty busy for the next few weeks since a documentary was being done about he and his family's involvement in the origins of motocross racing.



It seems that Mr. Jones has a history of being involved when and where racing history is being made. Apparently his bike, "The Gorilla", was only one of a pair of Knuckle dragbikes running out of his motorcycle shop in 1949 and the early 1950's. The other bike was Chet Herbert's "The Beast"! The dragstrip they frequented was Santa Ana, which, from what I understand, was the first track to ever have a weekly drag race schedule.



Now "The Beast" is one of the most famous of the very early drag bikes. Of the first 19 events held at the Santa Ana strip, The Beast ran the meet's top speed 6 times (this included both bikes and cars). There is a some irony in the fact that the Knuckle dragbike which I campaigned in the mid to late 1980's was also named "The Beast", but that is another story, for another time.



In speaking with Don Jones via the telephone recently, I found him to be a veritable treasure trove of information about these early dragbikes. With absolutely no hesitation he was able to rattle off details even down to the number of teeth on each sprocket of these bikes. Wow. I must admit that many of the details from my own racing career are fading fast, and those are from only 23 years ago.



You can bet that I was taking notes as quickly as I could while Don told me a little about The Beast and The Gorilla. A few of the notes I made are as follows:

• The Gorilla was a single carb 80 cubic inch Knuckle with a blower


• The Beast was a dual carb 92 cubic inch Knuckle using Indian Chief flywheels


• The Beast was in a VL frame and ran a VL springer fork


• The Gorilla used parts of a Matchless frame and used a BSA front fork


• Transmissions were modified Harley using only 3rd & 4th gear


• Both bikes used Panhead cylinders due to weakness of the Knuck barrels


• They used '36 -'37 cylinder heads due to smaller combustion chambers giving more compression, and installed 2 1/4" intake valves


• They used the Harley 1936 61" cam, which Chet Herbert later made a direct copy of for performance use

Obviously all of this gives me plenty of food for thought. I would absolutely love to build a replica of either of these bikes. How "correct" I can build one is the big question. I have the actual blower from The Gorilla, but duplicating the frame may be tough. On the other hand I have a nice set of dual carb Knuck heads and a VL frame and front fork, which points toward The Beast being an easier bike to duplicate. Of course, having a few of the original pieces from The Gorilla point to that being the better choice. Of course a limited budget will have a bearing on either choice. Decisions, decisions.... more to follow....

Nostalgia Drag Bike? part II

Just to add a little more info on the blower I "won" on eBay. The gentleman I purchased the blower from tells me that it was on a Knucklehead drag bike named "The Gorilla" owned by Don Jones of California. I understand that there are pictures existing of the bike, but whether I will be able to obtain copies of them is still up in the air. That's about all the information I have so far.

As it turns out, when it arrived, I found some lettering stamped into the front bearing housing. S.CO.T. and under that the number 101. This is all stamped on a slightly raised "boss" that looks to have held a "serial number" type plate at one time. If there was indeed a plate there at one time, it would have covered these stamped letters. I am guessing that the 101 is a reference to the size of the blower.

The little that I know about S.Co.T. blowers is that they were a company that built supercharger kits for various engines in years gone by. I have seen them mounted on high end vintage style hot rods with Flathead Ford V-8s. The initials stand for "Supercharger Company of Turin"

Fabricated carb to blower manifold

One manifold (carb to blower) is obviously fabricated from steel, and I must say rather ingeniously at that. I doubt that I would have thought to make it out of sheet metal in a rectangular shape instead of struggling to get round tubing bent to fit.

The other manifold is cast aluminum, and though the center to center distance on the ports is in the ballpark for use on a set of dual carb Knuck heads, it likely was built by the supercharger manufacturer as a bolt on kit for a different application. The ports on this manifold are too small to match up with a Knuckle, being approximately 1.060" wide by 1.200" tall. A Knuckle port is round and 1.565" diameter stock.

Blower with both manifolds

Still, I might have concluded that the manifold was used on a Knuckle despite the size discrepancy were it not for the fact that the flange bolting the manifold to the blower is rectangular which limits the direction the blower could be mounted to facing forward or backward, but not sideways. That means that the pulley on the front of the blower would be at a right angle to crankshaft. Not very likely it would have been mounted in that orientation given the complications to driving the blower it would entail.

Another clue, is the fact that the gentleman I bought this blower from tells me that he also has a 2 speed racing transmission from the same dragbike. He told me that the trans case doubled as an oil tank. Very interesting! The size of the blower makes me think that a guy could tuck it in about the same space as a horseshoe oil tank would occupy. That would put the pulley on the blower in the same plane as the engine sprocket, making the drive comparatively simple. It would also explain the "S" shape of the carb to blower manifold. My guess is that there was originally a similarly fabricated manifold going from the blower to the heads.

More to come!

Nostalgia Drag Bike?

Nostalgia. Nearly everyone is infected with it to a certain degree. Whether it is a passion for the things from their childhood, or just antiques in general, the sense of nostalgia seems to spring from a yearning for the good old days. Those of us who are involved with motorcycles are no different. Now if you take a guy that has been riding motorcycles for 35+ years and drag raced for nearly a third of those years, then I guess it shouldn't be too hard to figure out where his nostalgic urges might lead.

Now when I was active in drag racing, beginning in 1986 I raced a Knucklehead. Guess that means that I had a head start on the nostalgia thing, what with heads on my drag bike leaving the factory prior to 1947. Yep, that means I was working with equipment 40 years out of date. This self imposed handicap had way more to do with the "cool factor" and my ongoing love affair with Knuckleheads than any kind of common sense. Still, I was lucky enough to start racing at just the right moment in history to win national championships in '85 and '86 in two different classes. Had I started later, the potential of the Evolution cylinder head would have made it impossible. Earlier and I would have had to compete against an earlier generation that seemed to get amazing results despite the comparative lack of technology.

I have been toying with the idea of building a nostalgia Knucklehead drag bike for quite a few years now. Something to mimic the bikes raced in the '50s or '60s would be just about right. Somehow I managed to hang on to a set of dual carb Knuck heads that appear to have been built "back in the day." The holes drilled in the cooling fins along with the big intake valves and porting work make me think that they have seen some drag strip action sometime in the distant past.






Vintage Dual Carb Knuck Head









So you can only imagine how intrigued I was a couple weeks back when an auction for an "Antique Harley Knucklehead Blower and Manifold" came up on eBay. From the pictures it looked as though it might even be a S.C.oT. blower. While I am far from an expert on them, I have seen them in magazines on vintage style hot rods. Though the seller said he saw no name on the blower, its age was pretty evident. Still, I likely would have passed on it, had it not been for the fact that I sold a top end on eBay at the same time. Fittingly, what I sold to pay for the blower were the heads, cylinders and pistons from our son Joey's drag bike. We had upgraded to aftermarket heads and big bore cylinders long ago which left these parts in need of a home.







eBay Blower Find









I am happy to say that I was successful in "winning" the auction despite several other bids. Best of all, I paid less than what I sold the top end for. Stay tuned for more on the blower, the history I am learning about it, and my tentative plans for it.