Lol! OK, you talked me into it. :read2: I've got pics but no scanner and all these races were pre-digital camera. Please don't think I hate Harley's either as I tell this story, but what happened is as true as the day is long. As a professional motorcyle mechanic for over ten years I have worked on them all. Here's a list and I may have even forgotten a few:
Ducati
Moto Guzzi
Kawasaki
Honda
Suzuki
Triumph
BSA
Norton
Indian
Harley Davidson
Bimota
Ariel
KTM
Caviga
Bultaco
All motorcycles have their strengths and weaknesses. I chose to race on the bike that I thought had the most consistency and power per dollar. So don't flame me please. :toothy10:
Race #1 Dragbike USA Nationals, Great Lakes Dragway - Union Grove, WI
Well, you all caught me at a good time 'cause I'm drinking beer and cleaning my office, lol! I was even thinking of dragging out all my old racing pics and trophys and doing a little "decorating", so the memories have been flooding back.
It all started when my other buddy who I worked with was racing C class AMA. Even with him in his twenties, he was considered an "old man" and couldn't really compete with the 100 lb. kids in AMA A class. Anyway, he was coming in Monday with tales of the race and really got the bug started. He said "Joe man, you've got to get in this". I said "Bob, I'm almost 30 man. No way could I compete and I'd have to buy a dirt bike. I haven't dirt biked in ten years." He said "Yeah, but you have what, 16 years experience on street bikes? I've seen how you ride, even on the trips up to Road America and you beat guys on your KZ 650 on the on-ramps who have twice, the power and 10 times the money invested in their bikes. You're freakin' fearless draggin your knees on that thing. How about road racing?" "Nope, too much dough to get started, even in the most amatuer of classes" I said. Bob says "How about drag racing? I think they're having a race up in Union Grove?" The light turned on..... "Huh" I thought. "I think I just may be able to pull this off".
Well, I made a bunch of phone calls to the strip and found out the details, rules, etc. I had less than two weeks to prepare. Before I get I get into mods, let me first tell you that this bike was a Kawasaki '79 KZ650C four cylinder. Not my first choice as I had had a KZ1000 a few years before that would have been perfect but I had to sell it due to some legal troubles. :toothy10: I was living in a house with five other bikers who all rode and had just got of Stateville. It was like a half-way house for bikers transitioning out of prison. We'd all be partying and one of my buds would show up and "Joe, your bike's leaking man, you better go check it out". I'd run outside only to see a half filled take-out carton of rice under the bike, lol! :-D I only fell for that twice.
Anyway, first thing I did was pull the baffle out of the Kerker and make some neighborhood runs to get my jetting close. Next was to go to "Forks by Frank" and get some new tubes made 2" shorter. Then a set of K&N drag bars, some Barnett clutch frictions and sandblast the steels, drop one tooth on the counter shaft sprocket and go up one tooth on the rear sprocket. I went out to my favorite industrial area and made some test runs. It felt much quicker and launched great! OK, off the strip on test and tune night. :-D
I arrived the Friday night before the race (I drove the bike there) and made some test runs. I was only pulling some 13.1's and wasn't happy although the bike felt strong. The starter pointed at the rubber layed down on the strip and said "Line it up here bro!". Bam! 12.9's with reaction times in the double digits. "Very cool" I thought. I think I got a chance. On my way back to the pits, there bikes of all makes and most were trailered. Lot's Harleys too as this is Wisconsin. I had no trouble whatsoever, even though my "pit" consisted of just a set of saddle bags with some jets and basic tools, that is until some "Snakeskin Cowboys" decided to come up and give me **** for riding "Jap Crap".
I stood up and looked them up and down. No joke, they were all wearing snakeskin boots and dusters, wtf. I said "If you assholes want to kick my ***, you better get started or STFU". I was tired as I worked all day and rode two hours just get there and get some runs in. I was done fkn around. You all have to understand that I didn't care wether I lived or died in that time of my life. Nothing mattered but what I was doing "right now". They just walked away saying "That junk wont make it past the first round tomorrow". Assholes. Before I left to ride home I walked through the pits to eye the competition. There they were with a beautiful trailered Harley. That bike was nice looking, mostly black with a ghost flame job. These peckerheads had money but they were not the real deal. I'll bet between all five them they probably had maybe a thousand miles under their butt. Fk em. I rode home.
Race day! I had got home about midnight from test and tune and was up at 7. Time to get. Some friends were going to meet me up there so threw the saddle bags over, tied them down and boogied. I got there at about 9 something, registered and paid my ten bucks and went through tech. Found my buddies and told them about the fkhds I had to deal with the night before and they said "Don't worry about it, worry about your racing".
I figured I had time for about 2-3 test runs before the race started so I though it would be smart to get my *** in gear and get rolling. My first run I had a great leave but the bike was missing on the top end. Dam! I got back to the pits and went up 2 jet sizes. Same thing next run. What the? Then I realized that the following night was heavy with fog plus the bike was way hot from the trip up. I went up another 2 sizes and it bogged on top again but not so bad. Well crap! I didn't have time for another test run so I went up another 2 sizes and thought "Well, do or die".
I pulled up, did my burn out and noticed the jack *** in the left lane giving me the finger. "****, I don't even know this prick" I thought. Oh well, screw him, I did two dry hops and staged fast! This gave me the advantage and threw him right off. I'm sure he was hoping for some kind of "stage off" but I didn't play his game. When I full stage I see nothing but the tree and the finish line. I become totally, 100% focused. Someone could throw a full beer can at me and I wouldn't even know even if it hit my helmet.
I bring the revs up to 4500 and FOCUS!!! Full tree, the yellow lights come tumbling down and I'm gone. I hit the booth on the return road and Damn! I won! LOL! He broke out to make up for his shitty reaction time!
This continued about 4 more times when I saw the snakeskin losers in the staging lane. "Oh man, oh man, please line up with me!" I counted the bikes and yep, we were going have at it. Again, here's these fkrs jeering altough I really couldn't hear what they were saying. "No matter, I'm going to smoke 'em" I thought. I do my burnout at the same time they do theirs, something doesn't sound right with their bike but I just do a nice wheely standing dry hop and pre-stage. They follow and I stage. I hear his bike literally screaming at the line, drowning out mine. The yellows fall and WHACK!! I saw a flash in the left corner of my eye and I'm gone.
I have the win and as I'm coming back down the return road my buddies all coming running up. They follow into the pits and say "Joe! He blew up! There's oil and hardware store bolts everywhere!" "No ****?" I said. "Yeah buddy! You won! You won!" :cheers::cheers::cheers:
We all walked over there and there they were, the punk *** snakeskin cowboys pushing their junk in the trunk, lol! My friends were merciless, lol. Let's just say they left really quick. :toothy10: That was my first organized drag race and my first win. Dragbike USA Class Champion!! I strapped that trophy to my forks "Marlon Brando Style" rode from WI back to Chi-Town and pulled into the bar. I was so wasted I pushed the bike back two blocks home from Mike's Tavern, lol.
Well, I've got more where this came from as well as some car street racing stories. Let me know if y'all enjoyed it. :)