Whether it came from the high-compression cackle of an 1100-horsepower nitromethane motor or the force-fed whine of a 550-horsepower turbocharged streetbike, the pressure was on at the AMA/Prostar World Finals this past fall at Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Florida. With championship titles, personal pride and, of course, future paychecks on the line, it was time for the country's best motorcycle dragracers to stage up and deliver.
Up-in-the-air championships aside, the major story didn't involve racing; what was really on everyone's mind was Kawasaki's complete withdrawal of all factory support for motorcycle dragracing, a decision made public just a few weeks before the final event. Although reduced somewhat last season, Kawasaki's involvement in motorcycle dragracing still ran deep, and 2004 had been as successful as any-Kawasaki machines were virtually untouchable in the 600cc and 1000cc SuperSport classes, and the defending Streetbike Shootout champion was perennially competitive Rickey Gadson on his Muzzy-tuned ZX-12R. But none of this gave Kawasaki pause as it proceeded to issue Gadson, easily the most famous face in motorcycle dragracing, his walking papers and, even more inexplicably, repossess 600 SuperSport class leader Chip Ellis' ZX-6R racer just prior to the event, forcing him to collect the championship on a borrowed Yamaha R6.
Kawasaki's pullout sent waves throughout the paddock, even upsetting the pinnacle Top Fuel class. Nearly 100 percent handbuilt, the wild, flame-throwing Fuelers are virtually devoid of any manufacturer association, but that didn't stop Steve and Larry McBride from slapping a big, green Kawasaki sticker on their Top Fuel monster a few years back when the company started paying $500 to number-one qualifiers. Which factory is willing to pay for a claim to the awesome, five-second, Top Fuel monster now?
Super Stripbikes?Top Fuel bikes in a streetbike magazine? Why not? Sure, they're nowhere near street legal, but if you think of a Fueler as the slobbering, pop-eyed Hulk to every boulevard 'Busa's Bruce Banner, it starts to make sense. Besides, as Prostar's premier class (and far and away the fan favorite), Top Fuel is too important to simply brush aside.
Now that we've got that out of the way, let's go back to the day before World Finals qualifying to see the brothers McBride uncharacteristically in trouble. Parked in the pits at Gainesville Raceway, the McBride's legendary Pingel/Trim-Tex/Drag Specialties-sponsored racer was missing on all four cylinders. The team replaced the crank trigger and the bike seemed to run smoothly in Round 1 of qualifying, but on Saturday morning the bike once again suffered a serious miss during its burnout. Shaking his head, Larry yanked his kill-switch tether and dismounted the bike in disgust. In the opposite lane Australian Jay Upton rode his Triumph-motored, parachute-equipped flyin' bathtub to a 6.25-second, 228.65-mph lap and right into the provisional number-one qualifying spot.
Back in the pits, the McBride team replaced every electrical component on the bike, chasing a clue. Somewhere they caught one because Larry ran a 5.97 at the one major dragstrip that hadn't yet hosted a five-second motorcycle pass. The bike continued to perform flawlessly through the first two rounds on race day, as Larry rode a series of 6.01s into the finals, where he was met with first-time finalist Tommy Sloan. Sloan and his nitro Harley-Davidson advanced to the semifinal bye after Chris Hand, who had a phenomenal 1.009 60-foot time Saturday morning on his Winnebago/Renegade Redneck Express, smoked the tire away during Round 1 of eliminations.