If you've been around high-performance sportbikes, you've probably heard of Lee Shierts, owner of Lee's Performance in Charlotte, North Carolina. Shierts is a well-known speed merchant who has built and ridden some of the fastest bikes on the planet. A former AMA Pro roadracer turned AMA/Prostar dragracer, Shierts is also a lifetime member of the East Coast Timing Association's 200-mph club (he holds the absolute land speed record for an open-wheeled motorcycle at 256.41025 mph) and has gone more than 200 mph at the Maxton speed trials on his own naturally aspirated GSX-R1000. It's safe to say Shierts knows fast.
Although Shierts' reputation was made in closed-course competition, the bulk of his business is street performance, and the annual Bike Fest he puts on at Mooresville Dragway in Mooresville, North Carolina, has become one of the hottest street performance gatherings in the Southeast. Combining dragracing, bike shows, burnout, wheelie and endo competitions with plenty of off-track entertainment, the event starts Saturday and continues until the crowd gets tired Sunday night. Once the sun sets, the music cranks up and the fun stuff starts-sexy lady and best booty competitions, as well as some others we can't mention in print!
Attendance at Lee's Bike Fest numbers in the thousands, and this year's event included vendors selling car stereos and wheels, pocketbikes, motorcycle tires, custom billet parts and plenty of food. Numerous chefs were present to keep the crowd full with lots of home cookin'. Fried oddities such as catfish and flounder could be had as easily as homemade hamburgers, grilled turkey legs and barbecue-lots and lots of barbecue.
This was our first time at the event, and it is very clear now where Shierts' heart lies: dragracing! From the moment the event started until the last bike rolled out of the gates, the smell of VHT Trackbite hung thick in the air and the sound of engines screaming at redline in the burnout box filled your ears. If you go to this event expecting to find Shierts walking around shaking hands and slapping backs, you will be sorely disappointed. Every time I looked for him he was out on the dragstrip thrashing a customer's bike or one of his own. He brought two GSX-R1000s to play with: a fast one and a really fast one with his own Stage 4 200-hp engine treatment. Neville, his shop manager, was on hand to take care of the event, serving as the official promoter.
During the day track managers shut off the display lights for grudge racing so diehard street racers could keep their secrets secret. Any serious enthusiast of off-track racing knows you can never let your real time slips get out, or you risk seriously limiting your market (and income potential) for racing. It is possible some money changed hands during these grudge races, though this was never officially confirmed (nudge nudge, wink wink).
The dragracing was not confined to bikes: Several local racecars were invited, including some sub-four-second (11/48-mile) alcohol dragsters. The ground literally shook when a pair of these 3000-hp monsters filled the air with tire smoke and clicked off four-second runs. With the stands at Mooresville so near to the racing action, it is most likely the closest you will ever get to this kind of power-unless you work on the pit crew for a NHRA race team. The dragsters were a clever addition to the two-wheeled action.
While most of the participants were Southeast locals, vehicles from as far away as New York came to this year's bash. Lee's customer or not, we suggest you take a trip to the Charlotte area next year and join in the fun. You won't regret it, we promise.
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