AMA Dragbike: Norwalk

From the February, 2010 issue of Super Streetbike

By Matt Polito

Photography by Matt Polito

Chip Ellis has done it all. Known as one of the most versatile racers in the sport of motorcycle drag racing, Ellis has manhandled the baddest of high-horsepower wheelie bar drag bikes and finessed even stock sportbikes to numerous national event wins. He has won championships in Funnybike, Superbike and SuperSport and has six NHRA national event titles to his credit. He is still one of only two riders to win NHRA events on both inline-four and a V-twin machines.

Ellis added another notch to his belt at the AMA Dragbike Track or Treat Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, by taking the Real Street win on a nitrous GSX-R1000.

Since leaving the NHRA wars, Ellis took a job with Vance & Hines. That's where he met Blake Ritter who builds the Suzuki Pro Stock engines at the legendary race plant. The Real Street bike is a team effort between Ellis and Ritter, and is supported by Vance & Hines. The team first ran the bike at the AMA Martin event where Ellis made the semifinals. At the next round the bike made the final against defending class champ Jeremy Teasley.

At Norwalk the team ran the table: number one qualifier, low ET and the event title, taking a final round win with an 8.04 second elapsed time over one of the all-time best in the sport, Rickey Gadson.

With the canceling of the Super Street class for 2010, Real Street becomes the link between high-performance street bikes and the all-out, high-tech Pro Street class.

Ellis says his 2007 GSX-R1000 Real Street machine is nothing out of the ordinary. "It's barely over stock, cc-wise. It's got a production Vance and Hines sidewinder on it, but nothing different than any customer can buy. We just have a lot of nitrous pumping through it!"