ight years ago the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle class was struggling to win the hearts and minds of fans at what is predominately a car racing series. The bikes looked the same, sounded the same and outside the few top teams, no one else appeared to have a shot. Aside from a bitter rivalry between Matt Hines and Angelle Sampey, there was nothing compelling about the class.
That has changed dramatically. Instead of every bike bearing a Suzuki logo with an occasional Kawasaki making the field, V-twin Harley-Davidsons and Buells are taking their share of wins. And while Harley-Davidson rider Andrew Hines won his third straight championship in 2006, he was hardly dominant. This last championship wasn’t decided until the final event in Pomona, California, when Hines was able to edge out the Army Suzuki of Antron Brown by a mere 23 points.
     More to the point, for the second year in a row eight different riders scored wins on the 15-event circuit with no single rider winning more than three events. A total of 14 riders made the finals in 2006 – a much different scene from 1998 when Matt Hines won 10 events with a total of three riders winning races the entire season.
     The class has seen unprecedented popularity not only because of the level of competition and parity but also because Harley-Davidson put its full weight behind their drag racing program and spreading the word on its accomplishments.
     It all started back in 2001 when Terry Vance lobbied the NHRA to open up the PSM rules to give some leeway to V-twin engines which, at the time, were woefully non-competitive. With the promise of the Harley-Davidson factory involvement, Vance got NHRA to give many concessions to the V-twin motors. While there was much complaining from the current competitors when the rules were announced, this change in strategy set off a series of events that vaulted the class into unknown popularity and competitiveness and perhaps even more elusive, parity.
     It took until 2004 for the potential of the Harley-Davidson motor to be fully realized. At the opening event of the year the two-bike team of GT Tonglet and Andrew Hines made history with the first all-Harley final with Andrew taking his first event win. The youngest Hines went on to set the elapsed time record and dominate the season, securing the first of his three championships.
     As the Harley team was becoming the leader, S&S Cycle, with a rich history in drag racing and knowing a thing or two about building high-performance V-twins, took on their own 60-degree Pro Stock motor program. George Smith from S&S teamed up with multi-time NHRA Pro Stock bike championship team owner George Bryce to form G-Squared Motorsports to compete, market and sell the new S&S engine and complete turn-key race bikes. The S&S Buell debuted in the middle of 2004 and was competitive almost right out of the box.
     This had the riders of the GS-based Suzukis – the staple of the class since Terry Vance dominated in the 1980’s – crying foul. The V-twins were given too much, they argued, and now it was showing.
The NHRA has worked diligently to establish parity in the class because American V-twins mixing it up with metric inline-fours yielded a great “Ford versus Chevy” rivalry and keeping it even made the show that much better. Each fan can pick their own hero and villain. Screaming fans means entertained fans.
     The NHRA first increased the minimum weight of the V-twin machines to slow them a bit. The next year Suzuki’s and Kawasaki’s were given big increases in displacement as well as the ability to use EFI. NHRA also instituted a “parity rule” which stated that after each set of five races all performances would be reviewed and the rules could be changed mid-season to keep the playing field level.
With every rule change each side of the argument protested loudly, posturing that they have been unfairly saddled. But the results are cannot be argued with. The 2006 championship was determined at the last event of the season between a V-twin and a Suzuki (Hines over Brown). A V-twin (Chip Ellis on the Drag Specialties Buell) has the all-time quickest pass ever at 6.911 but a Suzuki (Angelle Sampey on the Army Suzuki) holds the backed-up national elapsed time record at 6.939 seconds. The top ten in 2006 were evenly split with five V-twins and five Suzuki’s.
     Even with a level playing field at the moment, NHRA officials feel that could change. The Suzuki race engine, based on a GS case last seeing US showrooms in the mid 1980’s, is at the very end of its development cycle and never intended to produce over 300 horsepower. The new Harley-Davidson and S&S V-twins were designed for exactly that and their true potential has yet to be fully realized.
     The NHRA recently announced new rules which will radically change the game all over again. For 2007 rules allow inline 4 cylinder engines to be purpose-built 1,655cc with 4 valves per cylinder. The engines can also have a plain bearing crank, moving away from the roller bearing crank of the two-valve GS design. The only caveat is that in these new engines, each component must bear an OEM part number. Anything can be built - within certain geometric guidelines - as long as a motorcycle manufacturer is willing to put their stamp on it.
     Kawasaki jumped in immediately and hired multi-time championship roadrace team owner Rob Muzzy to field a ZX-14-based machine with two-time top ten rider Ryan Schnitz on the seat. Muzzy will utilize a production ZX-14 case with an aftermarket cylinder head which he plans to have in competition at the opening event of the 2007 season.
     Suzuki has shown interest as well and is in negations with Don Schumacher Racing, owners of the Army team of Brown and Sampey, to build a new race motor from scratch under the guidance of crew chief Steve Tartaglia. The Army team will start the 2007 season with their current 2-valve GS motors while the new engines are developed.
The new rules even allow for a “generic” engine to be developed which could bear even a Honda or Yamaha tag. All that is needed is an OEM OK. That, and a big pile of cash.
     Once these new engines are developed the NHRA will again take on the role of “parity police” once again, keeping an eye on performances and making adjustments as needed. A difficult task to be sure but the payoff will be worth it. Having true factory teams and multiple engine platforms in competition, each with a legitimate shot at winning is something the sport of motorcycle drag racing has never seen.