  tar Racing is one of the most respected names in motorcycle drag racing. To their racing competition, they are also one of the most feared. The company started by George and Jackie Bryce has evolved over the years and is now a full-service motorcycle performance shop, offering all levels of service and parts as well as complete, turn-key race and street bikes. On the racing side they have truly changed the face of the sport, establishing new performance levels, growing racers into stars, and creating the next generation of racing machines.Their business success has come from a simple formula: Build attention through world-class racing efforts, offer a full array of parts and services, embrace emerging trends and technology, and of course, provide excellent customer service. They are also one of the few companies that have successfully crossed between inline-four “metric” and V-Twin high-performance. High-performance has always been a big part of the Bryce’s lives. Growing up in the same neighborhood in South Carolina, a 17-year old George would impress the younger Jackie with his Pontiac GTO. They began dating and started going to drag races together. While George worked at his father’s plumbing and heating business, Jackie took the “cooler” jobs, working at the dragstrip as well as a Bucks Harley-Davidson in Florence, South Carolina. “I was working at a Harley shop when Harleys weren’t even cool!” she said. Her position at the dealership led to the opportunity to buy a 1975 Kawasaki Z1 brought in as a trade-in. It became George’s first serious drag bike. In 1979 George and Jackie moved to Americus, GA. to open Star Cycle with Charles Israel. A year later George and Jackie were married and bought out Israel’s share in the business. They have remained in Americus ever since. The business took a major step forward when they became distributors of Wiseco Pistons in 1981. “It cost us $42,000 which was a lot of money back then,” said George. “I think they gave us that number to scare us away but then we came up with the money. We also had to stock a full line of products like dirt bike stuff but we did it.” “It totally gave us legitimacy,” he continued. “We were able to get in the door with a lot of other companies because of our deal with Wiseco.” As the company grew they saw the best way to promote their business was through racing. George was quickly moving up in the ranks and race wins turned to championships in IDBA and NMRA competition on his Kawasaki Turbo Funnybike. Having conquered the all-motorcycle drag racing series, George set his sights on the greater media exposure offered by the National Hot Rod Association. He won an NHRA “Wally” on the Funnybike at Indy in 1984. Later, when NHRA chose the Pro Stock class to represent motorcycles at their national events, it became Bryce’s focus. Competing with racers like Terry Vance, Dave Schultz, “Pizza” John Mafaro and Bob Carpenter, Bryce won the 1987 Dallas event and became a member of the prestigious “7 Second Club” in 1988. Still competing on the IDBA circuit, Bryce crossed paths with a talented young rider named John Myers. “I did some work on John’s bike and I was having trouble riding my bike with a new two-step,” recalled Bryce. “John said he would ride it for me to help me work it out. He went down the track and I said to myself ‘I like the way that looks.’ I immediately thought I could be more successful if I could focus on tuning the bike and have someone with the talent of John Myers riding for me.” It became one of the most successful teams in motorcycle drag racing history. Myers was hired for the 1989 season and ended the season #2 in the NHRA championship points. Myers won a total of three championships over the next five years and developed a rivalry with Dave Schultz, which still ranks as one of the most heated in NHRA drag racing. Tragically, Myers lost his life in a streetbike accident the same year he left the Star Racing camp. In 1992 George Bryce further elevated his status in the sport when he was asked by Frank Hawley to host a Pro Stock Bike class at his world-famous drag racing school. Bryce had learned much about the mental aspects of riding with his work with John Myers and was now given a venue to spread his knowledge in a structured environment. The Pro Stock bike class at the Hawley School, held several times a years, is perennially sold out and is considered the de facto prerequisite for anyone seriously considering competing in Pro Stock Motorcycle Drag Racing. It was at the school that Bryce met a pretty young Pro Stock wannabe named Angelle Seeling. Seeling, who now is known by her maiden name Angelle Sampey, was first deemed too small for the bike school and was required to sign extra waivers before she could attend. “She had all kinds of problems and cried on the way home,” recalled Bryce of Angelle’s first try at the school. “After a few days I called her and told her I thought she had natural ability and she could do it if she really wanted it and worked at it. I told her that she should attend the school again. She ended up attending five times, eventually setting the elapsed time record for the school. There was more there than met the eye. She was an all-star.” An all-star is an understatement. Angelle has become one of the most successful and recognizable riders in motorcycle drag racing history. Riding for Star Racing from 1996 through 2002 she claimed three NHRA championships under sponsorship of then-NHRA series sponsor Winston. With this relationship, along with the media attention she garnered, Angelle is generally credited with saving the Pro Stock Bike class from cancellation when the NHRA was considering a class shake-up. She was one of the true stars of the series and cutting her out of the program would not serve anyone well. While George Bryce gets the majority of the attention, his wife Jackie is not only an active partner in the business, but a savvy bike tuner, race team manager and racing promoter in her own right. While George focused on the NHRA events, she fielded an AMA/Prostar Pro Stock team that saw Fred Collis win two championships. She now runs SEMDRA, the South Eastern Motorcycle Drag Racing Association, one of the top regional race series in the country. The series is now in it’s sixth year and has nearly 300 race bikes competing at each event. George had accomplished everything he had set out to do. Having scored six NHRA championships with the class-standard inline-four cylinder, two-valve “metric” engine, Bryce starting eyeing the V-Twin drag racing scene. He began working with S&S Cycle on their 45-degree Pro Stock engine program but all work was thrown out the window when the NHRA announced new V-Twin rules to allow big-inch, 60-degree motors with EFI. Out of the new rules came the S&S 60-degree Pro Stock engine. S&S Cycle’s George Smith joined with Bryce to form G-Squared Motorsports, with the exclusive agreement to market and sell the new 60-degree S&S race motors as well as components and complete bikes. The S&S/G-Squared Buell debuted at the 2004 Columbus, Ohio event and qualified second. Later that year G-Squared hired multi-time AMA/Prostar champion Chip Ellis to ride the flagship Buell. At his first race ever Ellis qualified the bike on the pole at the prestigious U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis. Drag Specialties sponsored Ellis and the G2 team starting in 2006. The G-Squared partnership changed the face of NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle drag racing. They offer turn-key competitive bikes and the expertise to run them. S&S-powered G-Squared Buells now make up almost half of the qualified NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle field. Smith eventually became partners with the Bryce’s in the Star Racing business. Now Star Racing and G-Squared Motorsports are housed in the same building and with the same owners. Star handles the metric side, while G-Squared is the V-Twin part of the business. Through it all Parts Unlimited and Drag Specialties have been an integral part of their business. “We have been with them for close to 20 years,” said Jackie. “Our customers want their work done right and right away. We know with Drag and Parts the parts will be in stock and we can depend on prompt delivery. They make it easy for us to deliver on our promises.” While satisfied customers are essential to a successful business, Jackie notes that their racing efforts are what draw the customers to them. “People see us winning races and they know that we can help them win races. Our street customers feel that if we can build record-setting race bikes we can certainly build them a fast and reliable street bike.” “Right now our business is about 50/50 race and street customers,” she continued. “We have been able to keep a strong race business because we are so passionate about racing. We race, we put on races and we sponsor races. We are always giving back to the racers with contingency programs. But most importantly, we are at the track and always available to help our customers. When our customers win, that is the best possible advertisement for our business.” |
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