ife in racing is good when you are winning, but when you’re not, it can be tense. So it has been of late for the Drag Specialties/S&S NHRA team. Going into the recent NHRA Torco Race Fuels Nationals at Route 66 Raceway, just southwest of Chicago, the Drag Specialties team had not scored a win since the middle of the summer of 2006 at Sonoma.
     The second anniversary of their last win was just around the corner. For Chris Rivas, who just joined the team in the beginning of the season, he had never made the winners circle at an NHRA National event.
     But it all came together at the Torco Race Fuels Nationals. The team qualified number one, clearly had the fastest bike in the late stages of the event and took the event win. It was like they had been doing it all along.
     “It seemed so surreal,” said Rivas. “It came naturally. I can think back to all the things we did over the weekend and it didn’t seem like it was all that difficult. It was like it was business as usual.”
     “This was the shot in the arm,” added team co-owner George Smith. “With Chris joining us this year we had to get our team chemistry together. We needed to get a win.”
     The team was confident going into 2008. The Drag Specialties team had arguably fielded the hot bike for the second half of the 2007 season. When rider Chip Ellis was released from his riding contract at the end of the year, Rivas was brought on, bringing with him solid riding skills and one of the best reaction time averages in the class.
     Rivas, who co-owns H&D Drifters speed shop in Selma, CA., had early success in NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle drag racing. In just his third race of his 2005 rookie season Rivas brought the Mohegan Sun Buell to the final in Atlanta. That was the last time he would see the final until Chicago of 2008.
     After Mohegan Sun, Rivas had a short stint riding the second bike of future champion Matt Smith. They parted ways at the end 2007 and Rivas was tapped to ride the Drag Specialties entry–the flagship of the S&S Cycle/G-Squared Motorsports racing enterprise. But the new team struggled in the first four events of 2008 and didn’t make it out of the second round of eliminations.
     “We came into this season knowing we would be okay or at least we thought we would,” said Smith. “In the off-season we experimented with exhaust pipes and found a little more power at high RPMs. We get to Gainesville and find out the NHRA changed the formula of the C-25 fuel they give us. The bike wasn’t running like it should have. The data we were getting on the runs didn’t make any sense.”
With a four-week layoff between St. Louis and Chicago, the team went to work, dyno-tuning and replacing components on the bike at G-Squared headquarters in Americus, GA.
     After the first day at Chicago, Rivas led qualifying for the first time in his career, running 7.027 seconds at 188 mph on the S&S-powered Buell. “I was happy to hold the number one qualifying spot after Friday but it was provisional and we had Saturday qualifying to go,” said Rivas. “I didn’t think a 7.02 would hold up, I thought the track had a 6.99 in it. It kept me in check.”
     The top riders didn’t improve on Saturday and Rivas’ mark held up for the pole. He took out the Suzuki of Wes Wells on the opening round of eliminations on Sunday before the race was postponed for over two hours due to a violent thunderstorm.
When eliminations resumed it was clear that Rivas was the man to beat. He methodically took out Karen Stoffer and Angelle Sampey, running the low elapsed time of each round. This put him in the final against his old divisional rival Craig Treble.
     Treble got the holeshot in the final but Rivas was right with him and the Drag Specialties Buell did the rest. Rivas turned on the win light with a 7.05 to out-run Treble’s 7.13.
     “I saw that I went green and I saw Treble disappearing,” said Rivas. “I hit the shift and I still didn’t see him. I thought we had it and then I saw the win light come on. It didn’t really hit me until they handed me the trophy.”
     “I always felt I was capable but it always seemed like the equipment let me down. With this team I have the best equipment, the best tuner, the best teacher and the best mechanic.”
     “The thing I think I was missing was our chief mechanic Ken Johnson,” he continued. “He is so solid and so consistent. George makes the tuning calls but Ken really holds the team together. He makes everyone confident. He is my hero.”
     “It came down to one word: execution,” added Smith. “Chris ran it good, Ken did his job and Derrel Mullis helped me on the tune-up. When we did not run well in the first four races it put pressure on the team and everyone responded well.”
     “It was a crucial race to win and it is absolutely great that it happened in Chicago,” continued Smith. “Chicago is basically the home race of both S&S Cycle and Drag Specialties and we had a lot of people at the event. I grew up in Chicago. I can’t tell you how pleased I am that it came together like it did.”
     Life is suddenly good again!

Ken Johnson and George Smith react to a win at Chicago. Jackie Bryce is filming the run.

Chris Rivas scored his first-ever NHRA National event win, taking the Drag Specialties S&S-powered Buell to the win in Chicago.

Chris Rivas celebrates his Chicago victory with the rest of the Drag Specialties/S&S Cycle/G-Squared Motorsports Team.