Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

• • • .. • • • • DRAG RACING By Bob Ebeling Two Triumphs, a Harley and N ort on defeat ed all c o ntende rs and rece ive d th e cash awa rds at Irwinda l e Saturday. The fastest and closest c o mpeti t i on for cl ass run off wa s between D on H arris and his 650 Triumph Fuel er and Chuck A dams Special 45 -inch Triumph. Ea ch bike was running bel ow 11 seco nds fo r the Quarte r-mile and above 130 mph. When th e elimi nati on was staged, no odds were given as to who or how fast the winner would be. F rom t he starti ng line to the finish light s a human jud ge co ul dn' t ha V dec l ared which bike I! had the lead. Thanks to our ele ct roni c timin g devic es, our jud gment i sn ' t nec essary and Don Harris recei ved t he class trophy plus a chance at the T op Fuel bike money. The first race for T op Fu el was betw een Murray and Cook's twi n-en gine Triumph and this col umnist 's Honda. I almost l ost my way to the li ght s as Jim Cook l eft th e Honda in the rubb er smoke and won th e round. Don Harris was then placed on the road whi ch l eads to the starting line and awaited hi s chan ce against th e doubl e. When Murray and Cook tow ed th eir bike to fire up for th e match , Don Harris was pus hed by two healthy friends. The Triumph si ngle refus ed t o start and si nce the doubl e's engi nes could not run l ong without overheating, ·t he starter sent the bike on thr ough fo r a single. kfew secondslater D on Harris did start and made a single run for runn er-up money. Murray and Cook s "Flustrati on" turn ed a 10.36 el apse d tim e at a sp eed of 151.26 . Harris turn ed 10.81 - 134.73 . Top Gas Bruce Miller found some answers to the pro bl ems or weeks pas t and rode his Harley pas t conte nders like Nira Jobnson and Ron Knapp for the To p Gas l aurels. Nira's Triumpb was sbut orr early because of strange noi ses hom down under and Ron' s rabulous Yamaha was just not Iast ' enough to out-do the Harley's wiooing E.T. or 12.:19 and speed of 105.69 • . Top Street Norto n and J anovich did It again ! The win of top street money was not easy for Norton when it was placed against Sal E str ada' s Harley. T he Norton turned 12.26 and 106.25 when it defeat ed the Harley, but sal promises they had better go Quick er next time to do it twice. Santa Maria via Fresno A sudden decision was made at 12:00 midnight saturday over coffee at a restaurant near I rwindal e Rac eway. Yours truly and Murray and Cook decided to drive to Fresn o Drag Strip for surprises t o Cycl e News readers of that area. It was we who wer e surpri sed for when we arri ved at 9 :00 a.m. Sunday . tb e gates were l ock ed and not a soul was i n sight . Fresno' now i s open to racing on th e first and third Saturday of each month. Not t o be without racing, we took a rapid trip to the , co ast and sout h to the sant a Maria Drag strip near Pi smo Beach. Kn owin g it would be too l at e i n the day for c ompeti ng, we aske d t o mak e single runs and were s urpri sed wben t he strip offered to put up ten dollars for a handicap ra ce betw een us and two ot her bikes. One of the conte nders was Ed McDonald who is well known at our l ocal strips . When it came to the eliminations Murray and Cook l ost and won, Ed Mc Donald l ost and won. Tb e 2nd Harl ey lost and I won and l ost. Th e first round was hetw een the Triumph Double and th e Honda and because of the handicap, Jim Cook had t o wait an impo ssible tim e to try and catc h the Honda. Th e doubl e did , but it was a fe w feet past the finish light s. Th ey l ost. Ed McDonald had th e s ame disadvantage and lost his round. In a final match betw een this rid er 's Honda and a Harl ey , th e Harley red-light ed and I "broke out , " went too fast for th e handic ap and lost. Sinc e both bikes of th e final round l ost , th e money was split betw een th e first tw o lo s ers . •.....................................................···1 : THEYRE HEIIE./ ~ -'SA • l fJ,,§ #f4W B.,,~A HfJ",fa· IuM. U. eu:iIuuj, 1966 8S,q IM..

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