Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126486
• o 00 CJ') ~ could tum it imo money. but a lot of companies are afraid to compete for fear of losing. I'd like to see drag racing do much better. It needs more press. The first thing people look at is the quarter mile time in a road test. There is a big breakdown in classes, but it gives everyone a place to race. I wish we had one organization to centralize things. (Keyte now competes in Inlem4ti0Jl41 Drag Bilee Associ4tion, NatiOJl4l Motorcycle Racing Association and Dragbilee! events this season... Editor) Why did you pick drag racing bikes 0'\'Cl' can or another motorcycle or carspon? I'Ye been excited about motorcycles for over 20 yean. Cars are interesting. but not the same. As far as road racing, we stopped going to the Daytona 200 a few years ago. Two dozen Yamahas going in a circle. plus aU the motors are hidden. Have you ever been injured drag racing? On the old Honda dragster the clutch was slipping one time and I scuffed my leathers as my knee went down heading back to the pits. Knock on wood. It's been said drag racen are egotistical. Are you? Drag racers are a lot less egotistical than road race or MX people. Like Kenny Roberts. He's a rotten egotist. He could never be my friend. except that we both groove on perfonnance. When I was asked for my first autograph--that really puffed my ego. We wear red uniforms. white boots. cowboy hats--but PR is up in drag racing. What', in your head while waiting (or the green light? Nothing. You don't even blink your eyes. Everything is very precise. Your heart rate goes up about double. As soon as you see the yellow go on you make your move. I have a better reaction time than the average human. which is .25 of a second to react. I've been tested at .08 on a machine. Don Garlitz (a famous car drag racer) was tested at . I~. A tenth of a second sounds small. but that's from here to the street (Keyte motioned from his chair in the office to the road, about 20 yards) for us. Qualifiers are down to hundredths of a second. I set a Dragbikel record of 8.97. If someone would have told me three years ago I would run an eight second time. I would have told them no way. A motorcycle with a rider prone on it is wone aerodynamically than a pickup truck with a camper. But that's howJ~.it'~ge(~i~g., •, ,., Tell 'em you saw it in Road Racing.lR!dallsts Cycle News Large stock of Michelin road race tires • also Metzeler & Dunlop ~ TlRESAU: .... ISDTTIns " I Now A""'" ..1.'1•. 3.25 x 21 MX Wrep Around . 3.00 x 21 S9-A MX Ft'ont 16 3.50 x 18 59 MX 20.16. 4.00 x 18 51. MX 27.!15 . 4.25 x 18 S25 Rim Sever 29.96 @ 4.25 x 18 S28 MX Spl. 32.96 ~ 35.96 ~ • 4.75 x 18 S25B I$OT Spa. 4.75 x 18' S28 MX Spl. 35.96 : . '. . 5.50 x 17 C9 MX Spl. 31.96; ; 4.00 x 18 S22 Polo lTrilllsl 1•.96 . Heavy duty ,ed rubber tubes 4.96 1 Plus Fed. Tax & Postage . : Shipped anywhere UPS daily. COD I • ¥ if': Williamson Sports Motors Mill Hall. PA 17751 717/726-4921 Send $1.00 fo, Catalog Deale, Inquiries Welcome en._sh8ft Rebulldlnc • Portinc The Formula One truck w~1 be at selected WERA & AMA Road F1aces with Cam 2 racing fuel for sale. P.O. Box 28040 TZ V........ puts In stock. * Fairings Tail sections Aluminum swingarms Drilled discs Smooth bores St. Louis. MO 63119 314/982..c467 Braided steel brake lines • Riding ·_ing • Street GLOVES Deeler Inquiries Invited 29....