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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126929
Although he lost to Elmer Trett in the final. Mark Miller turned in a record 6.989-second run at Bristol. He backed it up with a 7.017 run.
DragbiJ(eLUSA-'HRA Fallnationals
First-ever six-second
run logged by Miller
By Tom loughlin
BRISTOL. TN, SE.PT. 20-21
Motorcycle dra'g racing took a quantum leap
into the future of speed as a large field of 18
Top Fuelers and Funny Bikes battled to
qualify into and conquer a select eight-bike
field at the Dragbike/U A
IHRA TV 5 Fallnational .
The historic Bristol International Dragway strip was in
20
perfc t condjtion for the meeting
with high traction throughout th
I320-foot acceleration surface.
Qualifying on Saturday was shortened to two sessions by rain. A third
session wa readied at3 a.m.-right.
3 a.m. Sunday morning. but due to
slight dampness on the 'hutdown
area of the tra('k both the Funny GIl'
and Top Fuel hi ke sessions were ('anceled.
It was during lhe very first round of
qualifying that Mark Miller of Kissimme, Florida, on the Brunson-MillerLundquist Kawasaki, tuned by Bjll
Hahn, set the motorcycle drag world
on its ear with the first six-second run
ever recorded. It was a 6.989 at 186.33
mph and everybody went bananas.
The previous record of 7. I7 had been
set at Maple .Grove Raceway twO
years ago by Elmer Trell.
Immediately a cry went up about a
"jump start" but the IHRA starter.
who had caught a jump tart at the
prior Bristol e\'ent disallowed any
conjecLUreand declared a perfe t sian
and legal run.
Mi Iler's tower react ion time (the
amount of time between the green
light and the bike' departure from
the line) was a positive number. indicating a clean leave.
Unlike many events. the event was
supervised in the timing tower by
Chrondek factory repn>sentative Fred
~1arkwa1Ler who WClS operating a
brand new set of freshlv enified
clock. The run was on th~ level and
the clocks were square.
So. the ,:un was good. the time was
for real, and then the question was
could Miller back it up. Many times
new feats of speed in motorcycle drag
racingareclouded in their validity by
the lack of a backup run or by noncerti fied clocks. Miller was onc-u p on
these other feats alreadv, but now the
task was sel. A 6.989 CQuid be backed
up (proven legal) with Mil1('1' runninga second pass within one-percent
of thaI. That meant the turbo Kawasaki would have to run a 7.058 to put
Miller in the re ord book.
Miller did it! Round one of elimi-
nations took place at2 p.m. on unday and he was re;ldy. His opponent
was John Sands. a respeCled veteran
Honda I ider from Columhia, outh
Carolina. on a fuel injeaed nitro
burner. On the flash of the green,
Millercut a superb light. Lakingonly
.196 seconds aILer the green to gel
underway. AILeI' th;1l superb launch,
Miller cruised toa IX'uer-than-needed
7.017 at 185.75 10 lOp Sands'
7.73/ I67.8.
The mark was set, the hooks closed
on it and onlv the smaller malleI' of
dt'feating Ihe' toughest field in the
h iSlOry of motorcycle drag racing lay
ahead. The eight-hike field was set
with the hump spo!. the slowest time
qualifil'd for Ihe l'\Tnl. was an amaling 7.8:;;11 171.~2 by St Louis barrister Jim Van Dillen on his Kawasaki.
The field was lOpped by a LUrbo
(Miller's) and on isted of three
uper-n itro Kawasakis, one supercharged SU7.llki, one nitro Honda,
one turbo uzuki, and two turbo
Kawasakis.
The fir t pa s. Miller over ands,
having alre'ady been desrribed, the
second quarter-final pilled Chris
Hand's Redneck Expres uper-nitro
Kawasaki, that had qualified seventh,
against the number three qualified
Mr. Turbo Suzuki ridden by T.].
Hofmeister. Hand pulled hjs patented
gate job and achieved the ali-important starting line advantage over
Hofmeister. but Hofm ister turned
up the juice in the mid-range and
cruised on 10 a superb 7.208/171.75
win over Hand's 7.84/138.88.
Moving- over to the other half of the
Eliminator ladder (we'll call il the
"Trell half" for reasons to be disclosed later), ElmerTrell matched up
ag-ainst the world's loudest fuel drag
bike, Lan\' McBride's nitro Suzuki.
McBride iot the start line jump on
Trell. but the big Kawasaki outmotored the Suzuki. Trell's winning
speed was the fastest of the meet at
198.67 which was necessary to outdistance McBride. Trelt's 7.26 topped
McBride's 7.62/175.78.
Wrapping up the first round. Bob
Malloy cruised to the win with a solo
7.9 I/149 after number eight qualifier
Jim Van Dillen [ailed to fire due to a
sheared slarter boll.
In round two. the Miller Kawasaki
out ran Hand. 7. I 1/182.5510 9.00/96.
Then Trelt faced and beat Malloy as
Malloy redlighled with a 7.67/186.72.
Trell ran a 7.42/193.13.
It doesn't g-et any better than this;
the new record holder vs. the low ET
holder v'. the top speed-seuer 6.98 vs.
198 mph, Supercharged vs. turbocharged. Veteran v . s ond year man.
Nitro vs. alky.
"'hen it came time for the run.
Miller experienced trouble slaging
the turbo Kaw