Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

INTERVIEW By Kevin Mc Kenna Photos by Mike Basso I f not for one broken transmission , two red-light starts, and one especially embarrassing case of brain fade, Matt Hines might -have accomp lish ed a feat man y h ad pre viou s ly thoug ht impossib le: posting a pe rfect season in NHRA Pro Stock Bike competition . Hines d id win his second consecuti ve Winston title by an overw helming ma rgin, bu t when he looks back at his yea r, he's just as likely to remember the four losses as he is the 53 rou nd wins. "T here is definitel v room fo r improvement," said Hines: w ho rod e his Van ce & Hines Eagle One Suz uki to 10 Na tio nal even t wi ns , and a sweep of N H RA 's two s pecia lty r a ce s, th e $10,000-to-win Winston Invi tational in Rockingham, North Ca ro lina , a nd th e elite, eight-bike NHRA Pro Bike Dash in In d ian ap o li s, a w in wo r th $15 ,000. Hines also held the elapsed-time reco rd for the entire season, with a 7.24 blas t at the Mac Tools Ga tornationals in March, and nearlv became th e first Pro Stock Bike rid ei to go over 190 mph wit h a 189.27 run at the s~ason-ending Winston NHRA Pro Stock Bike Champion Matt Hines Fina ls in Pomona. "I' m proud of what we accomp lished , but I also ma de a few mistakes that cos t us some races . My bike was awesome from the start of the season, and eve rything went ou r wa y. At times, I was surprised at how littl e pressure I felt , but I think that wa s because we started the year so smoothIy." Though Hines was never seri ously cha lle nged in his ba ttleto re tain th e cha mpions hip he wo n in 1997, he does a llow that - men tall y - defendi ng the title was more draining than winning it the first time. "When I was trying to win my first championship in 1997, I knew exactly what I had to d o," Hines said. "In my rookie seaso n (1996), we spent the entire season chasin g Dave Schultz a nd John Myers. Once we go t to the point where we cou ld run with Schultz and Myers, we knew we'd be in a position to contend for th e cha m pions hip, which we d id last yea r. This season was diffe ren t, though. We came in to the year and we hon es tly didn' t kn ow w ha t to expect. We knew where we we re wit h our program, but we didn't kn ow a bo u t the people who were chasi ng us. We neve r knew w hen someone was going to step up and outrun us . Tha t feeling was a little hard to get used to." Wit h the improved pe rformances of Angelle Seeling and John Smith, and the onslau ght o f rookies such as Antron Brown and Tony Mullen, Hines knew he couldn' t afford to sleepwalk through the earl y part of the season like he did in 1997, and he di dn' t. The Vance & Hines team d ebuted the Eag le O ne colors on their Suzuki GSX-R at the season-o pening Mac Tools Gato rna tionals and wasted no time setting the N HRA elapsed time record with a 7.24 blast. When the Gatornationals was rain-delayed for one week, some teams wen t to the beach or to Disney World, but Hines, his father, a nd crew m emb er Jo e Va nderbri n k load ed up and head ed for a mid-week test session a t DeSot o Mem orial Dragw ay in Bradenton , where th ey ripped off a n amaz ing 7.18 e la pse d tim e. Thou gh the run was unofficial, it sent a message to the rest of the Pro Stock Bike field that they were in for a long season. "We spent so much time working on our cus to mers' eng ines last win ter that we di d very litt le d evelopment on our own engine progr am ," Hines said. "We En route to his second consecut ive NHRA Pro Stock Bike title, Vance & Hines tea m rider Matt Hines put together the type of yea r that most riders can only dream about. also spent a lot of time try ing to finish our new shop in Colorado, bu t I s till believed we co ul d run 7.2s anywhe re the air and the track we re goo d. The 7.18 su rp rised me, but th e co nd itions th at day were p heno me nal. " As was H in es ' performa nce in the ea r ly part of th e season. He won the Ga tornationals with a convi ncing fina lro u n d win over engi ne builder Pa ul Gas t a nd wen t o n to wi n th e Fram Na tionals in Atla nta, and the Pennzoil Na tiona ls in Richmond a fe w w eeks later. In between, Hines ran the tab le at the special non -points Win st on Invitation al, N HRA's all-sta r ev ent in Rocking ha m. Th er e, Hines stopped Ange lle Seeling's Team Wins ton bike in the final to earn the $10,000 firs t-place check. " H e ' s been thin ki ng abou t th at $10,000 all win ter," Hin es' fathe r, Byr on, sai d . "T hat's a ll h e talked abo u t for w eeks."

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