Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

III By Scon ROUSSEAU Sixes? Vance Knows Sixes t's understandable that Terry Vance would be some different things on it that were kind of new to the the burnout on a fuel bike, it's not a deal where you just excited about the fact that his team rider Andrew class. It had a fixed rear axle and a wing on it, some stuff go wide-open throttle. You roll the throttle on, and it Hines, son of Vance's partner and legendary tuner that made it a challenge." starts to spin the tire and then you only roll the throttle Byron Hines, became the first rider in NHRA Pro For all its exposure, the Top Fuel class itself was still a to a certain point and shut the throttle off. When I did it Stock Motorcycle history to make a six-second primitive, black art of a thing, where even the best tuners this time, it just kept taking as much throttle as I would pass. The historic run came on March 18, 2005, in like Hines struggled to make the beastly, IOOO-plus horse- give it, and the motor revved up really good. I was like, 'This thing is ready to rock.' Gainesville, Florida. power, nitro-belching machines put up repeatable num"Then they pushed me back from the burnout, and I "It was pretty astonishing," Vance says. "I don't think bers. Each pass was an experiment and an adventure. people really appreciate how fast those Pro Stock bikes did the short hop, and I realized that it was right:' Vance "We had a flow blench, and we would try to match really are. And they are way safer than a Fueler. There is the fuel curves up with what we thought was happening continues. "I lit the last staging beam, and I left full throtno comparison. on the track," Vance says. '1>,t that time, having a flow tle. It went out about 20 feet and shook the tire a little, "When I went into the sixes," Vance says, "I thought I bench was like having a computer. The Pro Stock bikes and everything got a bit blurry - then all of a sudden it of today are engineering marvels compared to the Top was just crystal clear. The thing got up on the wheelie saw God." Indeed, Vance knows the feeling. He was the first man bar through the first shift point and held it there for like Fuel bikes of the '80s. Those things were just raw. You into the sevens on a Pro Stock bike, but he was also the were just trying to pour a lot of fuel into something with 700 or 800 feet, and the front wheel never slammed first man into the sixes on a motorcycle period, though a supercharger, and they were inefficient. Larry McBride down. It was like it [the bike] just barely floated off the you'd have to go back over 20 years to Vance & Hines' has proven that today where, with the same kind of wheelie bar, and when I went through the finish line, it formative days, when the duo added a nitro-burning setup, he is going in deep in the fives at 245 mph. That is was perfectly straight." Suzuki to their stable of Pro Stock bikes and did battle just unbelievably fast." Vance stopped the clocks with an incredible time of with the kings of the class, such as Elmer Trett, Jim Vance and Hines persevered in the class, winning the 6.98 seconds at 203.61 mph - the first six ever recorded Bernard and Bo O'Brochta. 1981 U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis and also earning the in the quarter mile by a motorcycle. "When I shut the thing off, I thought, 'That's the Top Fuel commanded center stage in motorcycle drag NMRA Top Fuel-class championship. Despite their sucracing back then. The Pro Stock class was in its infancy, cess, Vance says he saw the handwriting on the wall. fastest I have ever gone:" Vance said. "Sure enough, the guys came down the return effectively born prematurely at the NHRA level, in 1977. road honking the horn and "In '77 we ran the first Pro flashing the lights and all that stuff. It was a pretty cool time. Stock class the NHRA ever had," Vance says. "They just It's just too bad that we didn't invited the NMRA [National do it at a National event so that it would be more official, Motorcycle Racing Association] but we knew what we did." guys over to Englishtown [New National event or not, Jersey], and we won that Vance's pass was like the shot event. It was a really good heard 'round the world. Entire thing because the NHRA got magazine features were writto see the bikes, and people liked them. But I remember ten about that one pass, and that we got down to the winbeing the first man in the sixes ners' circle ceremony, and they is something that the drag rac[NHRA] looked at us like, ing world still credits him for. 'What are you here for?' We "I think they do, but Elmer said, 'We won the motorcycle Trett was actually the first guy class.' So they gave us Don to go into the sixes at an Garlits' Top Fuel trophy and NHRA National event, and I Best known for his efforts as a legendary champion and promoter of NHRA Pro Stock said, 'Here, hold this.' They Motorcycle competition, Terry Vance piloted this hairy Top Fueler to motorcycling's first think he deserves credit for that," Vance says. took my picture and said, six-second quarter-mile pass, at Orange County International Raceway on August 28, 1982. 'Now, beat it!' [Laughs.)" "That run I made was "It was just too darn dangerous," Vance admits. "From There was no telling if Pro Stock would survive, let mind-boggling, but the fact is that we went to Indy the alone flourish into the top-tier, professional NHRA 1000 feet out until the finish line, that thing was trying to following weekend and had all kinds of problems," Vance find its own home, and that'.s a scary thing when you're says. "We were blowing motors up left and right, and we Championship division that it is today. So, Vance and Hines decided to build a Top Fueler. going that fast. I just told Byron, 'Look, that's not me. If only went 7.05 at 198 mph. It was costing Byron a lot of "There wasn't really any big exposure for the Pro Stock you want to get someone else to ride it, that's fine.' I felt time, and it was just a ton of work. The payoff just wasbikes like there was for the Top Fuel bikes:' Vance says. that it had its own limiting factors because it was going to n't there. At that point for us it really was about expand'1\Iso, Suzuki thought it was a great idea because they get to a point where it got so fast that people would get ing the Pro Stock class because we knew that was the hurt or wouldn't be able to do it competitively." future for us and for NHRA." wanted to have the exposure of the biggest, baddest bike. We wanted to get exposure for our company and for Vance's prophecy pretty much came true during a Vance and Hines parked the Top Fueler at the end of Suzuki, and if you could do well in Top Fuel, you could get test-and-tune event on a Wednesday night at Orange the 1983 season and focused full time on Pro Stock, a County International Raceway in Irvine, California, on class which has flourished under the NHR.A:s banner and way more exposure than you could with a Pro Stock bike." Vance & Hines' spiritual gUidance. It was the right move. Typical of Hines, the new machine bristled with more August 28, 1982. "I can think about that run in my mind and remember than a few of his own trend-setting innovations. As for the Top Fuel bike, it was parked and later sold "We actually started working on our Top Fuel bike exactly what happened," Vance says. "Like I said, the to current king of Top Fuel motorcycle Larry "Spiderman" McBride, who still owns the machine and while we were still at RC Engineering, and then when we bike would always try to find its own way to the finish says he plans to restore it to its original glory someday. decided to do our own thing, we got it done," Vance line, and that was kind of scary. But on this particular run, "I'd kind of like to see that:' Vance reflects nostalgirecalls. "It wasn't very competitive at the beginning. We when it came out of the water, I remember thinking to myself, 'This thing is running really good.' When you do cally. '1>,ctually, I'd kind of like to get it back." eN had a hard time just getting it down the track. It had I 82 APRil 6, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS

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