CN
III ARCHIVES
BY SCOTT ROUSSEAU
T
oday, NHRA drag racing
fans marvel at the sight of
low seven-second, high 190-
mph Pro Stock motorcycles
blasting through the quarter
mile. And the truth is, although
the skill required to guide
these machines down the track
is debatable, the machines
themselves are extremely safe
designs brought out through
years of drag racing evolution.
It wasn't so long ago that sev-
en seconds in the quarter mile
on a motorcycle was more akin
to breaking the sound barrier
P
126
tion track record for a Japanese
motorcycle and was winning
races on his R.C. Engineering-
built Hondas at a time when
Triumph and Harley-Davidson
dominated the sport.
Collins' reputation for pushing
the limits of technology led to the
first successful blown-injected-
on-fuel drag bike. Built in 1971,
"The Assassin" weighed a mere
360 pounds and was powered
by a 400 horsepower Honda
in a jet aircraft, a life-threatening
endeavor left to courageous
pioneers whose greatest skill
may have been their ability to
overcome the fear of the un-
known. Russ Collins was one
such pioneer.
Collins began drag racing mo-
torcycles in the late 1950s. By
the mid-'60s, he was an author-
ity on high-performance motor-
cycle engines, and he designed
the first four-into-one motorcycle
exhaust header.
Collins went on to set the first-
ever National Hot Rod Associa-
Russ Collins was a true pioneer
in motorcycle drag racing.
RUSS COLLINS:
COLLINS' CRAZY
CREATIONS
