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/1484151
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 46 NOVEMBER 15, 2022 P109 one might wonder why the Top Fuel Suzuki was such a big step. Vance just laughed when asked. "Comparing that twin-engine Honda to the Suzuki Top Fuel bike is like comparing a lamb to a lion," Vance said. "It was so radi- cally different it was hard to wrap my mind around it. It felt like you were going into warp speed. "The Fuel bike would shake the [rear] tire so bad you couldn't see the track, everything became blurry," Vance remembers. "You'd get to the middle part of the track and the front wheel would be off the ground and you'd just be on the wheelie bar on the rear wheel, and you'd think, 'Man, I'm really haulin' ass.' When the [rear] tire would quit shaking and go round everything would become crystal clear and you could look over the bar and use it as your sight gauge. It was almost like a camera going out of focus then coming into focus. You'd know when you were on a really good run by how soon that clearness would come to your vision." All this building and testing coin- cided with Terry and Byron making the decision to leave RC Engineer- ing and branch out on their own to start Vance & Hines, so there were a lot of things going on. On top of that, Hines was trying some newer concepts on the Fueler, including a fixed rear axle and a wing on the back. The unex- pected result was a bike that wouldn't go straight down the track. It took a year of testing, modifying and retesting before the boys had a bike that they felt confidently would make it to the end of the quarter mile without hitting the wall. The key was getting the shape, weight and width of the Tracy bodywork right, to allow the aerodynamics to guide the bike straight down the center of the drag lane. Hines also modified the fixed axle to be adjustable so the bike would steer better. In 1980, Suzuki came out with its GS1100 and the team switched to that engine with its four-valve heads. The bike was constantly losing cranks because of the weakness of the aluminum engine cases. Suzuki delivered the answer with cast iron cases. "They [iron cases] were 45 pounds heavier than what we had before," Hines recalled. "But they were bulletproof, so in late 1980 or early '81 we began using them." After Russ Collins set the top- speed bar in 1978 with his run of 199.55mph, the Holy Grail of Top Fuel motorcycle racing in the early 1980s was breaking the 200-mph barrier and getting into the six-second elapsed time. All the big names were trying to get there, including living legends like Russ Collins, Elmer Trett and Bo O'Brochta to name a few. Vance, on the Vance & Hines Suzuki Top Fueler, became the first to reach the marks, but it was not without controversy. It hap- pened on a Wednesday night, on August 4, 1982, at Orange County International Raceway. While test- ing, Vance had an awesome run and tripped the lights with a pass at 6.98 seconds at 203.61 mph. They accomplished the feat even though the crankshaft broke dur- ing the pass. The controversy was whether the run should have even been considered as legitimate. It didn't happen during a national event, but at a regular weekly Orange County Wednesday Drag Meet, which primarily drew locals to drag race their street machines. The locals would occasionally get a big treat when some of the Top Fuel teams would show up and SUZUKI'S BEAST Drag racing's winning duo, Terry Vance (left) and Byron Hines. PHOTO: NHRA