Cycle News

~ " ~ N '" .... en Lions: The Straight and Narrow '" ~ W Z W ..J U > U Keep that front wheel down. There was a drill ream. By Keith Arnold Once. a year at Lions Drag Strip, thank God, there is a combination Class and Eliminator race. This is an annual event that is long-awaited by all the street bike clubs in Southern California. The reason is that, for the most part, anything goes. The first half of the day is a bring-what-you-have-and-race-it kind of affmr. These people did just that. There was everything from super fancy choppers to the 106 inch fuel Harley of Sonny Raslowski. There were about 215 bikes that would fit somewhere in between these. LIONS DRAG STRIP Wilmington, Calif. July 2 1972 By KeIth Arnold COMPETITION ELIMINATOR WINNER Dennis Fryer RUNNER UP Bill Bernard RUNNER UP Jim Bernard CLASS I Russ Colins CLASS 2 Dennis Fryer RUNNER UP Rick Tyler CLASS 3 George Hurteau RUNNER UP Carl Morrow CLASS 4 Tom Gorman RUNNER UP Dave Bettger Lofting the front end on a 74 dresser. SPEEDWEEK DEADLINE Mail-in entries for "The Fastest Week On Earth" will be closing on July 15. After that date all entries will be considered post entries and must ne charged ac,cordingly. This is the word coming down from the meet referee Earl Flanders. "The AMA and FIM link-up and sanctioning of the ultimate land speed record is a virtual certain ty for this coming speedweek." said Flanders. "Entries are running about 25% higher than any year before and it seems apparent that there will be at least six streamliners going after big numbers." The dates for this years speedweek are Aug. 20-26 and the one entry covers all the days of racing. If you would like any further information call or write Earl Flanders, Bonneville Nationals, P. O. Box 22970, Pasadena, Cal. 91105 or phone (213) 682-2581. CLASS 6 Don Monln STREET ELIMINATOR WINNER Terry Vance Altered Honda 4 Altered Honda 4 Modified Honda 4 Modfied Honda 4 Honda 4 Honda 4 H-Q Suz H-D Kaw Sux H..Q 10.92-79.27 11.98-101.98 11.41-102.72 11.18-114.35 To start the day off, there was enough time for everyone to get his or her bike dialed in for classes. Then followed the wild and woolly barely-in-control-but-fun class racing for trophies. In drag racing, as compared to MX and AMA style racing, the classes are determined by elapsed time, not size of motor. This can result in some very funny races. One such race involved the lady from Bakersfield, Millie Gorman. To run in her class, she had to race the big Hondas, Harleys and everything in between. The fact that she was on a 350cc three-banger Kawasaki only made the losers feel a little worse. Eventually she took second. Class racing was fun but trophies aren't money, so later in the day racing was devoted to the NHRA Street Legal and Street Modified for the Street Eliminator; the other altered and higher bikes went to the Competition Eliminator. With $400 bucks on the line, there was a lot of tight racing. Taking the street category would mean you go home $75 richer. Lions regular Terry Vance made the big effort to take this home among other prizes. The hot bikes were up next and, it was all through the day, Honda was out for bear. (Would you believe Harley?) Dennis Fryer rode his altered Honda 4 to an easy victory over the second of the Bernard brothers and he even shut off very early. In the ligh ts Fryer had the win with a 10.92 and 79.27 mph due to his early shut off. Bill took the second spot with 11.98. The day had many surprises in store as everything from soup to nuts showed. There was everything the biker could desire. One of the most unusual events was a Volkswagen that showed up to make some .try out runs. The day was all bikes, however. This didn't stop the Stutts beetle as they offered S25 to any bike that could beat him. This was the key to the gate, and it proved to be an expensive one. Terry Vance,Jim Bernard and one other raced and beat the bug. Unfortunately, the car broke before he could lose his shirt, tow cart and race car in the bargain. Always notable is the presence of a ;:'::--::::---::==;;;;;;:;;::-:-'"'ThTte Killer Glide? Top Fuel bike. At this race, Sonny Raslowski brough t his big incher au t for some checkout passes. This would normally mean .ten or eleven second passes. However, Sonny is defin tely not normal. Sonny posted several nine seconds and 165 mph runs just getting it righ t. There were even some serious dragster. •

• Cover