Eric McKinney and Procopio

Manufacturers Cup Pro Nitrous Quarter Mile Shootout at Valdosta, Georgia

McKinney Rotates the Earth

Words and photos by Tim Hailey

When a group of the finest manufacturers and service providers in the Pro Modified motorcycle racing industry set up the Pro Nitrous Quarter Mile Shootout at the Haltech Manufacturers Cup race at South Georgia Motorsports Park, no one really knew what kind of times the wildly popular nitrous dragbikes would run. When the ADRL took aver the class a few years ago, riders were stuck clicking off their bikes at that organization’s eighth-mile finish line.

Brand new ADRL champ and Driver of the Year Eric McKinney was the U.S. quarter-mile record holder with a 6.55 at 202 mph and Arabian Drag Racing League record-holder Terry Schweigert won AMA Dragbike’s last quarter mile Pro Mod race at Atlanta Dragway -- but that was all years ago.

So everyone wondered who would still know how to tune for the quarter mile, and who had the nerve to keep the throttle twisted all the way through the lights?

With a Big Dollar purse and big contingencies on the line, everyone would surely be pushing their old Suzuki GS motors to the limits. At the end of a stressful season, would these well-used cases even hold up? Well, hold up they did. It’s doubtful that even the most optimistic expected as clean of an event as was seen in Valdosta.

After setting the pace with a 6.46 in test & tune, McKinney struggled with tire issues in qualifying.