Marion and Kathy Owens

At Marion’s home, as the greats of Harley Davidson Top Fuel racing discussed go-fast ideas, their wives cooked together and their children played together. Something greater than just racing became the sum of all this. They were becoming family in the truest sense of what family is (or should be) all about.

While the children played, the wives supported the men who were all on a common mission: advancing Harley Davidson Nitromethane-powered Top Fuel bikes. The women all shared in that their men were obsessed with their fuel bikes, but supporting their husbands was what they did. They stepped up to free the men so they could do what they needed to do.

By sharing his knowledge of Nitromethane and how V-Twin motors behaved when fed with nitro, Marion strongly advanced the career of two of the greatest Top Fuel motorcycle racing legends of the sport. In today’s world of motorcycle drag racing we are all richer for this, for what they gave to one another.

Elmer Trett went on to become the fastest man on two wheels more often than not, for the next decade and a half. Pete Hill became the inspiration for countless Top Fuel Harley racers over the next fifteen years. His knowledge, which he gives freely, continues to this very day. Marion Owens, who is a Top Fuel motorcycle drag racing legend in his own right, not only won many championships in his day, but there really is no telling how many other championships he’s helped other racers win by the sharing of his knowledge.

Today, some thirty-five years after this Thanksgiving gathering, we can all be thankful for their exchanges. There are now hundreds if not a few thousand nitro Harley’s world-wide that thrill race fans from Australia to Japan, from Sweden to Germany. Every one of these machines is a result of shared knowledge from racer to racer, from family to family, and a whole lot of hard work.

Their shared struggles have become our universal triumphs; this we now all share in and we should all be grateful for.

Happy Thanksgiving. Share what you can with one another.