Peter Svensson is the last racer to become a member of the MTC 5-Second Club.  (Tom McCarthy photo)

Five Seconds to History: Will the MANCUP season opener yield results?

Words by Tom McCarthy
Photos by Tom McCarthy and Rose Hughes

On April 13, 2014, when the Manufacturers Cup racing series, now dubbed MANCUP racing, has its season opener at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Adel, Georgia, all eyes will once again be on the Top Fuel bikes as history beckons. There is one final slot remaining in the official MTC 5-Second Club and three specific T/F bike teams will have a great shot at it. Fans and racers alike are already in a buzz over who will take the remaining spot within the elite-eight who’ve first entered the sub-six-second zone in sanctioned motorcycle drag racing as recognized by the award sponsor MTC Engineering of Cocoa, Florida.

A bit of history is in order here for racers and fans to grasp what’s at stake. In 1994 Ken Tipton, one of the original owners and founders of MTC Corp, a staunch supporter of T/F motorcycles, asked Keith “Scooter” Kizer, then president of AMA/PROSTAR, to initiate the club when they realized that Elmer Trett was likely to break into the five-second elapsed time zone. The two laid out the criteria for entry into the prestigious MTC 5 Second Club: “To qualify as an MTC 5-second club member, the run must be made during a qualifying or elimination pass during an AMA/PROSTAR national event.”

Since the sanction AMA/PROSTAR is no longer in existence, the current owner of MTC, Eric Hochstetler, graciously has decided carry on the official MTC 5 Second Club by adopting the Manufacturers’ Cup racing series in place of the now defunct AMA/PROSTAR sanction.

In 1994 when the MTC 5 Second Club was initiated, the company not only laid down the criteria for entry into the official club, but they stated that they would recognize and award seats to the first eight racers to meet the entry criteria. MTC Engineering will pay out a total of $4,500 in money to eight 5-second club members. 

The current members are: Larry McBride (2001), Jimmy Brantley (2005), Tom Perry (2008), Korry Hogan (2008), Geoff Pollard (2009), Chris Hand (2013), and Peter Svensson (2013). With seven seats taken at the table, who will fill the final slot?