Larry “Spiderman” McBride

Larry McBride of Newport News, VA, has recorded more five-second runs under his helmet than all other drag bike racers combined. Larry piloted the first Top Fuel bike into the fives on October 31, 1999, at an NHRA racing event in Houston, Texas. In recent years, Larry and his team have become so deft at running in the five’s, that when he does post a six-second elapsed time, it’s because something went wrong on a pass. Larry has been as quick as a 5.74 elapsed time on his “Old Blue” machine, soon to be retired.

When asked what it takes to run in the fives Larry replied, “First you have to have a love of the sport. You have got to be willing to do whatever it takes to learn your job and commit to doing it right. After that, having the right crew, surrounding yourself with the right people is number one. That and keeping a level head.”

Considering a TF bike pilot is going to straddle a motorcycle that generates around 1200 horsepower and can go from zero to 200 mph in close to 3.8 seconds, yes, competent team work is vital not only to performance but for survival. These inline four cylinder bikes generally are close to 1600 cc’s in displacement, and depending on the combination, they consume over four gallons of nitromethane during a run. At sixteen gallons per mile, you can see Top Fuel bike racing is not for the faint of heart, nor for the weak of wallet. As Don Prudhomme once spoke of fuel racing, “Bring money, lot’s of money.”

A quick call to Race Visions Reborn, one of the most respected names in Top Fuel bike chassis building in the world reveals that a rolling chassis, if ordered today would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $15,000. Larry McBride and his brother Stevie are just finishing up building their latest machine to replace Old Blue and the finished price tag on the new bike is in excess of $100,000 dollars just to build the bike.

The Svensson brothers proved you don’t have to spend huge bucks to build a bike.

Does it really take a six-figure output to create a five-second TF bike? NO, it does not. The Svensson brothers from Sweden have the quickest Top Fuel bike on the planet with a 5.70 pass recorded in 2012 and they built the bike themselves with some expertise and help from friends of course, but essentially their TF bike was created by their own hands. All of it, the entire motorcycle from the MIG welded chassis to the hand made crank and camshafts. Talent and dedication to purpose baby, the quickest TF motorcycle on the planet is home grown.