NHDRO motorcycle drag racing series race report

Pro Street Record Shattered at NHDRO Finale

Words and photos by Tim Hailey

The weekend was already going to be big enough with race winners and crowned champions. Then NHDRO’s Fall Fury Finale got upsized by adding the conclusion of August’s rained out Summer Celebration. The Midwest’s last big motorcycle drag event of the year was definitely going to be huge, but no one could have guessed how big the news coming out of Lucas Oil Raceway near Indianapolis on September 26-28 would be.

The news-making started right away on Friday evening. With the scoreboards off for Friday’s hand-clutch Shootout, Jeremy Teasley made a shakedown pass on the John Drake-owned, Rodney Williford-tuned, fluorescent “No Fear” turbocharged Pro Street Suzuki Hayabusa. It looked like a good 60 foot, but then the bike picked the wheel up and drifted left towards center. It seemed hopelessly out of the groove but Teasley kept the throttle twisted. No times on the boards, so everybody drifted away and bikes kept coming for test n’ tune.

A buzz started to spread through the crowd, and then online. Teasley and “No Fear” had run the sport’s first ever 6.80 pass on a street tire—and deep too, at 6.86.

But that was testing in the cool of night and unofficial. How would the bike respond in the heat of day when it counted for McIntosh Machine & Fabrication Pro Street qualifying? Even better. Williford left the tune-up the same (expecting a .90) and the bike ran even quicker—a 6.843 that would get backed up and stand for the new record.

Bud Yoder ran a good-looking 7.04 in that round, good enough for second and stunningly 2/10ths off the pace. And that’s the way it would go through the rest of the weekend, with Teasley sweeping the rain-delayed August win, the Fall Finals win, and the Pro Street championship. Frankie Stotz made it interesting on Sunday, busting deep into the 6s with a .91 in the semis. But he and August runner-up Doug Gall would have to settle for second place. Friday was Teasley’s birthday and this was his weekend.

In an ironic twist, NHDRO tech director Joe Marasco thoroughly tore both Tealsey and Stotz’s bikes down at the end of the event. Known for his own creative interpretations of the rules of racing, Marasco laid a sharp eye on both machines and found them legit