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| NHRA Top Fuel Motorcycle racer Bo O'Brochta
won the season championship in 1980, highlighted by a record-breaking
7.08 at the NHRA Winston Finals/Supernationals at Ontario Motor
Speedway. (Tom Schiltz photo) |
Back in the late 1950s, early 1960s, driving a fuel motorcycle, a Top
Fuel motorcycle if you will, was a cut and dried affair. The rider twisted
the throttle and hung on for dear life as his charging, tire-smoking "lay
down" bike (butt over the rear tire, upper torso stretched the length
of the machine) snowballed to 140- to 150-mph times.
The current fuel bike does not explode off the line, although its launches
are always eye-catching. The front wheel hikes up at the hit of the
throttle and by the 330-foot mark, it's in full flight and that's no
metaphor, either. The front wheel dances over the asphalt surface to
the half- to three-quarter mark. All the while the rider is hanging
on, now and then shifting his weight and position on the bike to keep
from laying it down or getting blown off the top of it. With his chin
at the breeze at speeds in the 220- to 240-mph range, there are few
fans who would not acknowledge that the Top Fuel motorcycle is today's
(and yesterday's for that matter) "balls" ride.
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