While well known for his NHRA Pro Stock motorcycle competition days, Rick is best known by the old-timers of motorcycle drag racing for his total dominance of NMRA Pro Comp racing with this motorcycle, "Suzi."  (Tom McCarthy photo)

While some know Rick for his NHRS P/S bike accomplishments, it was his dominance of the NMRA class of Pro Comp (P/C) that has forever engraved Rick Stetson’s name in motorcycle drag racing’s history books. When Rick brought home a brand new Suziki GS1100EX in October of 1980 and began hot rodding the bike, little did he know that he was creating a monster that would be both feared and revered by National Motorcycle Racing Association (NMRA) racers for the next three years in a row.

Rick’s black and red Suzuki GS1100, named “Suzi,” in 1981, her first full season on competition, in three out of five NMRA national events entered went undefeated round for round. In 1982, in six NMRA national events entered: same story. That was 72 consecutive rounds of racing without a loss in professional motorcycle drag racing during these two seasons. That win streak extended into 1983 and was halted by Bobby Spina of New York. Bobby’s nitro injected fuel Harley was a solid machine in P/C and while he did win a race from Rick, Suzi won the war by once again winning the #1 plate.

When Rick won the NHRA Gators in 1986, he was on Suzi in her NHRA P/S bike trim that fit the rules for the era at that time. There’s never been another bike like her since he created her and some forty years later in 2016, Rick still races Suzi and continues to terrorize his opponents with her. An 8.36 elapsed time at around 160 MPH is about average for Suzi today, same as it was for her around 1983/84.