Return to Press Release Archive

Bret Kepner Reports From The Gypsy Rendezvous Nationals - St. Louis

Words and Photos by Bret Kepner

Created in 1979, the All-Harley Drag Racing Association consolidated the many fractured groups of Harley drag racers throughout the nation to become not only host to the premier competitors but the main liaison between the sport and the Harley-Davidson industry.

Working equally with the H-D home office, local dealerships and clubs, the AHDRA event program also includes major charities.

Such was the case at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Illinois, at which the AHDRA produced the Gypsy Rendezvous Nationals in conjunction with Surdyke Harley-Davidson in Festus, Missouri, Gateway To The West Harley-Davidson in St. Louis, Missouri and Dale's Harley Davidson in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, with proceeds from the renowned Gypsy Rendezvous armed services fundraiser going to the James S. McDonnell USO Club located at Lambert International Airport in St. Louis.

Producing a fourteen-event schedule that includes races from Seattle to Gainesville and from Iowa to Texas, AHDRA National Events include a staggering sixteen different eliminators of which all but one is run in a heads-up format.

While the lure of the AHDRA for competitors is its diversity and accommodation of every conceivable type of Harley-Davidson, the draw for fans is the largest nitromethane-burning show in two-wheeled drag racing.

Three different categories allow nitro in three very unusual applications. The Top Fuel division is wide open with only a 200-cubic inch displacement maximum as a restriction.

Interestingly, superchargers are allowed, but very few competitors have ever gotten the HD powerplants to survive with them; virtually all Top Fuel racers use only mechanical fuel injection. Pro Fuel Eliminator permits carburetors or fuel injection on nitro with transmission-equipped bikes under a122-cubic inch maximum and those using only high gear (direct drive) are limited to 151 inches. Pro Dragster category bikes use a carbureted engine on nitro restricted to 122 inches with a high-gear-only drivetrain.

Each AHDRA event attracts a minimum of two-dozen nitro-burners and the association's annual World Finals extravaganza at The Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, regularly draws sixty fuel bikes with no less than thirty in Top Fuel alone!

The Gypsy Rendezvous Nationals pulled twenty-six fuelers and, with a $25 ticket, ($40 for a full event pass), and absolutely no admission charge for kids or active/reserve military personnel, live bands and plenty of food, AHDRA events just might be the biggest bargain in drag racing. How good is it? The patriarch of the Harley-Davidson movement, Willie G. Davidson, was one of many fans who took in the thrills at St. Louis!

Floridian Mike Lehman’s West Palm Beach H-D Top Fueler ignites the GIR asphalt with five feet of header flames under the lights.	Amazing Top Fuel Harley final match found reigning AHDRA World Champion Mike Romine (near lane) clocking Low ET of the Meet at 6.39/220.26 but losing on a holeshot to Doug Vancil’s 6.40/208.14. True win-margin was 0.009 seconds...2.76 feet!
The current TFH performance king at 6.25 seconds, Tommy Grimes, had a dismal weekend with legend Ray Price’s “Samson”. Ride. A major engine explosion right off the trailer led to a sixth qualifier spot at 6.62/200 before the North Carolinian lost his first round bout with Florida’s Mike Ferris.	The new Harley-Davidson VRXSE V-Rod Destroyer may have single-handedly rejuvenated HD drag racing. Available as a single part number in the H-D Screamin’ Eagle Performance Parts catalog for $31,249, the 165-horsepower, 79-cubic inch EFI masterpiece comes from the factory exactly as shown ready to run in the nine-second zone. The AHDRA added a heads-up Destroyer eliminator which has drawn more than enough entries to fill a 32-bike field at all four ‘06 events. New Orleans racer Erick Ryder, (shown), won at Gateway while resetting both ends of the Destroyer record at 9.22/142.24.
Trailing plenty of high-gear-only clutch dust, Phoenix Fuel-rookie- Jim Fagan’s Romine-powered rig ripped through Pro Fuel Eliminator with 6.74/201.94 performance, finally stopping second-generation killer Armon Furr in the final.	Arizona’s Jack Romine shows how to steer a Top Fuel Harley at three hundred feet while the only tire on the ground is shaking hard. Heavy leaning got the 186-cubic incher to the second round before losing by nineteen thousandths on a holeshot to Jay Turner, 6.52/212 to a 6.50/216!
Spectacular action in the “crate motor” SSC division gives credence to the power of 21st century H-D street bikes. Using a mandatory S&S 124-cubic inch powerplant with full street registration, Michael Ray won the division with 9.47/140 power but, as shown by Ohio’s Mike Roberts, the ride to the finish line is a wild one!	Standing at the retaining wall with wife Nancy, H-D royalty Willie G. Davidson got an earful during Top Fuel action but, as is clearly evident, loved every minute of it!

Rick Moore’s Mid-Continent Racing ride from Pennsylvania (near lane) obliterated both his opponents and the class records in the carbureted, nitro-burning Pro Dragster Eliminator, hitting 7.13/181.84 on his way to victory over veteran Willie Herschberger. Super Eliminator (10.90 Index) final round saw Ohioan Dean Druschel (near lane) drive around the holeshot of Alabama’s Scotty Hooper to a dead-on 10.905/110 win. Unfortunately, Druschel grabbed a bit too much front brake sixty feet before the finish and took the victory the hard way...sliding on the asphalt at 100 mph. While Dean was checked by the paramedics, (no injuries other than road rash), the safety crew rolled the 2000-model 107-incher off the track with only a bent foot peg and wheelie bars, broken turn signal, and mandatory fuel tank scrapes.

Pennsylvania’s Blake Holliday heads for the moon in the opening round of street-legal S&S 124 Challenge action.