Snap, Crackle, Pop,
and 223 On Two Wheels

Words and photos by Jeff Burk
5/7/03

hat snap, crackle, and pop the fans in the stands heard at Bristol wasn't the sound they heard when they poured the milk over their Rice Krispies(r) that morning. What they heard was the snap, crackle and pop sound a two-cylinder Harley Top Fuel Bike motor makes when the driver pours the nitro to it on his way to a six-second, 220-plus mile per hour lap.

Bristol Dragway was the site of NHRA's first Screamin' Eagle Top Fuel Harley exhibition race and 14 of the evil-handling, nitro-burning, two-wheeled crotch rockets made the trip to race at Bruton Smith's immaculate speed palace to attempt to qualify for just eight spots. Drivers from 10 states and two foreign nations -- Takeshi Shigematsu from Japan, who

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although not a regular on the tour qualified fourth and Canadian Brian Hall who didn't -- participated in the four rounds of qualifying.

Qualifying itself was a brutal test of men and machine and it taxed the talents of the tuners to the max as qualifying conditions varied from overcast and cool to a 10:00 pm last ditch qualifying session on a cold track where the dew was starting to settle in.

The qualifying delivered to the nitro Harley fans, including a SRO Saturday night crowd, just what they were expecting and some things they weren't. They witnessed Harleys with 98-percent in the tank either making low-six-second, 220+ laps with only the drive wheel on the ground for most of the quarter-mile or drivers fighting to control tire shaking, tire smoking, nearly out of control bikes and often failing.

They saw 65-year-old Ray Price (below) hold the pole at 6.44 until the last qualifying session.

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