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At this pair of tracks, a small but determined band of diehard nitro
burners performed. In the years 1961 and '62, the winningest fuel bike
was the Don McEvoy and Ron Baker-driven 40-cid Triumph fuel burner.
This potent lay-down charger cleaned house at Colton in 1961, winning
its B/Fuel Bike class at least a dozen times. Not only that, but in
April of 1961, the duo was capable of winning against (at least on paper)
much stronger machinery.
On April 9, Russ Young wheeled the McEvoy-Baker Triumph to the Colton
Fuel Top Eliminator title, running an 11.02/128.93 to beat Don Green's
blown fuel roadster. The next week, Baker climbed on top of the seat
and wheeled the bike to a 10.66/129.49 to cover Bob Olson's blown A/Gas
Dragster for the Middle Eliminator title.
In the period of the early and middle 1960s, fuel bikes such as the
Prentice Perry-driven Perry & Scott B/Fuel bike, the Joe Cook and Boris
Murray B/Fuel Triumph, the 10.5-second Rios-Nelson A/Fuel Triumph, and
Ralph Owens' 10.2-second, 140-mph Harley-Davidson all tore it up at
local Southern California tracks.
Joe Smith's fuel Harley-Davidson got a huge share of attention in this
period and even more a decade or so later when he ran the first 8-second
time for the fuel burners at the '71 Bakersfield meet with an 8.95.
Clem Johnson's "Barn Job" Vincent wasn't that quick but still ran high
9s at 150-mph with his 1,000-cc, aluminum-framed two-wheeler.
California didn't have a monopoly on fuel bike performance, although
they were close to it. Midwest racer Leo Payne, for example, owned the
A/Fuel class at the bike-friendly Kahoka, Missouri 1/8-mile track with
runs in the mid-sixes at 110-mph, and doubtlessly ran 9s at 140 to 150-mph
at quarter-mile tracks.
From the late 1960s and very early 1970s, the fuel bikes toiled in
relative anonymity. Save for a few lines in Drag News or National Dragster
(if they ran an NHRA sanctioned track), the Joe Smiths and the Boris
Murrays of the world remained superstars only to a hardcore following
It wasn't until 1972 that fuel motorcycles got any recognition at all.
That year National Dragster published for the first time an "NHRA National
Motorcycle Record" box in its August 25, 1972 issue, one of the very
first acknowledgments from this organization that these racers even
existed.
The first Top Fuel Motorcycle or A/Fuel Bike (as it was officially
known) record holder was LaVerne, California's Boris Murray, who stretched
his tall, lanky frame over a twin-Triumph fuel burner. In June of 1971
at Beech Bend Int'l Raceway in Kentucky, Murray logged an 8.87/174.75
for the record.
The Top Fuel bikes were showcased in exhibition runs at a few NHRA
national events and in 1972 got their first NHRA eliminator race when
they competed at the NHRA Supernationals in Ontario, Calif. Kenosha,
Wisconsin's T.C. Christensen's twin-Norton "Hog Slayer" captured the
win. A year later, the fuel bikes were at the NHRA U.S. Nationals in
Indianapolis and New Jersey's Bob Mauriello captured the trophy there.
The big break for the fuel motorcycles came in 1974 when the Hyattsville,
Md.-based American Motorcycle Drag Racing Association joined forces
with NHRA. At the time, AMDRA was a struggling bike circuit that ran
a series of pro and sportsman all-bike shows at East Coast tracks like
Atco Raceway, Cecil County in Md., and other similar venues.
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