Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Today in motorcycle history, July 29, 1972




  


  

  

 





  At *U.S. 30 Dragstrip in Hobart, Indiana, Tom "T.C." Christenson became the first man to exceed 180 mph in the quarter-mile aboard his twin-engine Norton 'Hogslayer'. 










  T.C. Christenson and Norton master-mind John Gregory built their first double-engine Hogslayer in 1970 after being deeply impressed by Boris Murray's double-engine Triumph. Marrying two twin-cylinder Commando motors it became one of the first drag bikes to incorporate fuel injection because they claimed carburetors could not deliver enough fuel to the engines to make them competitive.  


  The awesome 1760cc Snortin' Norton ruled drag strips in the mid-70's, winning every major motorcycle dragrace and attracting huge crowds.  Christenson named it the Hogslayer to taunt/piss off his Harley-Davidson rivals. 


  Hogslayer also made several guest appearances in Britain, running Europe’s first sub-nine second quarter-mile at Silverstone in 1974. 




  "Humiliation on the strips...is what Tom Christenson inflicted on the rest of the world's dragsters. It's hard to imagine it if you haven't seen it." - Motor Cycle magazine







  *U.S. 30 Dragway closed in 1984 and is now a field of overgrown weeds with a 20 year-old "Commercial Property For Sale" sign.  Only one building remains – a small white wooden shack once known as the “Goodie Booth”. The only other standing structures are some light and speaker poles that dot the landscape and a large broken-down set of bleachers, relocated from their original place at some point.





  Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk