Hines family keeps adding to rich PSB legacy
By Bill StephensFor the better part of the last four decades, Byron Hines has been the spiritual father of motorcycle drag racing. As a rider, he never ravaged the record books, but teamed with Terry Vance aboard their race-winning two-wheelers, the vaunted Vance & Hines outfit became one of the true dominant forces in the NHRA's PSB category, bagging 24 national event wins.
A Vietnam veteran, Hines knew that the NHRA's Pro Stock Motorcycle class was where his future would be forged. Following Vance's retirement as a rider, Hines brought in his son, Matt, whose racing skills were immediately evident as he was co-winner of the 1996 NHRA Rookie of the Year award (sharing it with Pro Stock's Mike Edwards).
Then, over the next three years, Matt became the first rider in NHRA PSB history to win three consecutive championships, setting numerous national and track records along the way on his Suzuki GSX-R.
But the Hines family's greatest accomplishments had yet to be recorded.
When the Vance & Hines team, based in Colorado, switched their affiliation to Harley-Davidson in 2002, the course of NHRA motorcycle drag racing would forever be altered. With Harley-Davidson offering factory support for the first time in the PSB ranks, the Vance & Hines "Screamin' Eagle" duo of Matt's younger brother, Andrew, and second-generation bike racer GT Tonglet, struggled through their first campaign, forcing the team to run a limited schedule until the mechanical snafus in its H-D V-Rods could be corrected.
In 2003, the Harleys began to show real promise, with Byron and Matt Hines' setups helping Andrew and Tonglet to top-10 finishes in the final points standings. For the first time in NHRA history, Harley-Davidsons were legitimate threats to win on race day, and the sudden emergence of an American manufacturer in a class, which had been solely dominated by imported nameplates, gave new life to the category.
Andrew achieved the ultimate measure of success for his team in 2004, when he handily won the POWERade Pro Stock Bike championship, won the first national event for Harley-Davidson at the Mac Tools Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., and led the points standings for the entire season. And as 2004 came to a close, the goal of winning the $10,000 check from Mickey Thompson Tires for scoring the first 6-second pass in PSB history slipped more sharply into focus.
Earlier this year at the Gatornationials, Andrew did just that, ringing up a phenomenal 6.991 elapsed time and setting yet another remarkable drag racing record -- something that has become almost commonplace for the 22-year-old champion and his racing family.
So it shouldn't have surprised anyone that last week at the Fram Autolite Nationals in Sonoma, Calif., Andrew sped to the quickest elapsed time in PSB history with his astounding 6.968 shot in the first round of eliminations on his way to his first victory of 2005. Another Hines family thunderbolt.
"It was a great weekend all around for the team," said Andrew. "Setting the e.t. record, winning the race, and giving my dad his 60th national event win of his career is as good a weekend as I've ever had."
Sixty national event wins? Sounds like another milestone, doesn't it?
Bill Stephens covers NHRA for ESPN.com.
