Motorcycle.com

To the average road racing gearhead (like me), drag twins seem more like a circus act than a legitimate form of racing. After all, Harleys are designed for looks and long rides, not performance, right? Have a second look. In the Pro-Stock class these bikes are dragsters from start to finish. Most of the engines are 100 percent custom-made parts. Granted, they aren't as trick as GP bikes, but considering the type of low-dollar R&D that they are developed under, they are more than up to snuff.

The sport has unique advantages in terms of spectating when compared to other forms of racing. You never know who's going to win until the very last heat, so every event is a close race. The bikes each get three runs to qualify for the finals, and from there on out they run in a head to head elimination format, which provides plenty of suspense. You also never have a problem seeing the action up close, since there are no turns or banks to obstruct your view. Finally, and most importantly, these bikes have character. They are all big twins, and many sport similar amounts of chrome, but none of these twins are ever exactly alike.

We wanted to take a closer look at this growing sport's competitors and their machines. A quick call to our friends at Kosman Racing launched us into the world of drag-bikes and all its action. Kosman Racing invited us up to their R&D center, Kosfab, in Windsor, California. Kosman is one of the sport's major providers of chassis, wheels and other related equipment. They gave us a peek at how they develop a new drag bike chassis, and talked with us about the first key to engineering a winning drag bike: traction.

Finally, and most importantly, these bikes have character.

On a tip from Sandy Kosman, we phoned up the sport's current Hole-Shot King, Tim Kerrigan. Kerrigan, in turn, hooked us up with his tuner, Doran Benson, to have a look at the mechanics of a winning Pro-Stock Twin drag bike. This bike is an impressive piece of work, it's built entirely with bolt-on components!

Special Thanks To:Kosman Sports Racing in San Francisco, CA.
Suppliers of quality aftermarket parts for race and street bikes (415) 861-4262.

Tim Kerrigan
Tim has sponsorship opportunities available for next year's season, (415) 898-4911.

Doran Benson
Doran does custom work as well as tuning for drag twins. He can be reached at Biker's Dream in Cotati, CA. (707) 664-9148.