Flipping through channels the other day I came across drag racing, and the one race I watched was two HD's in their own class. I remember there was a road-racing class just for HD 883's and likely other displacement sizes.

So the question is; do (or did) Harleys race against other brands of bikes or are they only competitive against other Harleys? I realize they have had great success in flat track, but anything else? I recall their Superbike effort in the 90's was laughably sad.

There’s a King of the Bagger series. Mostly HD and Indians

It’s not looking good at all for Harley’s racing programs. All that effort in that electric bike didn’t capture the attention of young riders. They should have built an actual sport bike and raced it or partnered with someone who builds one. This is a company that owned MV Augusta and didn’t capitalize on that massive opportunity.

This was as of November of last year. Harley-Davidson Axes Its Factory Racing Programs. The deterioration their relationship with Vance & Hines resulted in the exhaust company cozying up to Triumph.

Lots of Sportsters in the Dirt Track scene.

I have a few California friends who race them.

Having been involved in H-D's factory racing programs for about 15 years, I think I can say with confidence that the only series we were really competitive at the highest level against other brands was in flat track up until the introduction of the Indian and in NHRA Pro Stock.

It's also incorrect to say that the relationship with Vance & Hines in any way deteriorated over the years. It was strong up until the moment a corporate decision was made to exit factory racing, primarily for budget reasons.

HD might be competitive again with the new Sportster S, more power, up there with the indians.

I didn’t say the relationship deteriorated between HD & Vance & Hines over the years but that it clearly isn’t what it used to be since HD has decided to back away from racing. I’d say that’s a deterioration in their current relationship. Suzuki and Yoshimura also went separate ways recently after being racing partners for a loooooooong time.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: stickman428,

There were sponsored XR1200 cup races (everyone on an XR1200) for a few years:

https://www.motorcycle.com/eve...00-series-91081.html

I came very close to buying one.




We were watching AMA Superbike races, maybe 2000(?) when VR1000's were racing against other brands. Somewhere I have a photo of one crashed and burning.

https://silodrome.com/harley-davidson-vr1000/



At the Daytona 200, the Harley fans over in 'Harley Heaven" were very enthusiastic supporters of the HD vr1000 entries. For short time, it was nice to have American bikes competing in top level American Road Racing.

I believe that what you were watching were the "Nitro Harley" bikes(run on pure nitro Methane fuel) competing with each other. To my knowledge, no other brand of MC has tried to build a "Nitro Bike" for NHRA drag racing.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GT-40DOC,

quote:

Originally posted by GT-40DOC:... To my knowledge, no other brand of MC has tried to build a "Nitro Bike" for NHRA drag racing.

"Top Fuel Harley" is a class, and why you don't see imports/other makes.

In the other Top Fuel, you will see import/other makes running supercharged nitro bikes. And they are wicked fast too. Spiderman rides a 5 second Puma.

Don’t forget turbochargers. There are tons of scary fast turbo Hayabusa bikes capable of putting town fast times.

The title says Hayabusa verses Nitro GSX-R but it’s probably running Nitrous rather than Nitromethane. Even with that amazing reaction time the blue GSX-R1000R didn’t have enough grunt.