AMRA Drag Racing: 40 Years
AMRA: 40 Years
Words and photos by Tom McCarthy
Here’s an interesting motorcycle drag racing question to ponder: What do Marion Owens, Pete Hill, Ray Price, Jim McClure, Bobby Spina, Tator Gilmore, Jamie Morocco, Bill Furr, Russ Hendron, Ken Overly, Wayne Loftain, Todd Vail, Mike Romine, Jack Romine, Tony Drexler, Monte Mathias, Kevin Cleary, Mark Conner, Jon Marchman, Chicago Joe, Steve Stordeur, Jake Stordeur, Armon Furr, Tony Mattioli, Danny Fitzmaurice, Danny Baisley, Chris Rasile, Chuck & Charlie Hausler, Johnny “Red” Rhea, Bob Totty, Larry “Drums” Brancaccio, and “DJ” Don Johnson, all have in common?
These racers and a cast of hundreds more were all important racers who gave significant credence to the fledgling beginnings of the American Motorcycle Racing Association, four decades ago. That’s right, forty years ago in 1985, when the AMRA began as a motorcycle drag racing sanction.
This all began back in 1978, when a Harley-Davidson-mounted motorcycle drag racer was at an I.D.B.A. race with the new sanction known as the International Drag Bike Association. He was unhappy with what he saw. Jap bikes as far as the eye can see.
As a diehard Harley guy, with a red, white & blue heart beating in his chest, a Texan by the name “Red” Roberts, who was astride his beloved Harley Davidson that day, was in the staging lanes with a sea of import bikes all around him and he asked himself the following question “wait a minute, why isn’t there a motorcycle drag racing sanction dedicated to American motorcycles and American motorcycle drag racing?” From this train of thought, over the next few years, the American Motorcycle Racing Association eventually came into existence, beginning in 1985.
The AMRA is the longest-standing sanction of all the motorcycle-dedicated sanctions ever conceived. Back in 1985, the official opening season of the AMRA, the sanction was founded by Rich Wegner and his then lady of importance, Patricia “Trish” Conradt.
In 1984, the largest and most prominent motorcycle drag racing sanction was the NMRA, the National Motorcycle Racing Association, established by the NHRA. NMRA folded after the very end of the 1984 season, leaving the door wide open. In 1985, the timing was perfect for the launch of a new sanction.
While reporting was spotty by print magazines and news services in the mid-1980s, there were some publications with some information on the new sanction, but being the new kid in town, it really took till the 1990s, just five more short years, before the sanction really started to gain in prominence.
Ray Price, the father of the Funny Bike class with his sanitary, immaculate HD Shovester, is a legendary Icon of Harley fuel racing and will always be remembered for his contributions.
By then, big household motorcycle drag racing names like Jim McClure, Pete Hill, Marion Owens, Ray Price, Bill Furr, Jamie Morocco, and Bobby Spina were all well on their way to legendary status, during that era. The growth and prominence of AMRA became home to all these legends, and more.
Following in their footsteps came Johnny Mancuso, Jay Turner, Mac Thrasher, Happy Ring, Andy Gotsis, and Drums & DJ. All of the Harley faithful with V-Twin beating hearts as racers made the AMRA what it was and what it is today. The American Motorcycle Racing Association is a solid core of dedicated American motorcycle drag racers, who recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag and sing the National Anthem prior to the start of every race.
In 1999, after 14 years of running the AMRA, Rich Wegner sold the sanction rights to Marty VandenHeuvel and his wife, Jane. They ran AMRA for the next two decades, creating what was often referred to affectionately as the “Marty Party.” As the history of the sanction unfolded, 19 years later, in 2018, Marty and Jane sold the sanction to a business partnership between four well-known AMRA racers led by Greg Baugh. Today, Greg and his wife Julia still run the business. This is the 40-year condensed history of the AMRA.
The evolution of the racers and racing over the last four decades has been remarkable for all involved. When the sanction began, there were a handful of competition classes; now there are several ET bracket and index classes, along with the professional categories of competition. Typically, there are 14 classes of racing now in the modern era. Historically, one of the most significant achievements of the AMRA was providing a platform for the growth and development of Harley-Davidson motorcycle racing.
Nowhere was this more visible, accountable, and significant than in the class of Top Fuel motorcycle drag racing.
In 1983, Elmer Trett, at the NHRA US Nationals, recorded the first official 200MPH pass by a Top Fuel motorcycle. He did so on a four-cylinder inline supercharged, nitromethane-burning, drag bike of his own design and construction. In 1984, Sam Wills upped the ante with a 212 MPH pass at Gulfport, the following year, also on a four-cylinder inline drag bike.
At this time in the history of Top Fuel motorcycles, Top Fuel Harley drag bikes were in the 180MPH zone and were not a specific competition class in and of themselves (TFH). Pushing these bikes that hard (180MPH) in 1985 meant a very short lifespan on components. The aftermarket for the V-Twins was not as advanced as that for the two-cylinder bikes, in this time frame. There were no billet CNC-created aftermarket heads or engine cases designed and created specifically for Top Fuel racing Harleys in the 1984/85 time frame, as there were for Top Fuel Inline-4 drag bikes.
The birth of the AMRA and other blossoming Harley sanctions during the mid-1980s was paramount to establishing the “Top Fuel Harley” as a distinct competition class. Differentiating two-cylinder motorcycles from four-cylinder bikes was necessary and fair for all concerned at this point in the history of Top Fuel motorcycles.
The four-cylinder bikes had a performance advantage because any power increase was always multiplied by four, which is twice the power magnification of a two-cylinder bike. Four-cylinder Top Fuel bikes also doubled the cost of racing for the I-4 motorcycle racers. These factors were why by 1985, on average, there were only four to six actual Top Fuel bike entries at any Top Fuel motorcycle class events in the USA.
When the NHRA’s NMRA sanction folded at the end of the 1984 season. This was the end of the road for the Top Fuel bikes with the premier drag racing sanction. The other sanctions that once regularly hosted the Top Fuel motorcycle class were the International Drag Bike Association and Tom Loughlin’s ”DRAGBIKE!” sanction. But at the end of the 1985 season, the IDBA dropped Top Fuel as a class, due to lack of entries, leaving only the “DRAGBIKE!” sanction to host the class of Top Fuel motorcycle.
To make the class viable, they had to tweak the rules to allow select Funny Bikes into the class, ensure enough entries, and keep the class active. Top Fuel Harley, as a stand-alone class, was able to grow independently with the advent of the AMRA. The big thunder bikes were still gaining in performance in the mid-1980s and have always been a major crowd pleaser. The AMRA was pivotal in providing them with a home and a place to grow, both in the number of entries and the performance levels followed, as the aftermarket developed.
Before the official category of “Top Fuel Harley” was established in the mid-80s, racers like Jim McClure and Bobby Spina were forced by the rules of sanctioning bodies like the NMRA and IDBA to run in the Pro Comp class. With the formation of the AMRA, they could morph into Top Fuel Harley.
Supercharged Harleys like the ones raced by Marion Owens and Pete Hill were soon to be challenged by the big nitro-injected bikes. By the end of the 1980’s that’s precisely what happened. A primary reason for this was that excellent stepping stone classes like Pro Dragster, the carburetted nitro bikes, and Pro Fuel, the nitro-injected bikes, supported Top Fuel Harley. By 1989, “Harley” racing events were attracting close to two dozen fuel bikes to every event.
Between 1990 and 1995, racers like Jim McClure, Bobby Spina, Johnny Mancuso, Mark Conner, Bill Furr, Drums Brancaccio, Jay Turner, and a growing cast of all-stars flocked to the Harley racing sanctions, led by the AMRA. Suddenly, dozens of fuel bikes began appearing everywhere across the USA because Harley fuel racing had become an entity unto itself. It was way more affordable for the racers compared to Top Fuel motorcycle, four-cylinder, inline-powered racing, so it grew like weeds in a vacant lot. This growth pattern and participation continue to this day, as evidenced by the entries to AMRA-sanctioned drag races, which average 20 to 30 fuel bikes at each event from 2020 through the 2025 season.
As a great example of the growth in Harley-Davidson motorcycle racing performance, in 1985 at a match race in support of Muscular Dystrophy in CT, Jim McClure was paired up against Bobby Spina to raise funds for the fight against MD. In three rounds of match racing, Jim went 8.21, 8.14, and 8.30 in the quarter mile. Bobby went 8.32, 8.40, and 8.83. Jim had a high MPH of 164, while Bobby reached 159 MPH – this was 1985 Nitro-injected Harley performance. Marion Owens in 86 held the Top Fuel bike best numbers for a Top Fuel Harley; 8.11@ 182 MPH for his blown double.
By 1992, after Jim McClure introduced the “Overkill” motor platform, Jim lowered the numbers to 7.31, and Bill Furr held the Top Fuel Harley record at 183.75 MPH. In 1995, on May 6th, Andy Gotsis ran the first 200MPH pass for a Top Fuel Harley, and Jim McClure also entered the 200MPH zone in October of the same year for the injected TFH bikes. It was the growth of the AMRA and the Harley sanctions that made this possible.
As further evidence of the growth of the AMRA, and Top Fuel Harley motorcycle performance, the current national records for quarter mile Top Fuel Harley, going into the Jim McClure Nitro Nationals, October 25/26, 2025, stand at an elapsed time of 6.197 seconds, set by Tommy Grimes 10/13/2013 and the MPH record is 232.39 MPH set by Jay “Bull Dog” Turner on 30 November 2022.
Now in 2025, the Top Fuel Harleys are strong in participation numbers, with full fields at all AMRA events and 30 to 40 fuel-burning Nitro Harleys not uncommon at AMRA world finals each October. The AMRA typically has over 280 loyal members annually and has shown steady growth from season to season under the new leadership since 2020.
40 years of AMRA motorcycle drag racing exemplify that AMRA STRONG is more than just words.
Visit www.amralive.com to learn more about the series.
| Until Next time…
– Tom McCarthy |
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