I’ve sometimes said I feel like I need a shower after covering the underworld and secret politics of the Pro Stock Motorcycle class. I think I need a pressure washer now.
In 30-plus years of covering drag racing I’ve never experienced an about-face like I did this past weekend. It was dishonest, double-dealing at its finest.
The politics, corruption and rules favoritism Cycledrag has been investigating and exposing in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class may be even worse than expected in light of the backpedaling and backstabbing by class veteran Steve Johnson, following a hard-hitting, upfront interview about class politics on Cycledrag Facebook.
Asking questions like, “is it really a good thing for competition if the team dominating also makes the majority of the engines for other racers in the class” produced a conversation that clearly made Johnson, the longtime Vance & Hines loyalist uncomfortable.
Johnson’s manipulation after the conversation is the real story.
To provide context, for the past month Cycledrag has been following allegations of control and favoritism in the category by Vance & Hines Motorsports, pointing primarily to Terry Vance’s strong influence and the team’s staggering 18-years of exclusivity with Harley-Davidson. V&H riders Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec dominated the class, winning 10 championships on motorcycles their competitors and customers were never able to own.
The conflict of interest comes in as V&H aims to win races to prop up its own sponsors, while also running a business within the class. V&H sells and rents power to the same people they are beating for championships.
Since 1987 only four teams have been able to win without Vance & Hines power.
V&H has an absolute stranglehold on the class, mechanically and politically.
The exclusive Harley deal is something most experts couldn’t believe NHRA would allow. For all 18 years no other team was ever able to buy one of the dominant Harleys. V&H pounded their customers with bikes their customers could never own. Star Racing’s George Bryce was the loudest critic of the perceived corruption and provided this interview to Cycledrag back in 2010, that’s certainly worth visiting.
There are numerous other stories of outspoken racers falling out of favor with V&H and allegedly having their power cut or not provided with parts at all.
During the team Trim-Tex championship run in the summer of 2003 V&H requested all of the team’s engines back for updates after the squad unexpectedly jumped out to a big lead in the points. Team owner Joe Koenig says all four engines blew up after he got them back and he felt his power was substantially cut for the rest of the season.
Talented rider Geno Scali didn’t make it to another final after the engine updates but he was able to hang on to win the championship by a narrow margin.
It would prove to be Scali’s last real shot at a title.
There are stories of racers saying they were blackballed. There are stories of V&H sending an engine down to a certain trailer if they wanted that racer’s opponent to lose. They are the ultimate puppet masters.
Power and control seem to be hallmarks of how V&H Motorsports operates. Speaking out against them usually means punishment.
The exclusively of the V&H Harley V-Rod robbed Suzuki racers from collecting the category’s much-anticipated first six-second pass. Hines took the glory on a relatively new bike his family’s longtime customers could not obtain.
Hines then went on to win six-championship titles on his Harley, tying class legend Dave Schultz, who won them all on the same bikes his competition could own. There was no exclusivity.
Harley unceremoniously left at the end of 2020 but the same people who pushed for and allowed the one-sided deal to go on for nearly two decades are still in power at the V&H Raceshop.
Six-time class champion Matt Smith has been outspoken, saying even though Harley has departed and V&H switched back to Suzuki, the behind-the-scenes rules favoritism is worse than it has ever been.
NHRA is tasked with maintaining parity between v-twins and four-cylinder bikes after the rulebook was rewritten for the Vance & Hines V-Rod to be competitive. The sanctioning body usually maintains parity by adding or subtracting weight from a particular combination. Prior to the Vance & Hines V-Rod, a v-twin simply couldn’t compete.
Every so often one would show up and try to qualify.
With the two combinations being so diverse, maintaining parity is the only way to effectively have a competition. Otherwise the v-twins don’t stand a chance.
Smith says now that V&H is all Suzuki, NHRA is letting the v-twins fall behind. It was certainly not the case when Vance & Hines had Harleys.
To Smith’s point, he was outrun by more than a tenth in the final of the Gatornationals by V&H Suzuki racer, young sensation Gaige Herrera.
A v-twin has only won one of the past 16 races. With those stats Smith has a point. NHRA tech made no off-season changes to help the v-twin combination after Herrera qualified No. 1 at 14 of 15 races and dominated the 2023 season.
With the departure of Harley, Suzuki is now back as a sponsor.
Smith says he just wants parity and says Vance has too much influence on the rules.
As Cycledrag explored the issue with current instances like Matt Smith initially being told his bike would be held till the end of the season after his wife Angie crashed last year, yet a Vance & Hines customer was given their bike back almost immediately, it stirred quite the debate on Cycledrag Facebook.
Smith spent one year on a Suzuki, forced to buy parts from V&H, and ultimately made the decision to return to his own v-twin motor program after claiming he was not given a fair opportunity to beat his rival with parts they were supplying.
It’s just one piece of a long list of supporting evidence that suggests Vance & Hines has an immense amount of control on the category.
Here’s where Johnson comes in.
Johnson took notice of all the discussion on Cycledrag Facebook and asked if he could be included via a live interview, as detailed in these texts below. It’s important to see how this all began in contrast to how it ended. It’s important to see how Johnson approached Cycledrag.
Cycledrag aims to be fair and was happy to help Johnson get his viewpoint across.
As he had hoped, Johnson was brought on for an in-depth interview where Cycledrag’s goal was to give Johnson respect, while also staying true to the audience by asking the tough questions that needed to be asked.
Johnson seemed to arrive with another plan – do all the talking and try to block Cycledrag from asking any questions at all, which was not what was discussed or agreed on prior to the interview. It was intended to be a compelling yet respectful interview that brought two unique viewpoints to light.
The combative but enjoyable and entertaining interview allowed Johnson ample time to get his views across.
It also included several direct questions by Cycledrag that stopped Johnson in his tracks like, “Is having Vance & Hines as the only Suzuki crankshaft manufacturer good for competition” and “Why did it take eight years for George Bryce to get the Monstar/ Monster four-valve head approved, when Vance & Hines got their four-valve approved almost immediately?”
As the interview will show below, these are the questions that made Johnson uncomfortable, but ones he was able to somewhat answer. After-all, we were live.
Aside from the few tough questions my goal was to make the interview flattering for Johnson and highlight his accomplishments.
The end result is one I felt very good about afterwards. I felt I asked the tough questions, but also allowed Johnson all the time he needed to express everything he wanted to cover. In total the interview was about 90 minutes with Johnson doing about 80-percent of the talking.
I felt any respectable banter is good for a class that needs attention and felt even better when Johnson sent me these texts after our interview, expressing his pleasure for how it went and even apologizing for cutting off my questions.
These texts made me feel great about our interview and the hype we helped to build for the class. It made proud to know Johnson appreciated it. I’ve been helping promote Johnson for as long as I’ve had this outlet. I’ve gone to Johnson’s shop and covered his championship run in 2021 extensively.
The day after our interview I was stunned as I began receiving messages from a multitude of industry insiders who warned me of what they called Johnson’s “two-faced nature.”
One said, “Johnson has been known as a devout “kiss-up” to Vance & Hines while saying wildly different things off-the-record.”
One very respected source, very close to the situation, who I will keep anonymous, sent me the following.
This lead to me Johnson’s race team Facebook page where I found he did a follow up video, almost like a take two. In this much more pro-Vance & Hines video he criticized Cycledrag for not letting him speak.
I was stunned. This was from the same man who texted me that morning saying he was so happy with how everything went and apologized for cutting me off.
Then he stabs Cycledrag in the back and tries to bury us on his page?
Cycledrag can now say even we have felt firsthand the corruption, backstabbing and politics that rule the Pro Stock Motorcycle class.
It’s disappointing when this is the behavior of the longest tenured racer and somebody who is supposed to be a role model.
To Johnson’s defense, and to accentuate how harsh the political situation in Pro Stock Motorcycle still is, sources have told Cycledrag Johnson was likely worried about V&H after the Cycledrag interview.
If Vance & Hines doesn’t sell Johsnon a crank or gives him an inferior one, his Suzuki days are done.
What would Johnson do then, call Matt Smith for a v-twin?
And trust me after several off-air conversations with Johnson he understands the power and influence of V&H with perfect clarity.
Johnson’s new V&H-friendly video even gained him a positive comment from Andrew Hines.
In Johnson’s abrupt about-face he bowed to the very company his sponsor advised him to move away from.
It was clear it was a political move by Johnson and perhaps one done out of fear.
Andrew Hines commented, “Good job Steve, setting the record straight!”
Would Hines also say the same about Johnson texting me the Vance & Hines Harley deal was a “joke?”
Vance & Hines wants everyone, including their customers to forget the Harley deal ever happened. The problem is nobody has amnesia.
The once thriving V&H Raceshop , that would service over a dozen racers is now down to just one full-service customer outside of the team. Everyone else is either just buying parts, or has switched to v-twins. But if NHRA doesn’t help the v-twins stay competitive there won’t be many alternatives, and perhaps that’s the way V&H wants it.
Never before have I released text messages but last night I received a call from a trusted friend and former competitor in the class who observed what was going on. After I read him Johnson’s text messages he was just as stunned as I was and told me I had to release them. He said Johnson was trying to make a mockery of me and playing both sides. He also said Johnson has a history of deceitful behavior.
Sometimes that’s the thanks you get.
What I’m leaning is Pro Stock Motorcycle is a lot like the reality show Survivor. Everyone outside of V&H seems to know the deck is stacked.
The class is full of politics, backstabbing and deceit in sadly what should be the greatest representation of the greatest teams, talent, components and sportsmanship in motorcycle drag racing. Instead it’s just a Vance & Hines sandbox a select few are able to play in.
For many competitors who just want to market their brand, that’s enough. Being competitive takes a backseat.
It’s almost enough to make me want to stop covering the class, which after this last episode with Johnson may be closer than he thinks. And perhaps that was the goal all along. So yes, I’ll gladly return to independent drag races from coast to coast where politics and power don’t rule the day. I believe in fairness and the spirit of competition. Not power and manipulation.
But don’t take it from me. Another respected motorcycle journalist Doug Ray, who founded Drag Bike Live, posted the following about his time covering the Pro Stock Motorcycle category.
Johnson provided Ray this somewhat condescending response, suggesting teams did not like him.
After decades of buying and leasing complete engines from V&H, Johnson was convinced three years ago by his sponsor to distance himself from Vance & Hines to give him a better chance at winning. Yet it hasn’t totally freed him to be able to speak his mind or to stop being a defacto spokesman for V&H.
Like all other Suzuki racers Johnson is forced to buy his components like billet cases and crankshafts from his rival as there is only one viable option. That’s a problem that will always limit true competition.
Not everyone agrees with how Smith has been so strongly outspoken at what he perceives as persecution, corruption and V&H favoritism, and through it all, Johnson has been Smith’s biggest detractor.
Both men operate totally differently
Smith is a rebel who is unafraid to speak his mind and operates his own motor program free of control or influence from V&H. It’s a combination that has Smith tied for the all-time lead in class championships at six since his NHRA debut in 2003.
Johnson on the other hand is a yes man who constantly toes the company line, while still relying on Vance & Hines for engine components. That strategy has garnered Johnson zero championships since his debut in 1987, and all the man really wants out of life is championship. Maybe if exclusive Harleys were not winning 10 of them while he was a V&H customer, he could have had a one?
We can agree or disagree with how each man, Smith and Johnson, goes about his business, but which resume would you rather have? I know which one I would pick.
As for this reporter, a valuable lesson was learned. I sill wish Steve Johnson all the best in his pursuit of a championship and I won’t let him disappear from this site.
As for another Facebook Live where Johnson changes his stance 12 hours later and buries our interview, it is not something I’d like to experience again.
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