In about a decade of Top Fuel Motorcycle racing the fearless and ever-improving Dave Vantine has carved out his spot as one of the greatest two-wheel nitro racers of all-time. He has made the daunting transition from Pro Mod to Top Fuel look somewhat easy.
Yet everyone knows it’s not.
His 5.71 career best speed makes him the second quickest active rider and the fourth quickest jockey of all-time. Vantine, the Hamilton, N.Y. resident and owner of successful Vantine Imaging and his own wine and spirits store, competes in this fearsome and uber expensive category of racing for one reason; the pure love of the sport.
There is no place Vantine would rather be than camped out at a drag strip with his closest friends and family.
This year will be a banner season for the “Yellow Bullet” squad as they prepare to take on immense new challenges.
For the first time in about 40 years Top Fuel Motorcycles will compete in the NHRA for Wallys, points and a purse in the new Pingel Top Fuel Motorcycle series.
Cycledrag has been advocating for the class with NHRA since 2017 and after a few seasons of match racing, the series became a reality with the funding and assistance of “7.0” Joe Koenig from Trim-Tex, Wayne and Donna Pingel, Jimmy “The Hulk” Brantley and Team Vantine Motorsports.
Vantine recognized the need to seize this opportunity. He fully understands the importance of racing in front of large crowds and gaining major media attention when it comes to trying to grow participation.
“If NHRA isn’t a catalyst to get people out there, I don’t know what would be. I’m super excited,” Vantine said. “It’s a wonderful thing for the class, with all the exposure we will get. With a little luck we will get a major increase in participation moving forward . I feel like this is a huge deal.”
The four-race NHRA Pingel Top Fuel Championship gets underway at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., May 17-19, followed by Virginia Motorsports Park in Petersburg, Va., June 21-23, Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minn., Aug 15-18, and ZMax Dragway in Charlotte, NC, Sept. 20-22.
Another reason for Vantine’s excitement is he has a new, state-of-the-art machine that is capable of world record speed.
The successful businessman has a whole new challenge on the horizon, making the transition to a fresh, innovative motorcycle six years in the making out of Larry “Spiderman” McBride’s Cycle Specialist.
After the 2017 Man Cup Finals where McBride ran a new world record of 5.61 and announced he was building a bike for the returning Brantley, Vantine said in a Cycledrag interview, “If they are bending up fresh pipe, bend one up for me.”
That they did and Vantine’s new ride officially hit the track last year .
Top Fuel Motorcycles are incredibly labor intensive to build with so many one-off parts. Finalizing the bike took longer than expected but after some final adjustments over the off-season, including a striking new look, the “Yellow Bullet” is ready to roll.
After an initial test session last October at Orlando Speedworld Dragway, the team wasted no time in trying out the new ride early this season by attending the XDA opener at Maryland International Raceway, April 19th.
The only problem for team Vantine is Mother Nature did not cooperate, delivering ambient temperatures in the mid-50s.
It proved to be too cold to go nitro racing as the motorcycle overpowered the chilly tack.
“We tried, but it was just too cold to learn anything,” Vantine said.
Because the 1,500-horsepower motorcycle refused to cooperate in the cold weather, Team Vantine packed up and headed back home on Saturday.
Mother Nature also spoiled plans to get returning rider Geoff Pollard enough passes to earn his NHRA license. The initial hope was to get both bikes and riders to the first race in Chicago.
Because Pollard is not licensed combined with the fact that Vantine has yet to make a full pass on the new bike he has wisely opted to enter Chicago on his faithful “Yellow Bullet” with hopes of debuting the new bike at midseason. That’s when the team hopes Pollard is licensed and ready to take the reins as well.
Vanitne remains positive and enthused for what should be a memorable season for his team. All the pieces are in place, it’s just a matter of getting comfortable on a very different bike.
“The new bike is a lot harder to ride back in the pits,” Vanitne said. “It’s 10-inches longer and it’s bigger and heavier. It’s a lot harder to steer on the return road.”
Vanitne has already taken a big step in trying to solve this problem by purchasing what Top Fuel Harley rider Rich Vreeland calls the “Nitro Chariot.” It’s a front wheel mount so that the bike can be towed back with a golf cart without the rider being on it.
“Rich told me the Nitro Chariot changed his life,” Vantine said. “I’m looking forward to using it.”
Despite the growing pains and learning curve, Vantine fully understands his new motorcycle has an immense amount of potential and is the way to go moving forward.
“I think once we sort it out we will be a whole lot closer to Larry. He’s been running this combination for years now and we have not. Part of what you pay Larry for is to put a good solid base in it,” Vantine said. “For us, it’s very different. Even though it uses the same engines, clutches and transmissions, we now have a bigger fuel pump and we have an all valve. It has more controls. We just don’t know how to tune it well right now. We will get there.”
McBride was on-hand to assist the team at Maryland International Raceway.
Once the new equipment is dialed in, Vantine fully recognizes what makes the motorcycle harder to navigate around the pits is the same thing that will help him achieve personal bests on the track.
“The advantage with the new chassis is you can apply more power sooner where the other one might have spun the tire,” Vanitne said. “With this one we can turn it up and it will stick. Being able to apply more power will be a huge help.”
Vantine has set a goal of getting in the 5.60s and it’s something he could go after later in the year at a match race or exhibition event.
As for the NHRA series it will be contested to the 1,000 foot mark instead of the standard 1,320-foot, quarter-mile race. It’s a new form of racing aimed towards safety that Vantine is not opposed to.
“Given the fact that we cover about 300 feet a second, the trade off for me and the general consensus is it could make it more attractive to new riders,” Vantine said. “It gives us more time to shut it off and get stopped.”
The team is now making final adjustments in the workshop ahead of what will be a busy year for the “Yellow Bullet” squad with the new Pingel NHRA Top Fuel Motorcycle series.
Vanitne says he may try to rent Virginia Motorsports Park the day after the NHRA National in June and use that as an opportunity to get Pollard licensed and dial in the new bike.
“We need seat time and it’s a close one for Larry, so it could make a lot of sense,” Vantine said.
The team also debuted a great-looking new paint job and wheelie bar panel art from JT’s Custom Garage.
“JT’s Garage did a great job. It’s gorgeous,” Vantine said. “We just got to get it to run right now.”
Once the performance of the motorcycle matches the quality of the paint the team knows it will have met its goal.
Learning and dialing in a brand new fuel bike is an incredible challenge. Even the McBride brothers encountered a steep learning curve when they debuted “Star” in 2016. Vantine is ready for the challenge and remains optimistic with his new state-of-the art beast.
“It’s a new bike we just need to sort it out.
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