July 26, 2004
Denver, CO - The Screamin� Eagle/Vance & Hines drag racing team put their former home field high-altitude advantage to good use at the 25th Annual Mopar NHRA Mile High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway, as riders Andrew Hines and GT Tonglet advanced in the Pro Stock Bike elimination rounds after qualifying first and third for the event.
It was a stark turn-around for the Screamin� Eagle team, which found itself near the bottom of qualifying times after the National Hot Rod Association imposed a rule change, just days before the June 27 race in Madison, Ill., which added 40 pounds to the minimum weight for the Harley-Davidson V-Rod drag bikes. Until recently moving to Indianapolis, the Vance & Hines race shop was located in Trinidad, Colorado, where the team developed a wealth of high-altitude tuning experience. In the thin air of Bandimere Speedway, which lies at 5,860 feet above sea level near Denver, Hines set a new Pro Stock Bike track ET record of 7.509 seconds and a new top-speed record of 185.66 mph to lead all qualifiers. Tonglet ran 7.551/181.37 to qualify third.
�Byron Hines gave us a great advantage in tuning for the Denver event,� said Harley-Davidson Racing Manager Anne Paluso. �It was great to see the Screamin� Eagle team running up front again, but we�re unsure what will happen when we get back closer to sea level.�
Both Tonglet and Hines advanced easily through the first round of eliminations. Hines was handed a win when Redell Harris had a red-light start. Tonglet (7.640/178.47) beat Fred Camarena (7.769/172.96).
Tonglet was done in round two after he made a red-light start in his match with Shawn Gann. Hines (7.603/177.95) beat Geno Scali (7.681/171.88) to advance to the semi-final round.
Hines drew Craig Treble in the semi-final round, and was the next red-light victim of the night as he left the line early to miss a chance at his fourth final-round appearance of the season. In the final, Gann (7.654/174.23) beat Treble (7.715/172.21) to win the event. The afternoon turned out to be a festival of red lights, as nine of the 15 Pro Stock Bike races were over at the start when one rider left early.
After eight rounds of NHRA Pro Stock Bike competition, Hines leads the class with 733 points, 146 points ahead of Gann, who lies in second place with 587 points. Geno Scali is third with 498 points, followed by Treble with 492 points and Tonglet with 480 points.
The next Pro Stock Bike event on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series is the 17th Annual Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals, July 30-August 1, at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.
