Five-time AMA/Prostar
Top Fuel champion Larry McBride finished the 2004 season with a runner-up
performance at the AMA/Prostar World Finals from Gainesville, FL Nov.
5th-7th, snapping his unprecedented 2-year-long, 17 event win streak.
“It was great being up on that pedestal
for a while,” McBride said of the streak. “To be honest
I’m kind of relieved it’s over. There was a lot of hype
over us not losing. Now I’m just focused on starting another streak.
I’m not quitting.”
McBride’s run of the weekend came
in qualifying as he laid down Gainesville Raceway’s first ever
5-second motorcycle pass with a sensational 5.97 at 237 mph.
“It was a major relief,” McBride
said. “I have a lot of friends on the Gainesville Raceway staff
and it was nice to finally get it done for them.”
“I have a special bond with Gainesville
Raceway,” McBride said. “In 1992 I crashed in the right
lane at 205 mph. This weekend I ran the track’s first 5-second
pass at 237 mph in that same right lane.”
McBride’s first defeat of the season
occurred in the final as his bike fired on only three of the four cylinders.
McBride attempted to make the pass but the raw fuel belching from the
exhaust got on the giant rear tire causing McBride to smolder his drag
slick at the 1/8th mile mark. In the end Harley-mounted Tommy Sloan’s
7.54 was enough to hold off McBride’s 9.07.
“Nobody likes to lose. If you like
to lose you shouldn’t be racing. I’m upset but I’m
not mad,” McBride said. “I’m very happy for Tommy
Sloan. He supported this class all year long and he deserves the win.”
“It was a great year,” crew
chief Steve McBride said. “Lady luck just flew out the window
for us on this weekend. I’m proud of Tommy Sloan. Those guys work
very hard.”
“We started having problems on Thursday.
It was weird it was like the bike broke on the way here,” Larry
McBride said. “Then Saturday we had some trouble that cost us
a qualifying run. On Sunday we had an electrical problem in the ignition
that we couldn’t get to the bottom of. We had a spark plug go
bad in the final.”
McBride was overcome with pride for his
team and sponsors when he finally had a chance to reflect on the win
streak.
“It’s a very awesome feeling,”
McBride said. “It makes me very proud of our team and everyone
involved.”
“We just tried to be perfect every
time,” co-crew chief Roland Stuart said. “We really paid
attention to small details and everyone double checks behind each other.”
“All you can do is move on. The 2004 season is over,” McBride
said. “It’s not too early to start focusing on 2005.”
McBride stressed that he would simply
not be able to race if it were not for the support of these fine companies.
McBride thanked; Pingel Enterprise,
Trim-Tex Drywall Products, Drag Specialties-Parts Unlimited, Red Line
Synthetic Oil Corporation as well as his other sponsors:
Vance & Hines Motorsports, Muzzys
Performance, Web-Cam, Kibblewhite Precision Machine, Vanson Leathers,
Performance Machine, Kawasaki USA, Belt Drives Ltd, Street & Competition,
Trac Dynamics, Simpson Race Products, Nitrous Express, APE, EK Chain,
Arias Pistons, R&D Spring Corp, Autolite, MSD, Protect ALL, Whipple
Industries, Cometic Gaskets, B&J Transmission, Carolina Cycle, L.A.
Sleeve, PJ1 Nology Engineering, Mickey Thompson Tires, Corbin Seats,
Stark Masonry, and Valco.
