Championship Drag Racing

Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals
Denver, CO
(July 15-17)

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Chip Ellis Kuryakyn/Lartigue Racing Buell Pro-Stock Bike

Denver, prerace: You can rest assured that for the next several months the weather conditions will be hot. G-Squared Motorsports, owned by partners George Bryce and George Smith, and Chip Ellis, driver of the G Squared S&S Buell, hope to be hot also. But they want to be hot on the track beginning with the 26th annual NHRA Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway, near Denver, just north of the historic town of Morrison, Colo., this weekend.

“We finished last year with a bang – going quick and winning Las Vegas,” said Bryce. “This year everybody, including us, was surprised that we didn’t jump out of the gate galloping. We started the year at a trot but have been making up ground as the season progresses.

“Competition picked up some over the winter. We didn’t get passed the second round until the fourth race. Then, in the fifth race at Chicago, we took home the win. Although we have run well since then, like Afleet Alex in the Kentucky Derby, we have stumbled the last two races. But, like Afleet Alex, we hope to get hot. Denver should be a race that will be kind to the big cubic engines of the V-Twins.”

Bryce indicated the Competition Eliminator class is a good example of the cubic engine premise. They have cars with engines of all sizes in that class and if you look at the qualifying sheets for the races at Bandimere Speedway you will always see the big cubic inch engines at the front of the pack and hardly any small engine cars. Larger cubic inch engines produce more power at the higher elevation. Because of the altitude the same holds true for the bigger cubic inch Pro Stock Motorcycles like the V-Twin Buells and Harley Davidson V-Rods.

“But that will be just for this one race,” added Bryce, “then we’ll be back to the tracks that are at sea level and everything will equal out again. Our job will be to be hot from Denver on to the end of the season.”

Also, since Ellis left the starting line before the green light at the last race in St. Louis, he and Bryce have been working on Ellis’ starting line procedures and will utilize their new procedures beginning at Denver.

“We’re going to focus on the things we’ve been doing right and do more of those and do less of the things we’ve been doing wrong. Instead of trying to be the quickest on the lights, Chip has a goal that he is going to make sure that every light is a green light start,” said Bryce.

Looking forward to the last half of the season, George Smith shared these thoughts.

“There have been several reasons we failed to pick up at the beginning of this season like we ended 2004,” said Smith. “The greatest among those has been the loss of Ken Johnson, although all the guys from both G Squared and S&S Cycle have stepped up to fill the void.

“Our biggest downfall has been the lack of consistency and again the guys at G2 and S&S have been working closely to insure that we have maximum performance on each and every run. I think you will see us step up and realize this goal during the last half of the year. Denver will be a pivotal race for our team.”

Smith also added, “The other teams that are S&S-powered, the bikes of Ryan Schnitz, Chris Rivas, Matt Guidera and David Feazell, are performing outstandingly well and I expect that they will continue to do well for the remainder of the season.

“While we will continue to lend a helping hand to these teams and others as they are added, our main focus is and always has been directed at the G Squared S&S-powered entry with Chip Ellis aboard.”   

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