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Star on the Rise
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A new rider, new collaboration and cutting-edge projects add up to a bright future for Star Racing
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By Brian Wood Photos courtesy/by Roger Richards, Brian Wood and Star Racing |
Since its inception in 1979, Americus, Georgia-based Star Racing has come to represent the best in professionalism and competitive achievement in the ranks of Pro Stock Motorcycle. Few will argue that owners George and Jackie Bryce have created a motorcycle drag racing powerhouse the likes of which has seldom been seen before. Through the 2003 NHRA POWERade season, bikes that George has ridden, owned or served as crew chief for have won nearly 60 national events and countless other races. During that time, six Pro Stock Motorcycle World Championship trophies have made their way into Star's expansive hardware collection, courtesy of the late, great John Meyers and the dynamic Angelle Savoie. In fact, over a 13-year period, Star racing bikes finished either first or second in NHRA points.
It wasn't always easy, of course, especially as the constantly escalating cost of competing at the national event level demanded that George spend as much time in corporate boardrooms as he did on the racetrack. Deservedly, Star's big breakthrough came in 1998 when R.J. Reynolds tapped Angelle to carry their Winston colors in the racing series they then sponsored. After finishing second in championship points in 1998 and 1999, the former nurse from Louisiana reeled off three straight title-winning seasons between 2000 and 2002. Unfortunately, the heady days of Star's well-financed domination of the class appeared to be in serious jeopardy after Winston announced that they would be stepping down as series sponsor after the 2001 season. Worst of all, however, the tragic events of September 11, 2001 would send shock waves through every segment of life in the United States , and that meant that the way the corporate world did business was altered profoundly. Ultimately, that spelled disaster for the sporting community, which depends on big corporations for their very existence.
George Bryce and Star Racing were among those devastated by the turn of events, as he recalled. “Winston had announced that they were going to turn us loose after the 2001 season, so both Angelle and I were negotiating with major companies to replace them when airplanes started flying into buildings,” he said. “As a matter of fact, it was that very day, September 11, 2001, that we had a big meeting set up. Of course, the whole world stopped and all corporate spending virtually came to a halt overnight. “Just two or three months later the NHRA were supposed to announce their new POWERade connection, but after 9/11 they weren't sure if they even had a series sponsor,” Bryce continued. “In fact, there wasn't a single sponsor signed for any NASCAR Winston Cup or NHRA teams or series. It was months and months and months before there were any marketing dollars turned loose anywhere.” In the hunt for a third straight PSB title in 2002, Bryce and Savoie overcame obstacle after obstacle to secure the hat trick, but in the end, it was to be their swan song.
“We struggled through the 2002 season, partly with a Cvek deal and partially with a Mohegan Sun deal, and were fortunate enough to take our third championship,” said Bryce. “Unfortunately, we knew then it was time to make some hard decisions. At the time, we wanted to race together no matter what. We had worked real hard over a six year period to develop our value, and Angelle had an idea in her mind what she was worth to a race team and a sponsor, so she had her price set, and I knew what it took to contend for a championship and I had my price set as well. When you added the two together, it was a really big number. Realistically, in the corporate climate that prevailed at the time, we mutually decided that if I couldn't come up with enough money to race and she couldn't come up with enough money to race, then we would have to pull the plug.
“I ended up parking my 18-wheeler, and immediately after I did, Antron Brown and his team started talking to Angelle about putting a deal together that would allow her to continue racing, and hopefully find a new sponsor. In the long run, that ended up being successfully for them.” With Angelle's path at least temporarily mapped out, Bryce faced a more uncertain future. The perennial top dog in Pro Stock Motorcycle suddenly found himself without a team and a rider and unable to defend his 2002 title. Being the consummate professional that he is, however, Bryce rolled with the punches and soon some interesting alternatives presented themselves.
“There was this group of guys from Dallas who had a club called Area 51, and they decided that they wanted to go racing,” recalled Bryce. “They saw where Angelle and I had split, so they contacted me and asked how they could get into the place she had been. After some negotiations, I agreed to sell them a bike, some engines and lease them a crew. Fred Collis would ride for them, and they would have to provide their own truck and come up with a fee on a per-race basis.” At least Star Racing would be represented in the NHRA for 2003, and Bryce protégé Collis would gain some valuable experience, but there was another deal coming down the pike that would further improves Star's exposure in the arena they so long ruled, as Bryce explained.
“A few weeks after the Area 51 deal took place, Tracy Slemker, of Prosthetics Design, Inc. who was Reggie Showers' boss, came to visit me. He asked how he could get my talent and our group to help Reggie become a more competitive racer. We both agreed that Reggie had all the pieces necessary, but he just couldn't get the exposure he needed because he just wasn't successful enough on the racetrack. It took a lot of work to come up with a plan whereby I could charge for my time and my team's time in order to prepare Reggie's motorcycles and engines, as well as have me wear Reggie's shirt and go to the racetrack.
“It was a radical departure for me to go from being a team owner and champion to being a hired crew chief, but by the time we added the Area 51 and PGI deals together, it looked to be a pretty successful racing effort from our company's standpoint,” said Bryce. “I've said it many times that my primary focus last year was to provide jobs for my crew. We've been in business for a long time and I felt that it was my responsibility to shop around to find work that would be successful and lucrative enough to allow us to continue to grow as a company. “Now, it was unfortunate for us that Angelle and I had to split in order for it to happen, because added together we were pretty powerful,” said Bryce. “We could go out and win anywhere at any time. However, in the wake of the September 11 tragedy, there wasn't a corporate entity that could assemble the money that was required for the both of us to continue racing together, and that's the bottom line.” Having finally gotten the train back on the rails, however, another unexpected twist threatened to wipe out some of the Star team's efforts. “After just a couple of races in 2003, the Area 51 group ran out of money, and they bailed out, leaving Fred, Ken Johnson and myself, along with the rest of the crew here, struggling along with a few little associate sponsorship deals.”
On the other hand, however, Bryce's association with Showers paid big dividends, as the likeable racer from Philadelphia , a double amputee whose remarkable comeback from a childhood accident gained him nationwide attention, had a career year in 2003. During that season, Showers scored the first two national event wins of his nine-year career, taking the “Wally” in Indianapolis and Memphis . He also advanced to the championship round in Joliet , Illinois , earned the first No. 1 qualifying position of his career in Brainerd , Minnesota , and recorded his quickest elapsed time (7.07 seconds) and fastest top speed (194.27 mph). The highlight of Showers and Bryce's year came during the prestigious US Nationals in Indianapolis , however, where the Prosthetic Design team won both the biggest race of the drag racing season and the K&N Filters Pro Stock Bike Klash, an annual all-star event. With another tumultuous season in the record books, the surprise endings still weren't over for Star Racing, however. Sometime earlier, George Smith, one of the owners of S&S cycle, had approached Bryce about going Pro Stock racing with an S&S-powered V-Twin, an offer Bryce immediately accepted. “We knew that if we collaborated we could eventually build a competitive bike by combining all the resources, knowledge and talent of S&S and Star Racing,” he said. “In order to do that, we had to continue with our racing program, because the plan at that time was to develop Fred Collis into our V-Twin driver for the future.
“Originally, we had hoped to debut the V-Twin bike at Indianapolis in 2003, but lots of manufacturing and scheduling maladies prevented us from getting it done on time,” Bryce added. “Even now, we're not completely done with the new bike, but we're working hard to get it ready for the beginning of the 2004 season. Of course, Fred is no longer with us at this point, having basically run out of gas much like the Area 51 guys had done. He was funding a portion of that effort out of his own pocket, and he decided that since he had worked a lot of years to make money rather than spend it he was going to retire from drag racing.”
On top of Collis tendering his resignation, Reggie Showers also decided that he was going to retire, at least temporarily, after his career-best season in 2003. “He figured that he had a great story to tell and he wanted to try and make a career out of that,” noted Bryce. “He would like to come back out and compete sometime, but right now he wants to concentrate on this new phase of his life and experience some things he was missing by being so wrapped up in his racing career.” So, with the slate wiped clean, so to speak, it was time for a little of the magic that had always sustained the winning efforts of Star Racing to come into play, and if preliminary accounts are accurate, it looks like there are more than a few stars on the rise in Georgia once again. “We had thought that Fred was going to be our man for the future, as I said, but as things turned out it looks like we have someone else who will fill that spot,” said Bryce. “Her name is Angie McBride, a nurse from the Winston-Salem area of North Carolina. She and her boyfriend Landon Ingram built an Outlaw Street bike for her to ride in a no-wheelie-bar class, and they came to us about a year ago to see if we could help them out. We developed an engine program for them, and maintained it all last year. In just her first full season of racing, Angie went on to win the Southeastern Motorcycle Drag Racing Association (SEMDRA) series championship and place second in the MIR/ROCK series, which was very impressive.
“She told me a couple of times that she was really interested in running Pro Stock sometime, and I had to remind her just what a big commitment that would take. She wouldn't be able to have a regular job, because she would have to focus fully on racing, and originally I just wasn't sure if it was the right time in her career for her to make such a big move. I also told her that she would have to go to school and learn how to ride all over again, because a no-wheelie-bar bike is one thing, and a Pro Stock bike is something else altogether.” Having the skill, determination and commitment to a embark on a full-tine racing career were never an issue for the 24-year-old McBride, as Bryce and the rest of the drag racing community would soon find out. “Angie came to our Frank Hawley Drag Racing School in Gainesville three times and showed us just how talented and dedicated she really is,” he said. “She did great the first time, was unbelievable the second time, and knocked our socks off the third time. She let it be known in no uncertain terms that sacrifice didn't matter – she was willing to do whatever it took to achieve her goals and dreams. Taking everything into consideration, G Squared Motorsports, the company George Smith and I have formed, has officially hired Angie to ride our Pro Stock entry in NHRA POWERade competition beginning this season. In addition to riding for us, she's going to be a professional marketing spokesperson for all of the companies that we will be connected with.” With a reputation for building great motorcycles, developing great riders and winning championships, Bryce is nevertheless totally realistic about his chances of regaining the stature that Star Racing once held. “We know the road to the top is getting steeper all the time – the competition is tougher than ever. When John and Angelle were riding for us, we were number one or two 13 years in a row. The level of competition has increased dramatically since then. To win a race now is unbelievably hard compared to what it was at one time. To say that we were going to go out and dominate or win three in a row or whatever would be a ridiculous statement to make. At this point Angie has a tall enough order just to go out and ride well enough to qualify for the elite field of 16. We're going to have a fast motorcycle, and she's capable of doing the job, so we're going to concentrate on the ABCs of getting the bike down the track as quickly as possible. Through the experience I've gained over the years I find that if you concentrate on that, then the wins will come on their own.
“There's no doubt that Angie has some big shoes to fill,” Bryce continued. “After all, Star Racing has the reputation of producing championship-winning riders, and people are going to be expecting a lot out of her. She's a great person and a real talent, so we're all going to put forth our best effort and see where it leads. It's a fantastic opportunity for all of us. “We're certainly shooting to be number two in the voting for NHRA Rookie of the Year honors this season,” Bryce added, with tongue firmly planted in cheek. “Normally, we'd be setting our sights on taking the top spot, but with Eric Medlin taking Tony Pedregon's spot on John Force's Funny Car team, well, that award is a bought and paid for, country club kind of deal, and you can quote me on that. Not to take anything away from Eric, but that's just the way things go. Now, if he trips and stubs his toe a few times, and Angie wins some races, then we have a shot at it, but from here the Force-Medlin Rookie of the Year award looks like a slam dunk.” In addition to Star Racing's rejuvenated racing effort, the collaborative efforts of George Smith and George Bryce have already spawned a number of exciting racing and street bike projects, as Bryce explained. “G Squared Motorsports (Team G2) is a company that George Smith and I have formed to develop motorcycle engines and bikes. George is 25% owner and Chairman of the Board of S&S Cycle, and his son Brett is President of Operations. George is a powerful individual in the industry and he commands a lot of respect. Needless to say, his experience and knowledge are welcome here at Star Racing. Overall, the focus of G Squared will be on late-model hot rod V-Twins. For example, we plan to do a turbocharged V-Rod for the street, a 200-horsepower, twin-cam-style late model Harley-Davidson hot rod bike and some street-legal, nine-second V-Twins that can run on the drag strip.
“We primarily plan to use the resources of both Star Racing and S&S Cycle to design and manufacture new hot rod parts for Harley-Davidson motorcycles,” Bryce continued. “Here at Star, we've been working with the same Suzuki-designed engine for nearly 20 years now, and with the experience and knowledge we've gained during that time we're actually on an incline as far as performance is concerned, so we have to stick with that to a degree. Even though S&S specializes in V-Twin engines, I'm blessed by the fact that George is open-minded enough to want to learn about every kind of engine. We figured that between the resources at Star and the resources at S&S, a collaborative effort would end up enhancing both engine designs.” More times than not, anyone attempting to introduce something new to the world of professional drag racing has to tiptoe through a political minefield, and the new G Squared V-Twin Pro Stock machine is no exception. “As far as our racing a Harley-Davidson goes, well, we can't call it one,” said Bryce. “The NHRA and Harley-Davidson marketing people have made sure of that, because it's not a true Harley to them. Instead, it's going to be called an ‘S&S Powered American V-Twin with 2004 Buell XB9R bodywork'.”
With such a successful record of fielding championship-winning Suzuki motorcycles, how will Star/Team G2 decide on their ride of the future? “Right now we're keeping all of our options open, as George Smith likes to say,” said Bryce. “Angie is our rider, and she'll be on whatever we race. We might end up with a second effort, and possibly field a four-cylinder, inline TL Suzuki and a V-Twin. If we do, it'll probably be a medium-sized guy, somebody like Fred, but we just don't know who it is right now. That person will do some development runs for us and compete with the V-Twin until it becomes a race-winning combination. We're sure not going to go out and flop and flounder around with the V-Twin for a marketing effort or because of a commitment to a sponsor. Whatever we race will guarantee that we're making our best effort to win. Our long-term goal down the road is to have two competitive V-Twins, as well as continue our four-cylinder engine development.” As Bryce knows all to well, fielding a competitive Pro Stock Bike team is an expensive proposition, but fortunately the collaborative efforts of Star and S&S have yielded a plan of action that will insure that Team G2 will be able to concentrate on winning races rather than worry about where the money to get to the next event will be coming from.
“By teaming up, we now have substantial resources, and while we are still actively pursuing sponsorship, the collaboration of George Smith and myself in G Squared Motorsports will allow us to put forth a substantial marketing effort,” said Bryce. “Initially, this will get the racing program off the ground and give Angie the best possible opportunity to become a competitive racer. We believe that if we market our program the right way then the companies that want to become involved will line up. It's not going to be one of those things where we run out of gas by the end of the year. We've got it planned out very well, and we're going to run full speed. “We have several opportunities available that will allow us additional support for our racing this season, and one of the options we're really interested in is a custom bike giveaway program in conjunction with S&S and some prominent motorcycle builders,” continued Bryce. “We haven't ironed out who they will be yet, but our preliminary plan is to collaborate with three big name custom builders and have bikes built that would then be given away. We would have each bike in turn on display at NHRA events, and use them as a tow vehicle to run Angie up and down the racetrack. People would then have an opportunity to win the bike in a drawing, with a portion of the money raised going to charity. One thing that we are really interested in is the American Heart Association. Jackie Bryce's dad has heart trouble, Angie's dad had open heart surgery last year, and my dad died in heart surgery, so it's something that touches all of us.
“We think that this could be a very big deal, because it goes way outside the NHRA box,” Bryce added. “The interest in custom bikes is at an all-time high right now, and builders like Jesse James, Orange County Choppers, Arlen Ness and others, through a collaboration with S&S, would have an opportunity to wrap their arms around a project that would be very beneficial for everyone by generating dollars for the American Heart Association. Angie would be the perfect person to promote the program. We've got a lot of groundwork to lay yet, but we're going to have an Angie McBride shirt made up with the charity and bike giveaway information on it. We think this will be a big enough deal that we can take it to all the main web sites like CompetitionPlus and VTwinPlus, as well as the sites maintained by Star, S&S, NHRA, American Heart Association and the custom bike builders involved, among others. That way we could reach a very large number of people who would be interested in purchasing a ticket.” In addition to the new racing effort for 2004, the new partners are developing some awesome new engines and motorcycles for street and strip, as Bryce explained. “George and I have been working with S&S on a high-horsepower engine for a series of hot street bikes that we're planning to build. We started off with the S&S 145 Tribute engine, which is a 145-horsepower, 45-degree V-Twin that produces 180 rear-wheel horsepower. What we've done is carry that a little farther through the use of some state-of-the-art upgrades with the goal of developing 200-horsepower at the rear wheel. The bikes will feature push button start, charging system and have full street equipment. They won't be choppers per say, but will be long and low hot rod bike that a person can drive to the drag strip and run in the ‘nines' on the quarter-mile.
“Our first prototype was actually a 2003 100 th Anniversary Harley Super Glide that we bought brand new and transplanted a 133-cubic-inch S&S engine into. The bike weighed 800 pounds with me on it, and in full street legal trim I foot-shifted it down the quarter-mile in 9.21-seconds at 147-mph. In that configuration it cranks and drives real well, but by taking a little compression and cam out, it would be a little more streetable yet, and still run in the 9.40 to 9.50 range. Right now we're working to finalize a design for 25 exclusive bikes we're planning to build. We'll also manufacture and sell all the necessary pieces and parts so that people can build their own versions of this bike as well. “We also have a V-Rod engine project on the go for an AHDRA racer, Bryce continued. “We have replaced the stock pistons with 4-1/4” Wiseco pistons, which are the same size as the slugs in a 454 Chevy big block. We also installed oversized valves, bigger cams, ported heads, bigger throttle bodies and an enhanced fuel injection system. We expect to see an improvement from 100 rear-wheel horsepower to 160 rear-wheel horsepower.” Yet another extreme project on the go at Star is Bryce's 2003 100 th Anniversary Harley Road King. Another bike that was bought brand new, this beast is fitted with an S&S 124 engine, which doubled the horsepower from 62 at the rear-wheel to 125 at the rear-wheel. In addition, the factory stock 70 foot-pounds of torque was increased to 140. “We'll eventually turn this into a 10-second motorcycle, complete with bags and windshield, which you can drive to work,” said Bryce. “I ran 11.30 at 119 the first time I took it out. Now we're planning to put on a better set of cylinder heads, a better exhaust system and increase the flow of the carburetion in an effort to achieve 130 rear-wheel horsepower. We expect the bike to run in the ‘tens' by March. That's a real neat bike – you can be cruising along with the traffic out on the highway, nail the throttle and just spin sideways. It's awesome.” Real neat, Indeed! This one should have them standing in line. Just to be sure that he doesn't have too much spare time on his hands, Bryce is also still heavily involved with the Frank Hawley Drag Racing School in Gainesville, Florida. “Frank and I have been doing this for a lot of years now, and we have helped a large number of people become proficient enough to run in NHRA Pro Stock,” said Bryce. “The program is continuing to grow, I'm proud to say. Now, as we get these new engines and bikes developed, we'll add them to the school so eventually we'll have some 8 and 9-second S&S-powered V-Twin bikes for the students to ride. That will allow us to bring a larger audience to the school and teach more people to drag race. Also, eventually the bikes will be for sale right there at the school, so if a student really likes a certain bike real well. they can take it home with them.” Fortunately for drag racing fans everywhere, it appears that the George and Jackie, as well as the extended Star Racing family, have successfully negotiated the choppy waters of recent years, and emerged stronger and more focused than ever. If a new broom truly does sweep cleanest, then the combined talents of Angie McBride and Team G2 should prove to be a formidable power in Pro Stock Bike in the near future. And thanks to the brain trust formed by George Bryce, George Smith, Star Racing and S&S Cycle, an exciting new era for enthusiasts of hot street and strip bikes is about to be launched, and the prospects are mind-boggling. |
