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Two Wheel Terror Andrew Hines got in the way of Angelle Savoie’s quest for a fourth NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle series championship. He finished ahead of her by a mere 38 points.
He got in the way of her teammate, Antron Brown, who like Savoie had hoped to give Don Schumacher racing and its U.S. Army sponsor a championship to match Tony Schumacher’s in the Top Fuel class with "The Sarge." Hines also got in the way of Geno Scali’s desire to repeat his title, and of Shawn Gann’s effort that ended in a flashy-fashion fourth. But something got in the way of Andrew Hines’ plans -- drag racing. "Racing kind of took hold of my future," the 21-year-old said after becoming the National Hot Rod Association’s youngest champion in any class. He took the distinction from older brother Matt, a three-time Pro Stock Bike champion. a
d v e r t i s e m e n t How could that be? His dad, Byron Hines, had been racing motorcycles since he was younger than Andrew is now. After a tour of duty in Vietnam with the U.S. Army, Byron Hines collected his G.I. paycheck and got some I.G. -- instant gratification. He immediately bought a bike, a 750 Honda, and his two-wheeled career was on its way. Then when Matt was a young boy, he took to bikes and got a thrill racing dirt bikes at first.
Andrew had a few different ideas for himself, though. "I thought about being a doctor at one point," the quiet, six-foot-tall young man said. "Orthopedics." The opportunity to race came along first. However, the bike class was not his first choice. "The first thing I wanted to race was a Pro Stock Truck," Andrew Hines said. "We were kind of leaning that way. We were talking to guys about how to get a motor and chassis and what we need to do. Then they got rid of the class. So it was like, OK, fallback: Bike." His dream of repairing broken bones is on hold. "Maybe sometime" he said of his likelihood to pursue it. "I’ll stick to racing for now," he said. "It seems like I’m pretty good at it." a
d v e r t i s e m e n t It sure looks that way, although Hines claimed the title with nothing short of a disastrous weekend at the season finale, the Auto Club of Southern California NHRA Finals at Pomona (Calif.) Raceway. It was at Pomona that Matt won a youth dirt-bike championship in 1985 for which Andrew couldn't recall the sanctioning body, and it was on this track in 1999 that he secured his third title with eight points more than Savoie. All Andrew Hines had to do was put his Vance & Hines Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson in the lineup, anywhere among the 16 qualifiers. But he looked as though he might never make it.
He missed the cut in Thursday’s first session and rebounded Friday by running well enough for the 11th spot. He started 12th and lost in the first round to teammate G.T. Tonglet, whose 194.66-mph qualifying run was threatening Matt Hines' three-year-old national record. But that 12th spot was hard-earned. The chain on the bike broke at about the 300-foot mark on the 1,320-foot lane and tore through the machine’s body just before the finish line. It also bent the wheelie bar strut -- and left Hines with a sore ankle and some bruises, but the NHRA emergency medical staff examined and released him right away. Still, it was an unfamiliar scenario for Hines, who burst into the season in March at Gainesville by qualifying No. 1, giving Harley-Davidson its first NHRA triumph in front of the company brass making an impromptu trip to Florida to watch, and setting low elapsed time of the event during eliminations. It was nothing like his year-long performance, which included three victories, eight top-qualifier positions, and the national E.T. record (7.016, Englishtown, N.J.). Friends pitched in and helped him complete his mission. "Everybody's been pushing me, all my competitors," he said that afternoon. "They've helped me become a better rider, a better racer, and a better person."
Hines said, admiring the thought almost as much as his championship, "I'm friends with everybody out here. There are a lot of rivalries between us and other camps out here. It's just one big, happy family, and being friends with these guys taught me what I needed to do before I even came out here (as a licensed competitor). One person who really stands out in my mind who helped me with becoming a racer is Craig Treble." Treble was the first bike rider to congratulate Hines for securing the championship, something that has eluded him despite his relentless pursuit. Treble also joined outgoing champion Geno Scali that Saturday at Pomona in helping Hines slap together Harley-Davidson's two-year-old display bike. Using duct tape, some borrowed parts from respected bike-tuner Harry Lartigue, and some ingenuity, they fixed up Hines so he could make the Finals field and clinch the title -- with the precision and skill Hines had hoped he could show as an orthopedic specialist. "Everybody lent a hand. They just wanted to see me go down the track and lock up this championship," he said. a
d v e r t i s e m e n t "Hey, no problem," Treble said, shrugging off compliments about his camaraderie. "We're family." And that's from the intensely competitive Matco Tools Suzuki rider who once declared, "I'd walk through glass to have that No. 1 on my bike." The Treble and Hines connection goes back several years, and it has benefited both sides.
In 2000, Treble had weathered a divorce, undergone cosmetic surgery after a friend's dog bit him in the face, and blown seven motors he couldn't afford in the first place. The day he fried that seventh motor, he was ready to quit racing altogether. "He was packing it up. He was pretty down in the dumps," Matt Hines said. He told Treble, "You're not quitting. We have a motor in the trailer you can use." The kindness springboarded Treble into the most successful stretch of his career. He has finished in the top five each season since then. So why would the Hines family help a dangerous competitor such as Treble? "Aww, my dad likes him," Matt Hines said. "We need guys like him in the class. He's a real character. Before he came along, it was the Matt and Angelle Show. Now it's a free-for-all. He has an answer for everything." Treble had an answer for Andrew Hines at the Denver 2002 race. Hines was making his NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle debut, and he was having trouble at the Christmas tree.
"My best light was like a .550 in qualifying," Andrew Hines said, referring to days when NHRA calculations put a perfect reaction time at .400 of a second. "I had to race Reggie Showers first round. I knew Reggie would be tough on Sunday. I went over to Craig right after the fourth qualifying session and said, 'Man, I need help! Please help me! I know you have bracket racing [experience] and can cut a good light.' "We spent about four or five hours on the practice tree that night, and I went out the next day and had a .431 light," he said, recalling every detail. "Reggie beat me, but I was there." He said Treble "keeps me focused. If I ever get him in the other lane, I'll go for it, but he taught me how to be an excellent racer." Hines drew the distinction between being a rider and a racer. "Some people can get on these things and go down the track, and they can go fast. But other times, when there's a bike in the other lane and the pressure's on, let's say, for a points race and you need to win this round . . . "That's when know-how makes the difference. a
d v e r t i s e m e n t Admittedly, Andrew Hines learned first from his brother. "Matt taught me how to ride," he said. "First time I ever popped the clutch, he was standing right next to the bike, making sure I didn't do anything stupid. He's been by my side the whole time. Just watching him make a thousand passes over the last 10 years has helped me so much more than anything else."
The two work side by side in one room of their spacious new shop in Brownsburg, Ind., where they’re putting the finishing touches on the team’s two new bikes for next season. "We start talking and things start coming up about the past and how I'm doing now and how he's happy that he can be part of it still," Andrew Hines said. "He's been great in helping me get here. I owe a lot of credit to Matt." That was evident Saturday, Nov. 13, when he became emotional in acknowledging Matt's role in his life and career: "Just being able to follow in (Matt's) footsteps is an awesome thing. I watched Matt my whole life when I was growing up. Now he's out there watching me." Hines, like all winning racers, credited his entire crew. "I'm so happy that I'm the guy on the seat. I have an outstanding team around me. From my dad and my brother Matt, to Joe Vanderbrink, Greg Cope, Meredith Schultz, and Ray Veirs, I'd take this group over anyone. There isn't a better team in all of motorsports, in my opinion. I'm really just another name on the Vance & Hines roster of champions."
He called teammate Tonglet "a great racer" and described his brother as "an awesome racer" but said of himself, "I'm coming along, I think." Sounds humble? Hines knows he had better be humble or his competitors, in keeping with what any older brother would do, likely would give him a knuckle sandwich or worse. "My brother would first and then my dad," he said. Hines said he is not eager to top his brother’s three Pro Stock Motorcycle championships. "I’m not concerned about that," he said. "I just want to take it year by year, race by race, and see what happens." So far so good.
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