Full NHRA Top Fuel Motorcycle Coverage from Route 66
NHRA Pingel Top Fuel Motorcycle Joliet race coverage report
event: NHRA Route 66 Nationals
when: May 16-18, 2025
where: Route 66 Raceway, Joliet, Illinois, USA
There was one NHRA Pingel Top Fuel Motorcycle win that eluded Larry “Spiderman” McBride in 2024, but that box is already checked for ’25. McBride handily won the Route 66 Nationals held May 16-18 in Joliet, Illinois.
Much like that first event, though, McBride started off in the hole with a tire-smoking first qualifying pass. “The track was hot,” Larry reported about that pass, and that would be the only of two scheduled on Friday that the class would get. High winds canceled the program completely for the rest of the day even after the winds limited the 1000 foot class to the eighth mile.
But Larry and his brother/tuner Steve McBride were de-tuned and ready to get down the track whenever it would happen and at whatever distance.
“We actually cut a couple of clutch flow valves completely off and just let it run on primaries to get it down the track. We cut number one and number two clutch flows completely off. That limits how fast the clutch cannon moves.
“The track got a ton better on Saturday with cloud cover,” continued Larry, who improved to a 3.81 at 211 mph (eighth mile) to finish as number one qualifier. “That’s about a 4.81 to 1000 feet. We actually ran a 3.67 (eighth) last year.
Top Fuel Harley record holder Bob Malloy was hot on McBride’s heals with a 3.84 run on his Chuck Redfern-owned, Sam Wills chassis with a supercharged Puma inline 4 cylinder—a similar engine configuration to McBride. They ran Q2 in the same pair. “It was really cool running with Larry side-by-side like that,” said Malloy.
National number two Mitch Brown (also a Puma I4) was a step back at 4.02, Finland’s Elmeri Salakari 4.23 (blown, dual overhead cam, 4 valve per cylinder, hybrid fuel “Harsh” V-Twin), and Maine’s Micah Fenwick 4.73 (John Alwine designed blown ATF-1 inline 4).
McBride opened Saturday evening’s first round of eliminations with the bye and ran 3.79 at 210. “That would basically be a 5.79 in the quarter mile,” said Larry, who also noted that they’d opened the number two clutch flow valve back up just a touch.
Malloy beat Fenwick and Salakari took out Brown in a really great race. The Finn took the tree .086 to .135, then held the advantage with a 3.97 to Brown’s 3.98. “Good race between Mitch—nice side-by-side pass,” said Salakari. “Nice way to end the day.”
McBride had lane choice against Salakari in round two on Sunday and schooled the much younger rider with an .065 to .110 advantage at the tree. Elmeri improved slightly to a 3.94 while Larry stayed consistent with a 3.81 for the win.
“Friday, I was so nervous because I hadn’t made a pass in six months,” said Salakari, who let out at about 400 feet in Q1. “Then on Saturday we were ready in the morning to run and we got pushed back a lot and eventually when we had our second qualifier, the bike just died on me while trying to run it to the burnout box. I was furious.
“Sunday, I was against Larry and we tried to push the bike but made a little error with the clutch and Larry just pulled on me. Made an error and closed the throttle because it was so depressing to see him pulling away. Overall good weekend.”
As for McBride, he and his brother Steve had chosen to make a step back on the conservative side to make sure they didn’t repeat the tire smoke of E1. “We had taken number three clutch flow and backed it down, and turned number two back off just to get down the track. The track was good but it wasn’t stellar, so t’s better to be safe than sorry, right?”
Malloy agrees and just took the tree on his bye run, indicating either a conservative approach or a problem. Turns out it was a problem—one that would prevent him from making the call against McBride in the final.
“Unfortunately, we lost oil pressure and could not make the run,” said Malloy. The guys worked for three hours chasing the gremlin but didn’t find it.”
With no one in the other lane for the final, the McBrides chose to loosen up a bit and roll the dice.
“Against Bobby, our plan was to go ahead and cut number three valve down some more, just to be safer,” said Larry. “But when he couldn’t make the call, we decided we would open it back up, and open number two up just a little bit. And it did exactly what we thought it was going to do, which is smoke the tire.”
Malloy is still learning how to control his bike with the FuelTech ECU, and undoing things that were set in the box before he got his hands on it. “I am making strides,” said Bob. “it’s so many pages, and there’s so many layers deep, that it’s pretty intense. And I don’t know anything about it, so we’re learning as we go because I’m used to Racepak stuff. It’s literally taken four or five races to get all the bugs worked out.
“We broke a crank Saturday night and we put a new motor in. Sunday, we started it, and had good oil pressure. We started it a second time, getting ready to flip it to fuel, and the oil pressure just started dropping, dropping, dropping, and dropping. We couldn’t get it fixed, and I wasn’t going up there with no oil pressure.
“It killed me, but it is what it is. Nothing’s ever come easy to me. But I looked up from the last race and we picked up a half a second to the eighth mile since the first race I ran the bike at. Congratulations to Larry and team for a great weekend.”
Brown co-owns his bike with Dennis Bradley and has Pro Mod driver Todd Martin helping tune with their bike’s FuelTech controlled and fired system.
“It’s been a whirlwind last month waiting for parts, getting everything done, and then a quick test session a week before Chicago,” said Brown. “And I am happy with our performance for only having three and a half short runs on the bike with the new fuel system.
“Todd did an exceptional job of getting the fuel curve where the bike would go down the track safely and not hurt anything. We ran 4.03 in Tulsa on an early shut-off, and 4.02 and 3.98 in Chicago on early shut-off runs. The bike is fat and lazy because we have it set up safe. I don’t think it has touched the wheelie bars yet this season. We have a lot of work to do to get it to be quick, but we will get there I’m sure.
“I feel very blessed to have been on this journey for 39 years racing dragbikes with so many great people. Thank you to all that follow, support, and care about our race team. It means the world to me and the whole team.”
“Chicago has not treated as well over the last two years,” said Fenwick. “Last year we made some decent qualifying laps, but failed to get down the track first round due to a faulty start-up fuel can.
“This year we went in with an all new fuel system and very little prior testing. We did get to go to Epping once and lit the tire off at the hit the first time. Took a bunch of weight off the clutch, lit the tire again, took more weight off and some nitro out of it on the third hit, and we did get down the track with some pretty decent numbers to go by, so we thought we could use that tune-up in Chicago.
“Unfortunately that wasn’t the case, We were unable to get the tune-up right and never made it down the track on all four cylinders. We will regroup.”
McBride had a long list of sponsors and team to credit. “I would like to thank Pingel Enterprise, Drag Specialties, Vance & Hines Motorsports, Bill Miller Engineering, Trim-Tex, Web Cam, Worldwide Bearings, A.P.E., Final Swipe, Mickey Thompson Tires, Red Line Oil, Torrence Racing, Simpson Race Products, Goodridge Hose and Fitting, Belt Drives Ltd., B&J Transmission, Beringer Brakes, Boninfante Friction, Brocks Performance, BST Wheels, Cometic Gaskets, D.M.E., Ferrea Valves, Kibbelewhite, LA Sleeve, MPS, PR Factory Store, Valco, Dave Dunigan and Jimmy Brantley.
“Also, my crew chief and brother Steve McBride, Chuck Stuart, Roland Stuart, Charley Lynch, and Braylon Rooker.”
Like everyone, Malloy is looking forward to the next Top Fuel Motorcycle race in the McBride’s backyard—the Virginia NHRA Nationals in Dinwiddie on June 20-22.
“Are we there yet?” he says about having McBride-beating performance. “Maybe not. But are we getting better? Absolutely, that’s all I can say.
“I’ve had a lot of help. Larry’s helped me a lot. He’s working for the betterment of the sport.”
As are Wayne and Donna Pingel, as their Pingel Enterprise is doing what it takes to keep these 1600+ horsepower, two-wheeled beasts on track and in competition.
See you in Virginia!
story by Eatmyink Motorsport Media’s Tim Hailey provided courtesy of Pingel Enterprise.
