Just got back from Las Vegas where the wife and I got to take in the NHRA drags. We make a pilgrimage to warmer climes to ride and enjoy a break from winter.
Didn't know it before we got there, but they had 10 Nitro Harley's as an exhibition. We don't get anything like that in the Pacific NW and it was more than a treat to see these guys.
Fast qualifier was Doug Horne with a 6.24 at 224 mother-freaking mph. He carried the front wheel to the 1000 ft. mark and was hanging off the left side to keep it in the lane. (I mean to say that you could see the front wheel in the air and motionless as he went down the track.)
Very cool and he wasn't the only one to make runs like that.
Without exaggeration, those guys made the most impressive runs of the weekend and the NHRA would do well to make them a permanent part of every show (including the TV coverage). I'll ride many miles to see them again, and soon.

 

I've gone to see them too and its pretty awesome.

 

Don't mind watching them but it's to fast for me.

 

They are very cool to watch. I enjoy watching all of the NHRA classes. Here's an old copy and paste with some cool facts.

There are no rockets or airplanes built by any government in the world that can accelerate from a standing start as fast as a Top Fuel Dragster or Funny Car!

DEFINITION OF ACCELERATION

One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows of stock cars at the Daytona 500.

It takes just 15/100ths of a second for all 6,000+ horsepower of an NHRA Top Fuel dragster engine to reach the rear wheels.

Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2 gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.

A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster's supercharger.

With 3,000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition.

Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.

At the stoichiometric (stoichiometry: methodology and technology by which quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions are determined) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture of nitro methane, the flame front temperature measures 7,050 deg F.

Nitro methane burns yellow... The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.

Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.

Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. A after halfway, the engine is dieseling from compression, plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1,400 deg F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting the fuel flow.

If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half.

In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4G's. In order to reach 200 mph (well before half-track), the launch acceleration approaches 8G's.

Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed reading this sentence.

Top fuel engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light! Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load.

The redline is actually quite high at 9,500 rpm.

A assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimate $1,000.00 per second.

The current top fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.428 seconds for the quarter mile (11/12/06, Tony Schumacher, at Pomona , CA ). The top speed record is 336.15 mph as measured over the last 66' of the run (05/25/05 Tony Schumacher, at Hebron , OH ).

Putting all of this into perspective:

You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter 'twin-turbo' powered Corvette Z06. Over a mile up the road, a top fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down a quarter mile strip as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the 'Vette hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line and pass the dragster at an honest 200 mph. The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment.

The dragster launches and starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums and within 3 seconds, the dragster catches and passes you. He beats you to the finish line, a quarter mile away from where you just passed him.

Think about it, from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you 200 mph and not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1,320 foot long race course.

...... and that my friend, is ACCELERATION!

 

I too am addicted to these Nitro beasts.Last time I went ears rang for three days and it was worth every minute.Always thought I wanted to pilot one of those monsters.Our new V8 bike is as close as I will ever get to that kind of raw power.

 

I grew up near Dragway 42 outside West Salem, OH. Even with the much lower power back in the 1960s - 1970s, a AA fuel, later Top Fuel, dragster was just simply the most overwhelming experience, especially for a young kid/teenager. Cat named Joe Schubeck was my hero. And then there were the big boys who came to town - Garlits, Kalitta, Sneaky Pete Robinson, ...

Yes!

 

Showing my age spent time at Dragway 42 myself. Remembr Rick Case Bike bike even there and watched Evil jump 13 semis I even have pixctures from back then. It has to be 1973

 

on board video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqoZbAgOzhQ

 

Nice vid, jo mama. Turn the volume up all the way for full effect. And it happens just that quick....and even quicker.
Notice how those nitro engines don't rev out? They run 191 cubes and make in the range of 900 hp. The clutch does all the work.
They were more fun to watch than even the nitro funny's and dragsters. Speed addicted does not begin to describe those single-slick nitro pilots.

 

Hmm, Interesting, I didn't think NHRA wanted the Nitro harley's, wonder how that would effect the Pro stock bike's they run now.

They have been running Nitro Harleys for a long time in the IHRA, I have seen them run in Edmonton and they are quite the show. From what I remember there was at least 2 or 3 bikes from the Vancouver {Canada} area so I'm kinda surprised that you haven't seen them run in the Pacific Northwest somewhere. I just assumed they would do some racing in Mission {B.C.} and Spokane is there a track in Seattle? or Portland?

Check around you might not have to go as far as you think to see them!