There are lots of great stories in the annals of drag racing that deserve attention, so we’re always interested when one does. Jim Cutting is the man who made the documentary, “Hogslayer: The Unapproachable Legend”. This is the tale of two men from Wisconsin, TC Christenson and John Gregory who took on and dominated Top Fuel motorcycle racing in the early 1970s with, of all things, a twin engined Norton. This was a machine no one saw coming and everyone saw the back end of during their glory years. Since Harleys were the dominant brand at the drags, on virtually all levels during this time period, Christenson and Gregory named the bike, “Hogslayer”.

The mechanical brains behind the operation was John Gregory, one of the breed of empirical thinkers that have shaped and molded the sport of drag racing for decades. He opened a motorcycle shop in Kenosha, Wisconsin called, “Sunset Motors” and this would eventually become ground zero for one of the neatest operations in the history of motorcycle drag racing.

The man who rode the wheels off of the Hogslayer was TC Christenson. TC was Gregory’s perfect foil. Where Gregory preferred to be nose deep into the motorcycle, toiling and innovating, TC loved the camera and the camera loved him. During their glory years, the guys and the bike were featured in magazines and media all over the world, and they traveled to match. As one would expect the motorcycle was beloved in England, where the men were seen as heroes for carrying the Norton banner in a place no one else thought to, the rough and tumble drag strips of America.

The film is narrated primarily through interviews with TC and Gregory, telling stories, recounting races, and talking about all of their wild times on the road. There is LOTS of kick ass footage from the 1970s along with some sound of the twin engine, nitro swilling Norton.

On the technical side, there’s lots of good stuff. One of the neater things is about how the guys convinced Hilborn to develop an injector for their first Top Fuel bike which was a 750cc, single engine Norton. The first race they attended with the single engine bike, the tech guys wanted to classify it as a Jr. Fuel bike but the guys demanded that they run Top Fuel and ended up coming in 2nd place against all of the Harleys. At the next race, they saw the twin engine Harleys and decided then and there to build one of their own, with Norton power.

The single most impressive homegrown innovation that Gregory came up with was a two speed transmission that he constructed out of parts from a Borg Warner overdrive. He machined his own case and crafted the transmission on his own. It shifted by foot, so TC could remain at full throttle while making gear changes. Once the guys had this sorted out, the world was literally their oyster.

This is a really neat film and we’re not going to give you all the details of the story here. There are a few pretty touching moments in the documentary, one of which comes at the end when John Gregory talks about the most famous version of the Hogslayer and how the bike is on display at the British Motorcycle Museum. It is clear that this bothers him and he is nearly moved to tears talking about the machine that he worked into one of the greatest two wheeled drag machines of all time.

The period footage is awesome and it clearly looks like TC and Gregory really lived it up during the early 1970s, as they should have.

Two big BangShift thumbs up for this documentary. Jim Cutting has done a fantastic job telling one of drag racing’s lesser known but totally awesome stories. Nothing is cooler in our book than guys going against the grain, using their minds and hands more than their wallet to kick the hell out of everyone in their path!

If you are a drag racing fan, especially one that loves the history of the sport, this is a must own film!

Click here to buy a copy for about $20.00!