Drag racers have never really been slaves to convention. The reason for this stems back from the earliest days of the sport when there was no “right” way to do things. If you got to the other end first in a buggy powered by an airplane engine, so be it, no one was going to tell you that you were “doing it wrong.” Take this awesome story about “The Thing” a twin Harley knucklehead powered drag bike from the early 1950s for example. These guys were brilliant lunatics who would do whatever it took to be the quickest and fastest on Sunday.
Built by John Bozzie and Walter Ross at an Oakland, California, Harley Davidson dealership, the bike was soon the terror of the strips at Kingdon and New Jerusalem. Reportedly the bike ran 200 on dry lakes runs made in the Reno, Nevada, area and the Mojave desert. There seems to be no proof that this happened, but with the bike being able to turn 140 in the quarter mile, 200 mph does not seem like a fantasy.
It is interesting to note that motorcycles versus cars rivalry was a pretty big deal in the early 1950s with bikes this this one and Chet Herbert’s “Beast” which was a nitro powered Harley knucklehead powered machine that was mopping up some of the So-Cal strips. The way the story goes, Dick Kraft built “The Bug”, which is recognized as the first dragster to end the reign of “The Beast” at strips like Santa Ana.
While “The Beast” was one hell of a bike, “The Thing” has wild visual impact with those twin knucklehead motors line up end to end. The story behind the machine is an awesome glimpse into the colorful history of drag racing and hot rodding.
Source — Motorcycle-USA.com — The Thing: 1954 Twin Knucklehead Drag Bike
