Hogslayer to roar again at Dragstalgia.
The Norton twin-engined machine that dominated motorcycle drag racing back in the 1970’s is to feature at this year’s Dragstalgia event at Santa Pod on July, 5-7. A small group of seasoned drag racing motorcyclists wanted to recognise the huge contribution that US rider Tom ‘TC’ Christenson, and engineer and tuner John Gregory, made to the sport of motorcycle drag racing. It is especially relevant following Tom Christenson’s passing in 2023.
Christenson worked at Sunset Motors, which was owned by Gregory and was inspired to build a Norton-engined double drag bike after seeing a double-engined Triumph raced by raced by Boris Murray, one of the top drag racers of the late 1960s. With the Norton double, Christenson soon became the man to beat and the bike earned its Hogslayer moniker after beating many of the Top Fuel class Harley-Davidson drag bikes of the era.
Christenson eventually bought Sunset Motors off Gregory who remained working there and between them they built three different versions of the bike as Hogslayer became the Top Fuel drag bike to beat in the 1970s, though Christenson always said that Gregory was the brains behind the project. The 1620cc, nitro-fuelled engine produced over 300bhp and featured innovations like the first slipper clutch, fuel injection, two-speed gearbox, and a specially made eight-inch wide M&H rear slick (when most racing tyres were only four inches wide). Christenson ran mid-7s quarter-miles, set numerous world records and won the NHRA Top Fuel title at Indianapolis in 1976.
Hogslayer made several appearances in the UK, including demos at Silverstone and Snetterton but most notably at Santa Pod, running against fellow American Danny Johnson who campaigned a Harley, and Brit John Hobbs who raced a double-engined Weslake ‘Hobbit’.
The announcement of Hogslayer being restored for track action at this year’s Dragstalgia, appropriately came on the day that John Gregory celebrated his 90th birthday. Photojournalist and author Keith Lee has kept in touch with John for over 50 years, and has passed on very useful information from him to help run the bike. John commented: “It is great that you guys are doing this. I just wish I was there to see it run again.”
From a kernel of an idea, Neil Baskerville, son of Ray, who was a respected builder and rider back in the day, approached Chris Illman to ask what were the chances of approaching the National Motorcycle Museum to see if we could borrow Hogslayer to display at Dragstalgia as a fitting tribute to Christenson and Gregory.
Chris, who has a long-standing relationship with the National Motorcycle Museum, approached Museum Director James Hewing, to ask if he would grant permission for Hogslayer to be released for display at Dragstalgia. Not only did he readily agree, but suggested: “If you can get it running again and ridden, that would be a real bonus!”
That was an offer not to be refused, and hopefully a long-held dream turned into a reality. What more encouragement do we need?
Having been on static display at the National Motorcycle Museum for some 20 years since coming from the USA in 2004, it was clear that a considerable amount of work would be required. Plans are currently in place to relocate the machine to secure premises in Hertfordshire, where recommissioning will be carried out.
*The video, ‘Hogslayer, The Unapproachable Legend’, detailing the history of Christenson’s and Gregory’s efforts with the bike, is available from various online outlets including the Santa Pod shop (santapodshop.com).