NHRA News: G-Squared Buell showed big promise in short span (12/1/2004)

G-Squared Buell showed big promise in short span

12/1/2004

Chip Ellis

Multiple championship-winning team owner George Bryce partnered with George Smith this year and debuted the instantly competitive G-Squared S&S Buell V-Twin. Ridden by a newcomer to NHRA competition, Chip Ellis, the group racked up a win and two No. 1 qualifying efforts in just four races, setting the table for a big 2005 charge.

"It was the most unusual year in my career thus far," Bryce said of his '04 campaign. "Several things were different. For one, I didn't have a bike compete in all the events during the year for the first time in my NHRA career, which started in 1988. Another was I had three different drivers for the first time. And most important, George Smith and I had a goal to make an S&S powered V-Twin competitive after 26 years of me racing Suzukis and Kawasakis. It has been one of the most challenging and, at times, the most frustrating year I've encountered in my racing career."

Because the Buell had not even made its first practice lap and wasn't ready, G-Squared started the season at the Gatornationals with newcomer Angie McBride on the Suzuki. She qualified No. 8 before losing in the opening round. She resigned for personal reasons right after the opening race and was succeeded by Fred Collis.

Collis drove the Suzuki at Houston, Atlanta, and Chicago. The development work on the S&S V-Twin had proceeded to a point that the Buell made its much anticipated debut at Columbus, Ohio. Collis qualified No. 2 at Columbus and followed up with a No. 8 at Englishtown, N.J., but a weight change for all V-Twin powered bikes immediately following Englishtown changed the direction for the G-Squared team and the Buell.

Ellis lit it up in his four starts.

The mandated rule change adding 40-pounds to the Harley Davidson V-Rods and NHRA-accepted American push rod V-Twins up to 160 cid (such as the G Squared/S&S Buell) went into effect at the NHRA Sears Craftsman Nationals in St. Louis. Even with the additional weight, Collis qualified eighth but was unable to make it past the first round. After the loss, Bryce and Smith weighed their options for the future.

"The additional 40 pounds the NHRA imposed on our bike and the Harley V-Rods changed the equation," said Smith, who throughout the '80s and '90s headed S&S teams which set numerous records at the Bonneville Salt Flats. "This motorcycle has good traction and is launching real well but the additional weight hurts our performance on the top end of the track indicating we need more horsepower. The S&S Cycle engine guys are already at work on providing additional power for the V-Twin so that we can come back even stronger."

Added Bryce at the time, "It's perplexing how slow the bike went with an additional 40-pounds. They put sandbags on us. All we do now is go home and figure out how to go fast with the new rules. Once we do that, we'll bring the bike back out and run it. You haven't heard the last of the G-Squared S&S Buell."

G Squared and S&S Cycle went back to the drawing board missing Denver, Sonoma, Brainerd, and Memphis. But the hard work paid off and the Buell made its second debut at the 50th anniversary edition of the U.S. Nationals with Ellis on board.

From the start, Ellis showed he is the G-Squared driver of the future by becoming the first Pro Stock Bike rider to qualify in the top spot in his first NHRA race. After running the low elapsed time at Indy, he went on to qualify No. 4 at Reading before having a breakthrough event at Las Vegas.

At the quarter-mile track at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Ellis missed the top spot by one thousandth of a second, winding up No. 2 in qualifying. He then defeated Chip Hunter, Antron Brown, Shawn Gann, and Angelle Savoie en route to his first win.

At the season-ending Auto Club of Southern California Finals, Ellis garnered his second No. 1 position with a track record elapsed time of 7.024 seconds, a time which doubles as the fourth quickest in the Pro Stock Bike record book. In eliminations he lost to eventual winner Savoie in the semis by only four thousands of a second.

The G-Squared team, from left, Ellis, George Smith, George Bryce, and Ken Johnson.

In the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle, a lucrative bonus program for Pro Stock Bike competitors with a special race-within-a-race held in conjunction with the U.S. Nationals and televised by ESPN2, Ellis leads the field with 660 points. Ellis' stats for the four races he competed in this season make him a strong contender for the Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Rookie of the Year Award next year.

With G Squared exhibiting a strong season finish by adding two No. 1's and a win, a partial look at Bryce's personal combined record shows the rider/owner/crew chief has produced 68 No. 1 qualifying efforts and 66 wins in 113 final rounds in NHRA competition since 1988.

"This S&S Cycle V-Twin project has been a long time coming," Bryce said. "The engine and chassis were ready midway through the 2003 season but transmission development delayed the process almost a year. George and I have been working non-stop the past two years with S&S Cycle to develop a competitive Pro Stock Bike program for NHRA racing. It was great for our efforts to finally bear some fruit and finish strong this season. It would not have been possible without my partner, the combined efforts of the G Squared Racing team, and the fine folks at S&S Cycle.

"One of the things I'm real excited about is that the G-Squared alliance with S&S Cycle has us selling their engines and building motorcycles for customers to race in the NHRA and separate programs such as the AHDRA (All Harley Drag Racing Association.) Our focus for 2005 will be for us to continue to win races on the NHRA POWERade circuit, as well as to help our new customers that have converted to the S&S powerplant to win races. The more success G-Squared and our customers have with S&S powered Buells, the bigger the class will become."

"I think we've proved that the S&S powerplant is capable of doing the job and being competitive," said Smith, who campaigned the first V-Twin drag bike to go 200 mph in the quarter-mile. "And like George said, we look forward to bringing new teams to NHRA in 2005. Next year will be our first opportunity to campaign the G-Squared S&S Buell for a full season and I'm really excited to see what this team can accomplish.

"Currently we're entertaining potential sponsors to join our program and would like to solidify a deal in the next month so that we can lay down a base for a firm team foundation. Chip has shown he can ride and I think George and Ken Johnson are the best tuner/crew chief combo on the planet. Couple the G-Squared team with good old S&S V-Twin horsepower and I think we have the potential to contest for the NHRA POWERade Pro Stock Bike championship in 2005."

2004 News Archive
Return to the Home Page