Post by Crossbones Dennis on May 15, 2010 6:45:44 GMT -6
Shawn Gann, one of the nation's top drag-bike racers, has set up shop in Rockingham County, N.C. to support his racing.
Gann raced his Buell V-Twin drag bike to a second-place finish this year while posting career-best times and top speed in the first NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle race of the season in Florida. But sponsors are hard to come by, so to pay for racing – up to $1 million for a season of events in NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle drag racing – he and his father, Blake Gann, do custom and performance motor work.
Blake Gann began building engines at age 12. He quit high school at age 15 to build motors full-time, he told the Stoneville News-Record.
The two are almost too clever. Race clutches that father and son designed and built prompted the NHRA to ask them questions several years ago when it looked like Shawn Gann had a competitive edge. Now other racers use the clutches.
"A lot of people who we race with, they don't have anything like what we have," Gann says of the shop. The only thing stopping them from using their own are NHRA rules specifying a certain brand of motors. Many teams often lease motors and order custom parts. Yhe Ganns do as much as they can themselves, and for other racers. A basic motor costs $65,000. Once at the Gann shop, another $30,000 makes the motor race-ready.
Losing a sponsor -- Rum Bum, which withdrew from Pro Stock after 2009 -- means everyone works harder.
Gann raced his Buell V-Twin drag bike to a second-place finish this year while posting career-best times and top speed in the first NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle race of the season in Florida. But sponsors are hard to come by, so to pay for racing – up to $1 million for a season of events in NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle drag racing – he and his father, Blake Gann, do custom and performance motor work.
Blake Gann began building engines at age 12. He quit high school at age 15 to build motors full-time, he told the Stoneville News-Record.
The two are almost too clever. Race clutches that father and son designed and built prompted the NHRA to ask them questions several years ago when it looked like Shawn Gann had a competitive edge. Now other racers use the clutches.
"A lot of people who we race with, they don't have anything like what we have," Gann says of the shop. The only thing stopping them from using their own are NHRA rules specifying a certain brand of motors. Many teams often lease motors and order custom parts. Yhe Ganns do as much as they can themselves, and for other racers. A basic motor costs $65,000. Once at the Gann shop, another $30,000 makes the motor race-ready.
Losing a sponsor -- Rum Bum, which withdrew from Pro Stock after 2009 -- means everyone works harder.