Harley-Davidson ends NHRA support; Vance & Hines leaves the sport

[rrrr]

In another blow to the NHRA and racing in general, Harley-Davidson has ended its relationship with Vance & Hines, and will no longer provide factory support to drag racing and American Flat Track Series teams. The only exception is limited support to Latus Harley-Davidson, a dealer in Portland that operates an AFT team, and limited contingency participation in both sports. Now the only factory team in AFT is Indian. That series is on life support, and I wouldn't be surprised if it folds. This sucks.

The Harley-Davidson press release:

Harley-Davidson is harkening back to the foundations of the company’s competitive spirit by refocusing on building within the brand and celebrating the heritage of grassroots flat track racing by offering support to its entire dealer network through the development of contingency programs.

“Harley-Davidson’s heritage is rich with racing lore and legacy, and throughout our brand’s history, Harley-Davidson dealers have been the cornerstone of our racing programs,” said Jon Bekefy, general manager of Brand Marketing. “We are excited to continue to support the XG750R racing motorcycle and NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle efforts through our dealers.”

As it leans into a more grassroots approach, Harley-Davidson would like to thank the Vance & Hines organization, the riders, team members, and every individual involved with the Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle and American Flat Track (AFT) team efforts for their passion, commitment, and expertise for over a decade of winning competition and championship titles.

Over the past 18 seasons, the Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle team has been wildly successful, generating 107 wins and 10 championships, proving to be one of the most successful programs in the history of the sport. Additionally, Vance & Hines has been instrumental in ushering a new era of flat track competition with the development of the Harley-Davidson XG750R SuperTwins and Production Twins motorcycles and earning a championship in AFT Production Twins for the 2020 season. Vance & Hines will continue to manufacture and support the sale of XG750R SuperTwins and Production Twins bikes to qualified teams.

In a return to the foundations of Harley-Davidson’s racing efforts, the company will refocus efforts by offering support dealer racing programs in 2021, including the development of contingency programs for AFT. To kick off, Harley-Davidson is already committed to supporting Latus Motors Harley-Davidson as they campaign their XG750R in the AFT SuperTwins series.


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Vance & Hines is shutting down its NHRA team, and "refocusing" on other development. This is incredible. A 20 year relationship has been tossed in the dirt, and V-H ends its racing efforts after decades of success. They will provide support for individual riders in NHRA, but the way I read it, their race team has been disbanded.

Santa Fe Springs. CA (November 11, 2020) – With the announcement that Harley-Davidson has chosen not to field factory racing teams in American Flat Track (AFT) or NHRA drag racing in 2021, Vance & Hines will redeploy its racing development team towards creating high performance products for a variety of vehicles, brands and race series in both two and four-wheel segments.

“We thank Harley-Davidson for being a partner with Vance & Hines for 20 years. Together, in AFT and NHRA, we have celebrated 116 wins and 11 championships,” said Vance & Hines founder Terry Vance. “Harley-Davidson has been one of the best partners we’ve ever had.”

Vance & Hines employees were informed earlier today that the Indy Operations Team will be refocused on performance products for two and four-wheel vehicles and will be redeployed under the name Vance & Hines Racing Development Center (RDC). Vance & Hines will continue its racing tradition in 2021 with sponsored riders in a variety of racing series.

In addition, Vance & Hines will remain the sole licensee, manufacturer and seller of Harley-Davidson XG750R Production Twin motorcycles and Harley-Davidson XG750R Super Twin motorcycles. This racing variant of the Harley-Davidson Street 750 was the motorcycle that won the AFT Production Twins championship in 2020. The Production Twins bike is being manufactured and shipped to Harley-Davidson dealers at this time.

“Vance & Hines is having its best year in over a decade. We’re strong and we have a strategy that drives our growth and expansion in our current markets and in new ventures,” said Mike Kennedy, President and CEO. “While we loved our time running the factory race teams for Harley-Davidson, we couldn’t be more excited about the future.”

Vance & Hines has been contracted to run factory race teams for a range of companies during its 41-year history including Suzuki, Yamaha and Ducati. The partnership with Harley-Davidson was focused on drag racing and flat track racing.

 

[outboardrick]

Damn..... But seems to be the way things are going

 

[OLDRAAT]

All about the bottom line and current generations lack of interest IMO.

 

[Riverbottom]

It is all Biden's fault !

 

[Hydroman55]

It is all Biden's fault !

All coming to an end with the “New Green Deal” anyway....fucking communist

 

[SHOCKtheMONKEY]

Too bad.
They had good racing with flat track.

 

[rivermobster]

That Really does suck!!!

 

[Hypnautic]

Grew up down the street from the Vance family in La Palma. Pretty sure my sister still talks with Vanessa on occasion. Was always cool to see Todd ride up/down the street on the drag bikes. Nothing fast, just idling—but crazy loud. They are real good people-wish them the best.

 

[MK1MOD0]

Unfortunately it really is a sign of the times. HD has had a tough go the last few years and I’m certain, cash is tight.
As for the AFT super twins, HD should have pulled out the moment the American Flat Trackowners allowed for Polaris to bring in a fully bespoke race motor designed by Swiss Auto. Before this, there were going to be many factories prepared to run the series. Originally it was to be Honda, Harley, Polaris( Indian), Yamaha, Kawasaki Ducati and Triumph. Suzuki was even looking at the series. After Polaris was given the nod to run the race only motor, instead of hot rodding a street bike like the others, everyone pulled out. Too bad really. They took the quick easy money from Polaris, instead of looking at the long term benefits of having close competition from many manufacturers . I don’t see American Flat Track surviving very long. Bummer.......

 

[Toolman]

Wouldn’t be surprised Vance and Hines goes back to in-line fours and cleans house. That is if the division survives.

 

[petie6464]

I never thought HD and drag racing was the best venue for them. Obvious success but I didn't see drag racing and HD customers being cohesive, with a twenty year run they must have seen the return on their investment at least twenty years ago.

Now a buffoon with a Twitter page can get more exposure in a few days than all the drag races combined.

Just another company that see's the NHRA as a dieing horse.

 

[Waffles]

All about the bottom line and current generations lack of interest IMO.

This seems to be the general consensus.

 

[Waffles]

This seems to be the general consensus.

Couple that with Harley hell bent on selling last century tech for next generation tech price and you can start connecting the dots on why they failed

 

[Looking Glass]

This seems to be the general consensus.

I knew two Older guys that had harley Dealerships for years. They had Old smaller shops, but did the the business and could be reasonable on everything from sales to service. THEN!! I assume a group of College Grads came in and Knew everything. They forced All the Dealers to build new million $ + buildings and stock up on everything, clothes, parts and bikes. These guys were at the end of their "RUN" and threw in the towel and were the Smart ones, because it was about the beginning of the End for HD. People IMO like "Joints" and feel comfortable in them, Like Topok. Then they thought were going to build street bikes to compete with Japan and spent a Zillion on the V Rod which was a Joke. The Management was the entire problem with the Company and became Greedy when all the "Boomers" thought they were going to be a "Biker" . I remember when they created a Self Made Shortage of bikes and had people paying Premiums to get one. THINK "Play Station. Some dealers just too advantage of customers and it created Bad Feelings that were not forgotten. NASCAR was close to this when, they were in the "Hay Day" and did not treat their Fans with the Respect they deserved and took them for granted and just did everything opposite of the Old True TestedPlan that had been working for decades.

 

[ToMorrow44]

Wouldn’t be surprised Vance and Hines goes back to in-line fours and cleans house. That is if the division survives.

They never really left the Suzuki game. They still build the motors for most of the Suzuki PSM teams. Would be easy for them to go back, assuming they get sponsorship money from someone.

 

[Wbinder]

Hopefully this will bring life back in

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SPFRONTMAN]

Hd isn't seeing no return for the amount of money they spend on drag racing. Like Honda in F1, 2021 is their last year. Now that leaves only 3 engine builders, Mercedes, Renault, and Ferrari. Teams like Red Bull and others running Honda engines are going to be searching for an engine supplier for their cars. Red Bull is considering purchasing all of Hondas racing facilities to keep going past 2021.
Honda is going to concentrate solely on electric cars for the future tree huggers. All comes down to $$$$$$$$$ !

 

[pixrthis]

They never really left the Suzuki game. They still build the motors for most of the Suzuki PSM teams. Would be easy for them to go back, assuming they get sponsorship money from someone.

You can’t win on a Suzuki built by Vance and Hines, they have not developed the engine in years and is outperformed by most other builders. I know a psm racer that publicly says its a VH engine because he needs access to some of their parts but has done all engine building in house in order to become competitive again. Hopefully VH will step up their Suzuki program but I don’t see any financial reason for them to do so.