Despite a race weekend that included a "geological obstruction" and Saturday night fireball, 23
year-old Eric McKinney won his second straight Mickey Thompson Pro Mod race on his DTM
Performance/Timblin Chassis Suzuki. McKinney beat racing legend Paul Gast in the final round at AMA
Dragbike's MTC Elmer Trett Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. Gast took the tree and the 60 foot on his
Pro Stock-style Suzuki, but gave up the top end 6.87 to 6.75. "The final was pretty close," said
Eric. "Paul put a pretty good number on me at the tree, but luckily I out powered him. I still saw
his wheelie bars at the 330, though, and I wasn't really happy about that."
Two races in a row-is this becoming old yet, Eric? "No, you can't beat this."
And Eric didn't beat himself. He didn't really need to cut a light in the final, and he didn't make
a mistake by trying to. "That's right, he just did what he needed to do, and it was good-an .060,"
said Eric's dad Scott McKinney. "And that's not bad for a Pro Mod. Paul had an .020, but Pro Mod
clutches don't move like a Pro Stocker, so I'm not gonna beat on him at all for that. Eric did a
heckuva job, no question.
"We were behind big time all weekend with some problems. It turned out we had a rock in the nitrous
solenoid. That was probably because I pushed it to tech with the bottle not in it and a line got
open. Dan (engine builder/tuner Dan Wagner of DTM Performance) came in, looked at the RacePak and
said 'This is not right. We've got a problem here with this solenoid.' We pulled the end off and
took a look and there was a little piece of rock. It's good to have a guy around who knows what's
goin' on."
"It's been tough all weekend," agreed Eric. "We had a little problem testing, and we had a new
tire, but Dan fixed us up. If it wasn't for him and DTM Performance and Walt Timblin and Dad, we
wouldn't be here. The bike didn't really come around until this morning. We had a pretty big kaboom
last night while testing during grudge racing. It was one of those things that happens in Pro Mod.
I didn't even know it had a fireball. A guy ran on the track and said 'Are you on fire? Are you on
fire?' But I wasn't."
The bike wasn't literally on fire Saturday night, but its performances were on Sunday. "The Timblin
chassis and that DTM motor is a heckuva package. I hope nobody else buys one!" said Scott, laughing
uproariously. "They're awesome, I can't say enough about those guys. And Eric's doing a good job
too. Eric is my son, but he's riding and cutting lights and staying calm and doing everything he
needs to do, two races in a row."
The McKinney's will do their best to make it three straight when AMA Dragbike races this weekend,
May 2-3, 2009, at the Spring Nationals, Memphis Motorsports Park in Millington, Tennessee.
Eric and Scott McKinney thanked Dan Wagner and DTM Performance, Walt Timblin and Timblin Chassis www.timblinchassis.com, and Dick's Suzuki
of Leesburg, Ohio www.dickssuzukiofohio.com
For more information about AMA Dragbike go to www.amadragbike.com
Read expanded motorcycle drag racing race coverage in Straightliner magazine. Subscribe at http://www.usridernews.com/OrderForm.asp
Video: see Eric McKinney and the McKinney Motorsports Atlanta win here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BOohh0je2s
