Pro Stock Motorcycle team owner George Bryce considering riding again

Pro Stock Motorcycle team owner George Bryce considering riding again

Published Nov. 15, 2016 1:57 p.m. ET

George Bryce has a plan; he's just not sure if he will follow through on it.

Bryce, who has, for almost three decades, stood behind championship-winning NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycles, confirmed he has tentative plans to resume riding. He's not expected to run for a title if he does straddle one of the six-second rockets, but he says without hesitation he plans to have fun doing so.

"My little girl, Julie Bryce, was talking about it on Monday saying, 'Daddy, please ride a Pro Stock Bike. I’ve never seen you ride one, '" Bryce recalled. "I’ve been racing with you for 19 years and I’ve never seen you ride one."

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Just as the gears turn in his finely-tuned Buell, those in Bryce's creative mind began to jump into high-speed. He’s been fine with living vicariously through others, but his daughter’s suggestion has stoked the fire in his belly.

"I finally got serious about it, thinking about it," Bryce continued. "But I remembered when I changed my mind about being 'the dude' on the bike when I met the late great John Myers. I asked him to go with me to a local race to help me make my motorcycle work as good as his did."

Myers, a three-time NHRA who won 33 NHRA races, was the Top Gas champion of the International Drag Bike Association at the time.

"I asked him to come help me with my bike, and he did," Bryce said. "I kept fumbling around, and he said, 'here let me show you. So he got on my motorcycle and took off with it one time and I was like, 'Dang, I need you to ride it one time and show me how fast to go."

Bryce and Myers were at Warner Robins Dragway [Georgia] where the future champion easily topped Bryce's personal best.

"He was so much faster than me that I realized, that for 20 years, I’d been in my own way as a racer," Bryce admitted.

With the imminent departure of team riders Corey Reed and Angelle Sampey, Bryce admits he's under peer pressure to race again.

"What started off as a goofing-off notion has gotten real lately," Bryce said. "I actually considered ordering a set of leathers so I could go test after Pomona and SGMP, just to see if I liked it. It’s been a long time since I rode one of these bikes. I’ve thought about it. So I’m not taking it off the table."

Bryce has six NHRA championships and 82 nationals event wins to his credit as a team owner, but as a rider, he has a lone win to his credit. In 1987, Bryce rode to two final rounds winning the 1987 Chief Auto Parts Nationals. He finished runner-up to Terry Vance at the NHRA Gatornationals earlier in the season.

"I know my experience would be better served to assist a rider with the build of an Angelle or Cory, but I still would like to think I could win as a rider," Bryce said. "Riding a bike is still a passion. When I ride a motorcycle today on the street I feel like I’m good at it, and I would like to do it again but let’s be real, I’m 62-years-old now. I know that's nothing compared to some of the fuel drivers.

"I would like to have a chance to win, and I don’t know if I’m that guy. But it’s fun to think about and talk about."

And, as Bryce says, he's at the point of moving past the wondering stage.

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Bobby Bennett is the Publisher/Editor of CompetitionPlus.com, a leading independent online drag racing magazine, since 1999. For the latest in dragster news worldwide, visit www.competitionplus.com or follow on Twitter @competitionplus

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