Motorcycle drag racing pioneer T.C. Christenson passes away
Motorcycle drag racing pioneer T.C. Christenson has passed away. Christenson was known for his Hogslayer double-engined Norton machines in the 1970s but began his racing career with a BSA as a teenager in 1963 at Union Grove Drag Strip, Christenson moved on to Nortons and went to work at Sunset Motors, a Norton dealership owned by John Gregory, and quickly became the rider to beat in the upper Midwest. In the mid-1960s, Christenson also took up motorcycle road racing for a short period and had some success as a Ducati factory-supported rider racing a 250cc Diana as a novice at in the Lightweight class at Daytona.
In 1969, after a short stint in road racing, Christenson bought the motorcycle dealership from Gregory and the two continued to build 750cc Norton drag racing bikes, fitted with a fuel injection system retrofitted from an Offenhauser car racing engine.
According to Ian King, three different versions of the double-engine Norton were built in the early 1970s and by 1972 the third version of the Hogslayer (named for its ability to beat the dominant Harley-Davidson drag racers of the day) became the most advanced drag racing motorcycle in the country at the time. It featured many firsts, including the first slipper clutch, fuel injection, a two-speed transmission, revolutionary aerospace materials used in an aerodynamic frame that utilized a rear slick specially made for the Hogslayer by M&H that was eight inches wide, twice the normal tire width of the era.
According to Ian King, three different versions of the double-engine Norton were built in the early 1970s and by 1972 the third version of the Hogslayer (named for its ability to beat the dominant Harley-Davidson drag racers of the day) became the most advanced drag racing motorcycle in the country at the time. It featured many firsts, including the first slipper clutch, fuel injection, a two-speed transmission, revolutionary aerospace materials used in an aerodynamic frame that utilized a rear slick specially made for the Hogslayer by M&H that was eight inches wide, twice the normal tire width of the era.
For most of the early-to-mid-1970s Christenson was the fastest motorcycle drag racer on the planet. In 1972, he won the NHRA U.S. Nationals in the first year Fuel Bikes were part of the program. In 1973, he lost only once and set the A/Fuel Bike elapsed time record with a 7.83-second run en route to his Top Fuel win at the NHRA National Motorcycle Record Championships in Bowling Green, Ky. He set numerous world records and was featured in motorcycle magazines. Christenson won the official NHRA Fuel Bike National Championship in Indianapolis in 1976.
Christenson was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2005.
