Ending Its Direct Involvement in NHRA and American Flat Track
Harley-Davidson is a massive company and a big part of its brand has been its representation on the drag strip and in racing. That direct involvement, however, will not be the future. Instead, Harley is going with a more grassroots approach. It wants to refocus its efforts by supporting dealer racing programs in 2021, according to Motorcycle.com.
This is a departure from the way things have been done in the past. Harley had partnered with Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines for NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle racing and American Flat Track. These programs were successful. In the NHRA races, Harley’s team won 107 races and 10 championships. The flat track racing team won an AFT Production Twins racing championship for the 2020 season.
Harley will develop some contingency programs. For AFT, it will start with Latus Motors Harley-Davidson and its XG750R in the AFT SuperTwins series. Vance & Hines will continue to manufacture and support the sale of XG750R SuperTwins and Production Twins bikes to qualified teams.
Some folks will see this as a major misstep, but I think it’s just a sign of the times for Harley. The company is in the middle of a massive restructuring. Going this route will let them keep a toe in racing via dealerships, and HD can always rejoin in full force later on down the road once it has made its way through this transition period.
So there’s no chance of seeing an orange and black entry on the 2021 MotoGP grid, eh?
Not even World Superbike?
Polaris built the FTR750 engine for one purpose, flat track racing, and it has precious little to do with what is on the showroom floor. It is a very expensive and exclusive motor not really available to mere mortals. All the others including Harley Davidson are using production motors. If the racing community is okay with that so be it but if I was a dealership/privateer I would not be happy with it. Good for Harley Davidson to support their dealers but because of Polaris the race is for first loser, second place.
The actual Super Twins XG750R is twin overhead cam and over 750 cc. The cost per unit is way more than below and the engine is not close to a production motor. Harley-Davidson MOCO has spent millions on that project and it failed. As usual, H-D underestimated their competition.
Production class bike starting at $36K Junk.
As per the V&H website
ORDER YOUR XG750R
SUPPLY IS LIMITED
Starting at $35,999, the race-winning Harley-Davidson XG750R is primed to contend for the AFT Production Twins Championship with over $300,000* in contingency prize money at stake.
Deliveries will begin immediately, supply is limited, with priority given to Harley-Davidson dealerships.
*Combined purse offered by sponsors; American Flat Track, Harley-Davidson, and Vance & Hines.