Back in July Harley Davidson introduced their Screamin Eagle Destroyer, a race only version of the V-Rod. Talk of nine second quarter miles when in the right hands sounded pretty decent for a Harley but no independent runs were available to know what it would really do.
Motorcyclist magazine got to try one at the strip, and instead of sending a quarter mile pro, they gave their editor, Brian Catterson the riding duty and he was quick to admit his drag experience was minimal, especially on a full on drag bike like this one. Looks like HD has a pretty quick bike. After some familiarization and a “How do you do this?” run in the low elevens, he revved it up, dumped the clutch and ran a 9.97 at 137mph. He had a best of 9.82 at 143mph. Lori Francis, former Pro Stock racer, jumped on and ripped a 9.02. Looks like high 8’s are coming soon.
Keeping this in perspective, a stock Hayabusa will do high 9’s and with a little work, get into the 8’s and still be street legal and it costs a heckuva lot less than the $31,249 Harley is asking for these race only bikes. On the other hand, when was the last time anyone could by a production Harley and run in the 9’s?