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Page 7 was entirely devoted to the previously unpublished pictures in my collection of Dutch bikes.  Following on from this I have now done the same thing with all of our Transatlantic visitors of the 1970s and 80s.  They are arranged by rider in the order in which they visited the UK.

 

 

Tom Christenson was the first US rider to come and race in the UK.  His bike was powered by a couple of un-blown Norton Commando engines.  He called it Hogslayer because he enjoyed a certain amount of success in competition back home disposing of Harley-powered bikes.
The two shots on the left show TC at Silverstone and the one below at Snetterton.  Both places are better known for circuit racing but both hosted a number of NDRC meetings back in the days when you didn't have to glue the bikes down to the track.

 

 

 

 

The next five pictures were taken on Tom's next visit to the UK when I believe he was contracted to only race at Santa Pod Raceway.

 

 

 

 
   

 

This is TC's final visit to the UK again at Santa Pod.
The rider in the far lane was Dutchman Jan Jansen.
Tom Christenson now has his own website which you can visit by clicking here.
Better yet - if you are in the UK you can actually go and see Hogslayer because it is on display at the National Motorcycle Museum.

 

 

In order to understand why TC was perhaps a little triumphalistic in the naming of his bike you need to understand the opposition he was up against.
Enter Danny Johnson's bike which, with two 1750cc Harleys on board, he understandably named Goliath.  It certainly was a big mother.  Most of the British bikes of the period were blown 650 Triumphs which sounded pretty noisy.  Goliath had a much deeper almost lazy note to the engines but it could crank out 8 second ETs seemingly without any effort at all.

 

 

That is the late Danny Johnson on the bike in the left hand picture.

 

 

 

The next of our Tranatlantic cousins to come a-visiting was Marion 'The Big Oakie' Owens.  Marion certainly was a largish gentleman and I doubt that he got a lot of ribbing about his first name.  His bike was another of these monstrous double-Harley efforts which he very modestly named Boss Hog.

 



 



 

On the left Marion and Boss Hog are shaping up against the late Henk Vink on one of his numerous Big Spender machines.
On the right Marion is doing a little fettling one of his enormous power plants.

 

This is US Top Fuel Motorcycle champion Ken Annesley and his Orange Crush double Kawasaki-powered device.  The large gentleman in the cap is the late Carl Ahlfeldt.

 

 

Bo O'Brochta was another US Top Fuel Motorcycle champion who came over to the UK.  These pictures were taken in 1982, the first six are at Santa Pod and the remainder at the NDRC's 1st Transatlantic Bike Race held at Long Marston (now Shakespeare County Raceway).
Bo O'Brochta is the bearded gent kneeling in the picture below.  Below right top fuel dragster pilot Dennis Priddle is chatting to the team.

 

 

 



          
In the picture above Bo is in the background and Jos Smit is talking to Motor Cycle Weekly journalist and Santa Pod commentator Keith Lee.  My thanks to Ian Coote, Terry Selman and ex-Pod Race Secretary Jim Broome for identifying Keith.
Sorry Keith, I really should have remembered your name myself.



 

Jack O'Malley was one of several US riders to attend the 2nd Transatlantic Bike Race with his Orient Express funny bike.  This picture was snapped on 25 June 1983.

 

 

These three pictures are of the late Elmer Trett's Mountain Magic machine.  The shots on the right and below left were taken at the 3rd Transatlantic Bike Race on 29 June 1984.  The last picture was taken exactly one year later at the 4th Transatlantic Bike Race on 29 June 1985.  Elmer won this race but only with the help of Rod Pallant who lent him an engine.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the late Elmer Trett pictured at the 3rd Transatlantic Bike Race on 29 June 1984.  He won this race with four very consistent passes of between 7.24 and 7.38 seconds and terminal speeds from 190 - 194 mph.  Believe me, that was really big licks in those days.
It is not surprising that Elmer looked so relaxed because it seemed to me that his wife and daughter did all the grunt work on the bike.
Elmer's daughter Gina Lang has been in touch to identify the other chap in the picture as Roy Holder who drove the Trett family around whilst they were in the UK. 
 

 

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