More Trog

Just to provide some context, here’s a recap of the introduction to the T.R.O.G. events from our last issue.

“For one weekend me and my friends get to pretend we are 16 again. We go down for the whole weekend every year and we act like a 1940s Southern California race team. There is nothing else like it in the world.”—The Race of Gentlemen (T.R.O.G) participant.

Drag Racing, like every other form of racing, has evolved from its nascent visceral appeal of basic head-to-head competition into something quite different. It’s now an ultra-high tech, big-buck extravaganza of chemistry, metallurgy, computer programming and telemetry for managing 12,000+hp engines with pre-programmed multi-plate clutches that achieve 0-330+MPH in a thousand feet with retina-separating g-force and it’s all electronically documented in milliseconds and angstrom units.  

T.R.O.G. creator Mel Schultz and his dedicated team of traditionalists do away with all the aforementioned technological trappings. At their now decades-long hot-rodding ‘revival meetings’ they evangelize the original sprit of drag racing. There are no multi-million-dollar transporters, no scores of team support members, no endless varieties of classes, no burn-out staging area, no ‘Christmas trees’ and no large, computerized time display at the finish line.  This is drag racing the way it started—on an old air strip with an exuberant flagman and equally exuberant drivers taking each other on to see who has the fastest iron.

Following the history of motor racing, the original T.R.O.G. events took place on the beaches of Wildwood, New Jersey and Pismo, California. And following drag-racing birthrights, the most recent T.R.O.G. event was held at a rural airstrip—the historic Flabob Airport outside of Riverside, California. Seeing as the very first commercial drag racing event was held at nearby Santa Ana Airport on June 19,1950, having such a traditionalist revival like T.R.O.G. on the historic Flabob tarmac made for great historic and cultural sense as well as providing some continuity.

Like the historic hot-rod and belly-tanker reunion at Lyon Air Museum in the summer of 2022, the T.R.O.G. event at Flabob was enthusiastically received and attended by appreciative hot-rodding (and vintage motorcycle) fans from around the globe. As with all T.R.O.G. events, the Flabob race was a full cultural immersion and time-travel experience—replete with all the period-correct trappings and effects present in both racing participants and attending fans.

The only two classes are cars and motorcycles—with many of the parings being of a ad-hoc nature. Competitors lined up, the period-correct flagman confirmed their readiness and then waved the start with the traditional jump and flag flourish. 1/8th of a mile away, ther result was by simple observation. Oh, and there’s no trophies or prize money. None are needed among the truly dedicated.

T.R.O.G. Motorcycle Drags Tell a Tale of Two Cities

There are two cities that represent the American motorcycle: Springfield, Massachusetts and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The venerable Indian and Harley-Davidson brands, hailing from these cities respectively, virtually define the American Motorcycle: a large frame, robust-build ‘big twin’ engine propelling both law-enforcement and outlaw riders alike along the American asphalt from Daytona Beach to Oakland to Sturgis.

Both Springfield and Milwaukee saw their motorcycle progeny rise from humble turn-of-the-century beginnings to their complete domination of American motorcycle motoring for 5 decades. Both Indians and Harleys were the mainstay of Police, Highway Patrol, and military rolling stock–as well as the favored brands by their cultural counterpoints.

The likes of Marlon Brando, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Robert Blake established the big twin American bike as the ultimate motoring statement of rebellious, anti-establishment cool culture. And more recently, Anthony Hopkins reminded movie-goers of their international appeal and performance history on the Bonneville salt-flats.

This Americana motoring cultural history and competition is not lost on Mel Schultz and his fellow The Race of Gentlemen (T.R.O.G.) crew. Historical American Twins of both the Indian and ‘Hog’ variety are a significant part of the historic drags that T.R.O.G. had attracted and enchanted attendees or the past 11 years. Vintage Harleys and Indians have lined up on the sands of Wildwood NJ and Pismo Beach as well as the historic runways of Flabob Airport in Riverside, California.

The first of the T.R.O.G. Flabob 1/8mile “revival” drags were held late 2022 with a robust and appreciative crowd, and so a redux event was held in April 2023. Could it be there’s more events coming soon?  We can only hope so!

Check out the full article and photos in the Moto/ology Flip/book!