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Eric McKinney Becomes First
PDRA Driver with Back-to-Back Championships
PITTSBORO, N.C. (January 20, 2016): With the close of the 2015 season, the
Professional Drag Racers Association crowned its second round of World
Champions. Each of the PDRA’s eight classes welcomed a new regime, except one.
Eric McKinney reigns as Drag965 Pro Extreme Motorcycle World Champion for the
second year in a row, making him the only PXM World Champion in the PDRA’s
budding existence.
As one of the most successful drag bike racers in history, McKinney has worked
to advance both his own program and the Pro Mod bike class. There is little he
has not done within this arena. He has seen the class both struggle and soar,
and, according to McKinney, the future of PXM is brighter than ever.
“The PDRA has been the best thing that’s happened for our class,” stated the
Champ. “It’s about as top notch organization as you can race for. I've raced
with a bunch of organizations in my day and this is by the far the best
organization I’ve ever raced in. It’s a class act.
“Most of the motorcycles are up and down the east coast. It’s hard for some of
those guys to make the western races, but anybody that can run Pro Extreme
Motorcycle should support this. It’s the best thing going right now for
motorcycle drag racing.”
While McKinney and his teammate Ashley Owens have seemingly had a hand up on the
rest of the class in recent years, results from the final event of the 2015 PDRA
season prove that there is parity in the field once again. McKinney himself only
qualified 7th in the 16 bike field, and the top 12 qualifiers ran a 4.10 or
better. The competition of PXM is heating up, promising an exciting 2016 season.
“I think in 2016 everybody’s going to have to be running bottom 4.0s,” predicted
McKinney. “We set the record in Dallas with a 3.99 at the beginning of the year.
I think everybody will have to run high 3s to win races this year. Everybody has
stepped up that much. It’s tightened up and it’s going to make for some good
racing. I hope we stay on top, but we’ll see.
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“When I first started racing I got
beat second round for the first two
years. It’s discouraging, but it makes
you want to work harder if you really
want to be a champion. We don’t have
anything special that anybody else
doesn’t have. Racing is a good time to
hang out with all your friends, but
we’re there for one reason: to win
races. To be the top dog in this sport
you have to put the work in. I think
people are starting to do their
homework now. People are starting to
catch us.”
McKinney admits that his team’s
incredible success in recent years may
have hurt the class during stints in
which either McKinney or teammate
Ashley Owens was consistently taking
home the trophy, but is happy to see
the competition gains made by the
class as a whole and believes PXM will
continue to grow stronger and provide
PDRA fans with great side-by-side
runs.
As he prepares to defend his
championship for the second year in a
row, McKinney is continually pushing
the envelop of his own program in
which he and Owens will return as a
two bike team. “The goal is to run 3
second passes on the regular and win
races. We got on cruise control
winning races and quit trying to set
records. The competition caught us.
Now it’s time to raise the bar again.
“I've got a wall full of PDRA men, and
I want to keep doing this for as long
as I can and get as many wins and
championships as possible.”
McKinney highlights the fact that drag
racing is as much a mental exercise as
it is mechanical. His success has not
come without much thought, practice
and preparation. “You definitely have
to be on your game. With eighth mile
drag racing there’s not enough room to
cut a bad light or miss shift points.
I’ll sit around and mentally go
through my run from the time I put my
helmet on to making the pass to
turning on the return road. I’ll do
that two or three times in my mind
just to make sure I don’t forget to
turn a switch on or miss a shift
point. Some people think drag racing
is just keeping a bike in a straight
line for four seconds, but there’s so
much more than that. It’s actually
pretty stressful. By the time the
weekend is over I’m mentally drained.
I don’t want it to be my fault we lost
a round. If we lose a round because of
a mechanical failure or because we
just flat get outrun that’s one thing,
but I don’t want it to be my fault. I
don’t want that on my shoulders. So I
go out there every time trying to do
the best I can do.
“It’s an honor to be back to back PXM
Champion,” he added. “I’m kinda
speechless for it. We had a great team
and were consistent. Between my dad
and Ashley Owens I’ve got a great team
behind me. I’ve got my Uncle Steve on
the clutch and mom feeds everybody. If
it wasn’t for them we couldn’t do
this. I don’t think anybody could do
it with just one person. I want to
thank my mom and dad, Ashley Owens, my
uncle Steve McKinney, my girlfriend
Ashley, the class sponsor Drag965,
Vance & Hines, Fast by Gast, Simpson
Helmets, VP Race Fuels, and especially
the PDRA. If it wasn’t for the PDRA we
wouldn’t have a class act place to
race. I’m just fortunate to be a part
of it.”
Pro Extreme Motorcycles- Eric McKinney
937-213-1959
ABOUT THE PDRA
Based in Pittsboro, North Carolina,
the Professional Drag Racers
Association is the top sanctioning
body in the United States for the
sport of eighth-mile drag racing. The
PDRA’s professional categories include
Pro Extreme, Pro Nitrous, Pro Boost,
and Pro Extreme Motorcycle along with
Top Sportsman, Top Dragster, Pro Jr.
Dragster, and Top Jr. Dragster. The
2016 PDRA schedule consists of nine
national events. For more on the
world’s premier eighth mile drag
racing organization visit
www.pdra660.com.
Follow the PDRA:
Facebook,
Twitter,
Instagram,
YouTube.
Photo: Gary Rowe / PDRA660.com
PRESS CONTACT: Lisa Collier
Professional Drag Racers
Association
lisa@pdra660.com
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