"Jet vs Knucklehead"

In the June, 1952, Cycle magazine staged a drag race, "Jet vs Harley." It featured Louie Castro, on C.B. Clausen's The Brute, racing an Air Force T33 Shooting Star. After a short test run it was obvious the jet was no match for Clausen's Knucklehead. The pilot said, "We're no match for that baby." So, changing gears and air frames, they rolled out a P-51 Mustang. We'll let Cycle take it from here, "... The plane was purposely allowed to accelerate an instant before the Brute was gunned and, to us at the other end, it looked as though the day was lost for the first hundred yards. Then it happened, the Brute began to grab traction. Although the bike was only geared for a quarter mile, at the end of a half mile it was a good four plane lengths ahead of the already airborne P-51 - what a thrill, what a day for the bike boys!" To our knowledge no photos survived from the actual race. It seems that "Harley vs Jet" had more sales appeal. Photos from the Bruce Linsday collection.