PIERCETON - After coming close last season, Jay Wagner accomplished his goal this time around.
Racing in the All-Harley Drag Racing Association, Wagner wrapped up his nine-race season at Rockingham, N.C. this weekend, winning the Pro Gas National Championship.The Tippecanoe Valley graduate joined the association, a division of the NHRA, three years ago and was narrowly beat out of last season's championship after an NHRA racer brought a bike to the final race, winning a round that prevented Wagner from claiming the title.
"That's why we don't like NHRA racers," Wagner joked.
What Wagner, and the rest of his family, do like is racing.
"Our family races," Wagner said from his family's Maverick Motorcycle shop just east of Pierceton.
Jay's father, Bob Wagner, began Motocross racing in the 1960s. Later, Bob got into drag racing motorcycles in 1998 and actually won the 2000 American Motorcycling Racing Association national championship.
Despite his success, the elder Wagner gave up racing after he built someone a bike and went to Florida to test it. The test went wrong, and he lost two fingers.
"It had a little error with it," he joked from the shop.
He may have lost fingers, but the bike he was testing fared much better.
"The bike didn't have a scratch," Jay said about his dad's crash.
The 2003 wreck ended Bob's career, but got his son's started.
Since then, Jay's won three titles, with the AHDRA being the latest.
"I don't know why I do it," Jay said. "I've just been around it all my life. I've only been drag racing bikes for eight years, but I've been watching my dad race all my life. I have 32 years of experience with Motocross."
And it seems like the rest of the Wagner family is just as familiar with racing.
Jay's wife, Angie, owns the Motocross racing course RedBud MX in Buchanan, Michigan, while his 10-year-old son Jacob and seven-year-old daughter Sidney are already taking bikes to races.
When he's racing, Jay says he doesn't have any fear, but it's not the same when he's watching his kids.
"I'm not new to racing, but I'm about to cry when I see my kids race," he said.
Someone he can relate to is how own mom, Mary Wagner.
"I do get nervous," she said about watching her son race. "It's not that bad, but when I see my grandkids, I get real nervous."
Along with her son's kids, Mary also gets to see her daughter Pam's kids Chase and Hannah ride, although Hannah doesn't race.
"She doesn't want to get dirty," Mary said about the one grandchild she has that doesn't race.
With so many family members involved in the sport, Jay's never short on having family support, whether he's racing in Orlando, Fla. or San Antonio, Texas.
"Mom and dad go or my wife and kids will go," he said. "It's a family thing. We all go."
And without his family, Jay doesn't know if he could even do it.
"I wouldn't do it without mom and dad," he said. "I couldn't do it."
When his family's watching, they need to be sure not to blink or they miss the entire race.
Racing at speeds between 170 and 173 miles per hour, it only takes racers from 7.7 to 7.9 seconds to travel down the quarter-mile track.
"Doing the burn out is the funnest part," he said. "When it becomes time to go, you can't really think. There's no time to think. You can't have a lapse in concentration."
Jay's personal best is 7.791 seconds down the track at a speed of 172.24 mph, which is achieved with the 435-pound bike with a 160 cubic-inch engine, using 116 octane gas, nitrous oxide, 320 horsepower with 10-inch and 15-inch tires.
This year, Jay had three wins and four runners-up in his nine-race season, racing in the Pro Gas division. He won the division with 828 points, while Joe Sternotti was second with 471.
The win may be a proud moment for Wagner, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a lucrative one.
Because of the economy, the purse for winning the title still isn't known. However, for individual races, the purse decreased from $1,800 to $900 from last year to this year.
"The economy has had a big affect on it," Wagner said.
Despite the lack of cash reward, Jay is ready to go at it again in February.
"The plan is to do it again," he said. "I look forward to running with the No. 1 plate."
