Vance & Hines Speed Shop

Eddie Krawiec set the NHRA Record for the quater mile in March at 199.26 MPH on a Harley-Davidson V-Rod prepared by Vance & Hines. Seen here making heart-shaped gestures around his balls, reportedly insured by Llyods of London.

Shifting must be done manually in drag racing so a shift light is key to performance and saving the powertrain for another day.

Riders change position three times during a race and the seat is specifically designed to accomodate each position.

Performance Machine brakes are also found on high-end customs from shops like Indian Larry.

The partnership with Harley-Davidson began in 2002 and has resulted in a lot of fast bikes and a lot of NHRA trophies.

The Vance & Hines speed shop is a 44,000 square foot facility tucked away in an Industrial park outside of Indianapolis. It's never opened to photography so trash bags were used to hide trade secrets. They have a lot of secrets.

The Vance & Hines speed shop is the speed freak's ultimate shop on well, speed. It's got every part, tool and machine you can imagine to build, test and improve motors.

Vance & Hines builds motors for their own team, but are so dominant that they manufacture the motors for their competitors. There is nothing faster.

Six CNC machines were in heavy use.

Cylinder heads are machined from 70lb blocks and engine cases from 400lb blocks.

Every aspect of every component is checked and double-checked.

Think with your dipstick.

CNC machines aren't the only tools in the shed.

Motors need a controlled, fast flow of air from intake to exhaust. These heads are ported to ensure just that.

More custom millwork.

Magnets hold every day items in hands-reach.

An engine ready to be tested in one of three dynamometers on-site.

Technicians monitor the dynaometer tests from a separate room.

Testing is a simple concept. Bolt it down, hook up sensors, provide fuel, operate motor, monitor performance, vent exhaust, stop. Repeat as necessary.

I think Blake is on a bit of an ego trip.

The secrets covered in the shop largely centered around air intake. Always the biggest bang for the buck.

The Harley-Davidson team components move down the hall to be assembled for testing and racing.

Drivetrain takes an incredible amount of abuse from the torque generated by the sexed-up motor. It has to be re-built after 25 runs.

Engines only run for about a minute during competition and if everything goes to plan, which is rare, they are rebuilt after 20 runs.

I know how to weld, but I do not know how to weld like that.

The drag bar at the business end.

They run two bikes and each bike has two spare motors which can be swapped in 20 minutes. Every component is made in the USA.

Vance & Hines helps to pay for all of this craziness by selling aftermarket pipes built around a core philosophy of performance.