Dragging on

During his early days,Gadson worked as a cable TV contractor by day and a drag racer by night. “I knew I had to do this when I rode my first bike at the age of five. The thrill was amazing,” he says. But things changed when he turned 13. “My father passed away on the race track and then my mother took up the baton of keeping me focused on the sport,” he says,adding that at 17,he got his first sponsorship and began racing professionally in 1991. He went on to make a name in the street racing circuit,which he continued.

His biggest race,he says,was in 2002 in South Africa where he raced against the national drag racing champion there. “The adulation of the win was incredible. I got to meet Nelson Mandela and his family at their mansion,” he says.

A major part of his Pune tour,besides racing his Kawasaki ZZR 1400,is to talk about the sport with people here. “Drag Racing is expensive,there is not enough infrastructure and people don’t know about it. But from what little I have seen and heard,people are enthusiastic. I think the sport has serious potential here and events like these will need to highlight it more,” he adds.

Gadon runs his own drag racing school back home in the US. He says that he gets his own practice for his championship races from being on the race tracks almost daily. His tryst with the sport even got him to work on the 2003 movie Biker Boyz,which he mentions was taking street racing to a new level.

Explaining more about drag racing,he says,“The reaction time for the driver and the elapsed time for completing the race,usually a straight road,are what determines a winner. The reaction time for shooting off the start line is what is the more important aspect of the race.” He goes on to add,“It is a very fast sport. A miscalculation usually doesn’t give the rider a second chance. But at the same time it is fun and very exciting. The trick is treading the same thin line off the track to promote the sport.”

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