NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

When you have a Pro Stock Motorcycle that can run 6.72, you probably don’t need much of an edge but Andrew Hines believes the four-wide format affords himself a significant advantage over most of his competitors. It’s hard to argue with Hines’ success, especially in Charlotte where he’s won three of the seven four-wide races that have featured motorcycles and was runner-up at another.

“[Four-wide racing] is hard to follow as a spectator but I like it as a racer,” said Hines. “It’s a variable that requires you to adapt and I feel like I am able to do that fairly quickly. There are some riders who don’t like it and I think those negative feelings make it hard for them to be successful. It fits right in my wheelhouse.”

Hines won three-straight four-wide titles in 2014-16 and he credits part of that success to a starting line strategy that helps isolate him from the chicanery that often goes on during the staging process.

“No matter what, as soon as I stage, I count to two and then roll the throttle,” said Hines. “That way, it doesn’t matter what the other guy is doing. If he gets timed out or deep stages or whatever, I’m not likely to be affected by it. It’s not necessarily fool-proof, but it’s helped limit mistakes. There have also a been a lot of improvements like the four blue [staging] lights. The first year, it was easy to get confused. It’s not nearly that difficult now.”

After setting the elapsed time record in Gainesville and winning the race, Hines made it to the final round of the four-wide event in Las Vegas but never had a chance to race for the title after suffering an electrical short during the burnout.

“The wire that goes to the coil rubbed on the weight bar and it shorted,” Hines said. “That’s not the type of failure that our team has very often. It’s a shame because I think I would have had something for those guys. I don’t know; we had a tough quad with Eddie [Krawiec], Matt Smith and Jr. [Hector Arana Jr.]. My game plan was to be double-oh on the Tree but we never got to that point.

“We made some good runs in Las Vegas, but I think the rest of the field made better runs than they did in Gainesville,” Hines said. “Hector Jr. was crushing it on the 60-foot times and Matt Smith is always fast. We struggled a little but stumbled on it for Q4 and had a bike that was as good as anyone’s on Sunday. We just need to carry that momentum over to this race."