NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Retirement means different things to different people and for Chris Bostick it means a chance to renew his love for NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle class. Fifteen years ago, Bostick was making steady progress in NHRA’s two-wheel class but the responsibility of raising a family and a tending to a rapidly growing group of auto dealerships, force him to the sidelines. Bostick recently celebrated his 60th birthday and he’s sold his businesses so he figured this would be the perfect time to make a return to NHRA racing.

“I didn’t ride a motorcycle or even go to a race for 15 years, but I always wanted to come back,” said Bostick. “After I sold my dealerships about three month ago, I thought to myself, ‘It’s now or never.’ If I was going to do this, it was the perfect time. We sold our house and when we were cleaning out the garage, I found all this old NHRA memorabilia. I realized just how much I missed it.”

Planning his return, Bostick contacted his old friend and former bike racer George Babor. They evaluated several options, and eventually ended up working with veteran team owner and crew chief Greg Underdahl. Underdahl helped Bostick renew his NHRA competition license last month in Brainerd, and also found a bike for him to lease, the Poison Dart Suzuki that was previously raced by Joe DeSantis and more recently by Joey Gladstone. Bostick was also able to get his hands on a competitive engine to complete his Indy return.

“It’s amazing to think about coming back here to Indy after all these years,” said Bostick. “The last time I was here [2004] I beat Michael Phillips in the first round and Angelle Sampey in the second and I outran both of them. I left with Antron Brown in the semi’s and almost beat him. I’d love to get back to that point but we’re going to take it one step at a time. I felt pretty comfortable riding Greg’s school bike when I was getting my license but that’s a 7.50 bike, so it’s a lot different from the bike I’m on this weekend.”

On Friday night at Indy, Bostick officially renewed his career with a respectable 7.14 at over 187 mph. The run was far from perfect, but good enough to make the field for the time being.

“I’m pretty encouraged after last night,” Bostick said. “For my first run in 15 years, I’ll take it. I’ve never been in the sixes; my best run is a 7.11 and I think we’ve got a really good chance to better that this weekend. I’m not sure about my schedule going forward, that all depends on what happens this here and how everything goes. I feel good and I’m happy to be back and my goal is to do this until I physically can’t do it anymore.”