NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

After a three-year hiatus, LE Tonglet will return to the Pro Stock Motorcycle class at the upcoming NHRA SpringNationals at Houston Raceway Park. Tonglet, the 2010 world champ and NHRA Rookie of the Year, will be riding his family-owned Suzuki, a bike that he last raced during the 2016-2017 seasons.

“My dad [Gary] and my brother [GT] and I have wanted to come back for a while, and we finally felt that the timing was right to come to Houston,” Tonglet said. “Little by little we’ve been working to get the bike together, and it’s finally done. We’ve still got our old two-valve Suzuki stuff, but I feel like we can be competitive.”

Tonglet has long been regarded as one of the most gifted riders in the history of the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, and his on-track record reflects that. In 133 career races, Tonglet has secured 20 wins in 28 final rounds. In 2018, his last season on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series tour, he won four races, including the U.S. Nationals en route to a fourth-place finish.

Shortly after his runner-up finish at the 2018 Auto Club NHRA Finals, Tonglet announced that he was taking a break from the class in order to devote more time to his family and his regular job as a firefighter in the Metairie, La., Fire Dept. Now, he's anxious to get back to the track.

“Things are good at home, but we still want to race,” Tonglet said. “I don’t see us running all of the races, but we can definitely make a few of them, and that works well for us. Basically, we'll see how it goes and then decide where else we're going to go."

The Pro Stock Motorcycle class that Tonglet returns to in 2022 is far different than the one he left in 2018. Today, Pro Stock Motorcycles are regularly running more than 200 mph, and the elapsed time record was recently lowered to a 6.66 by Karen Stoffer. Although Tonglet won’t have the latest four-valve engines, at least not initially, he still feels that he can be competitive.

“From what we’ve seen, the new fuel rules have helped out a lot, and we think the two-valve can run almost as well as the four-valve,” Tonglet said. “We’ll see if that’s true or not, but we do feel like we’ll be right in the middle of things. Eventually, I'd like to get a 200-mph time slip."

In preparation for his return, Tonglet recently tested at No Problem Raceway Park and made at least two solid runs. Once he dumped the clutch, it didn’t take long for his competitive spirit to return.

“I haven’t been on a bike since the [Auto Club Finals] in 2018, but we had a good test session,” said Tonglet. “On the first pass I shut off early, but by the third I was making a full run. We were going to make a fourth run, but the brake rotor broke in the water box. Thankfully, it didn’t happen downtrack. As a rider, I felt comfortable. I think I could have run 6.70s.”

Tonglet had one more piece of important business to take care of before plotting his return; notably, his weight. Not that he’s ever been unhealthy, but the now-32-year-old former champ has dropped 20 pounds over the last month, with a few more left to shed.

“I’ve been on a diet, and it’s working,” he said. “I still have a little more work to do before Houston, but I’m in good shape. Let me put it this way: My dad and my brother aren’t mad at me anymore.”