Quester-Sullivan (1985)

This is the Quester-Sullivan race team at Indianapolis Raceway Park in April of 1985. I believe the team had just won the Heavyweight Production class of the WERA National Endurance Series race. I don’t know anyone in this photo other than team Left to Right, Bob (Battlestar)Voorhess, Crew Chief Randy Degraaf, Mike Bruggebrugge, captain Mike Harlow, all core members of Quester/Sullivan Racing. This race was a shake down run before they joined CCS Series. (updated via Mike Harlow). I recall the team was very fast on this production Yamaha FJ1100. In spite of starting the season with a win, for some reason the team did not continue far into the rest of the season. Perhaps someone will see this post and identify the others in the photo and explain what the team quit in spite of being one of the top squads in the early season.

This is the Quester-Sullivan race team at Indianapolis Raceway Park in April of 1985. I believe the team had just won the Heavyweight Production class of the WERA National Endurance Series race. I don’t know anyone in this photo other than team captain Mike Harlow (with beard and glasses). (Larry Lawrence photo)

This is the Quester-Sullivan race team at Indianapolis Raceway Park in April of 1985. I believe the team had just won the Heavyweight Production class of the WERA National Endurance Series race. From left to right, Bob (Battlestar)Voorhess, Crew Chief Randy Degraaf, Mike Bruggebrugge and captian Mike Harlow, all core members of Quester/Sullivan Racing.(Larry Lawrence photo)

8 thoughts on “Quester-Sullivan (1985)

  1. Cool pic Larry! Can you believe we used to RACE those things?!
    I remember racing a friend’s 1000 Honda Hurricane (similar genre to the FJ in pic) when they first came out in 1986-7 at Nelson Ledges. I remember 2 things; changing front brake pads all weekend and what an absolute school bus that thing was!
    It would certainly go, but it would NOT stop!
    Fun times.

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  2. I hear you Dave. I raced a ’78 GS750, so I know all about not being able to stop. The front brakes faded after about three laps. Unfortunately the races were 10 laps long. That Hurricane was a GP bike compared to my old boat.I bet you blew by a lot of people on the straights.

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  3. Northridge Yamaha raced a FJ1100 and was real fast on it.
    It had a 18″ rear tire on it.
    I think Ralph Johnson raced it?
    Any comments

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  4. I was riding an FJ 1100 HWP with Solmax in 85 also, it was stable,fast & pulled hard off slow corners. The Northridge Racing FJ had the Yamaha Power Up kit. That thing was a Beast!I remember it being really strong @ Pocono that year.

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  5. I believe it was Indy (same event) possibly “Northridge” threw the cam chain out the cylinder of what looked like a brand new FJ. They had a spare bike and raced the weekend.

    Chuck Frost “Frosty” bought a new FJ11 and took it to Gateway and
    hit a “large rock” that got kicked into the racing line in the south curves. He was ok but the bike was trashed. On the ride back to Terre Haute he mentioned he had not paid the dealership he worked at for the bike.

    Life was simple then.

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