Drag Illustrated Issue 150, November 2019 | Page 40

Special Section
BRUNSON GROTHUS GREW UP SURROUNDED BY MOTORCYCLE DRAG RACING. HIS FATHER, ED, STARTED RACING SPORTSTERS IN THE
EARLY ‘80S. HIS UNCLE, TOM KLEMME, IS ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL SPORTSMAN DRAG BIKE RIDERS IN THE SPORT’S HISTORY. SO
IT WAS NO SURPRISE WHEN A YOUNG BRUNSON BECAME INTERESTED IN RACING HIMSELF, SPARKING HIS FATHER TO END A SHORT HIATUS
FROM RACING. SIMILARLY, IT WAS NO SURPRISE TO ANYONE IN THE MOTORCYCLE DRAG RACING COMMUNITY WHEN GROTHUS MADE HIS
PDRA PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE DEBUT AT THE MEMPHIS RACE IN 2016, QUALIFYING NO. 1 AND WINNING THE RACE BEFORE ADDING
ANOTHER WIN AT HIS ONLY OTHER PDRA APPEARANCE THAT YEAR, THE INAUGURAL DRAG WARS AT GALOT MOTORSPORTS PARK.
Grothus went on to finish less than
two rounds behind world champion
Ronnie “Pro Mod” Smith last season.
The multi-time Manufacturer’s Cup
season champion has been on a
similar path this season, racing to a
runner-up finish at the North-South
Shootout in Maryland and a
40 PDRA660.com
semifinal finish at the Fall Nationals
in Darlington, South Carolina.
Grothus was on track to finish fourth
in points when DRAG ILLUSTRATED
caught up with him to talk racing as
a family, burning up the highway to
go racing and the future of Drag 965
Pro Nitrous Motorcycle ahead of the
PDRA Brian Olson Memorial World
Finals at Virginia Motorsports Park
in October.
Your team travels quite a bit to get
to these races, starting in Davenport,
Iowa, and ending up at races along
the East Coast. What does it take to
get to the races?
Obviously, you have to have your
stuff in order if you’re going to go
2,000 miles roundtrip 6-8 times a
year, right? That starts with my
uncle, Tom Klemme. He owns