MOTOR RACING / VINCE KOWALICK : He’s the Real McCoy on Motorcycle Circuit

Buzz McCoy zooms along at 148 m.p.h. on a Harley Davidson. Sounds dangerous, but it isn’t really, McCoy says. As long as he’s headed in a straight line.

Growing up in Dennison, Tex., just north of Dallas, McCoy, 45, developed a passion for drag racing cars that led to racing motorcycles.

“It didn’t take me long to figure out I didn’t like going around in circles,” McCoy said in a thick drawl.

Nor does it take McCoy long to get from one end of a quarter-mile drag strip to the other. These days, navigating the shortest distance between two points takes about nine seconds flat.

All of which has made McCoy, who lives in Ventura and works as a sales engineer for an oil company, faster than greased lightning this season on the American Harley Drag Racing Assn. Pro Gas circuit.

McCoy currently is tied for first in the AHDRA Pro Gas points standings and ranks 12th among 18 Pro Gas drivers in the National Motorcycle Racing Assn. points standings at L.A. County Raceway in Palmdale. However, he has skipped two of four NMRA events.

McCoy will be on the move again Wednesday in Sturgis, S.D., for the annual three-day AHDRA Sturgis Nationals.

As a teen-ager in Dennison, just north of Dallas, McCoy moved quickly from illegal street racing to professional drag racing. But he didn’t begin drag racing on a Harley until about seven years ago.

Stationed in Hawaii as a member of the Coast Guard, McCoy was persuaded by an adventurous friend to take up drag racing on two wheels.

“I tried it once and I knew I’d be drag racing bikes instead of cars from here on,” McCoy said. “I like any kind of racing, but drag racing is probably the safest racing there is. Nobody else is gonna hit you and not very often does anybody run you over. I’ve never been injured badly, knock on wood. Just a little road rash.”

Last season, McCoy finished third in both the AHDRA and NMRA points standings and posted victories in his final two meets, at Sacramento and Palmdale.

This season, McCoy was fastest in his first two meets at Phoenix in April and Houston in May.

McCoy’s goal is to break the world Pro Gas record of 8.62 seconds in the quarter-mile. That would mean clocking in at better than 151 m.p.h.

But what’s a few extra RPMs?

“You do it all the time and it’s like slow motion,” McCoy said.

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Southwest Tour: Stockton 99 Speedway is the site of tonight’s 100-lap race as Ron Hornaday Jr. of Palmdale continues to speed toward a second consecutive Southwest Tour championship.

Last weekend in Bakersfield, in one of the season’s most-exciting finishes, Hornaday vaulted from 10th position and survived an accident on the third lap to finish second to Dale Williams of Sacramento.

More important, Hornaday increased his lead to 152 points over Doug George of Atwater, Calif., who finished 18th.

Hornaday won both tour races at Stockton last season.

Tonight’s race is the 11th of 18 scheduled main events. The tour is scheduled to make its second of two seasonal appearances at Saugus Speedway on Sept. 11.

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The dirt flies: Ventura Raceway’s fifth motocross and off-road race of the season is scheduled for tonight at 6. More than 100 riders and drivers are expected to compete in the final tune-up race for the Ventura County Fair off-road race scheduled for Aug. 22.

Motorcycle riders will compete in classes ranging from 80cc to 500cc. Each class will be further divided into levels ranging from beginner to professional.