Welcome! This is Komodo Gear and were here today with Outlaw Drag Racer, O’Shea Squalls. O’Shea is a sponsored rider with Komodo Gear and were are here to learn more about O’Shea and his story.
Komodo Gear – “So, O’Shea Welcome!”
O’Shea – “Thank you!”
Komodo Gear – “Were Glad you’re here so kind of let’s just jump into this, how about we start with one of the questions that’s been on my mind. How did you get started in Drag Racing?”
O’Shea – “Now that you asked me that, it started way back when I was riding mini bikes at the age of five, that is where it all stems from, at the age of five my older brother was eight he had a 5 horse power Briggs and Stratton Sears Mini Bike.”
Komodo Gear – “Like the kind with the steel ridged frame?”
O’Shea – “Exactly, and we rode those with the dog helmets, we didn’t know any better in those days and we got on those. I had several other guys in the neighborhood, a lot of guys born in our neighborhood so we had approximately 10 mini bikes in the neighborhood.
Komodo Gear – Oh Wow, Really?”
O’Shea – “Ya, So if I look back on it now, that started the whole racing scene. We would go down the street and see who would have the fastest mini bike.”
Komodo Gear – ( laughs ) “Just human nature to be competitive right?”
O’Shea – “Yes exactly. So , as my bother moved on to another bike and that solely became my mini bike. One day I was going to see who was the fastest and my throttle broke, and I did not want to wait until my father got home to get a new throttle cable, so I figured I would look at the engine to see what I could do to still ride the mini bike that day, found out I could tie a sting to the throttle blade and found out that by tying the string and pulling the string, the throttle blade would actually go further than the throttle itself would turn which actually would rev the engine faster. And everybody caught onto that.”
Komodo Gear – “So, the Jeannie ‘s out of the bottle?”
O’Shea – “Yes, I got the throttle cable replaced, but it still had that string tied to it, so when we were going neck and neck down the road and felt comfortable that they had me, I would pull that string and the motor would start to rev and I would pull away from them.”
Komodo Gear – “That’s really quite impressive.”
O’Shea – “Then everybody caught onto that and that went around the neighborhood.”
Komodo Gear – “So you found out when you were a kid just out of necessity, to get the bike running again.”
O’Shea- “Yes, Exactly.”
Komodo Gear – “The end result was you found a way to get the bike running faster.”
O’Shea – (laughs) “Yes, Exactly. Now it wasn’t good for the engine to rev it that high, (laughs) but it was like drag racing – you take it to the limit.”
Komodo Gear – “Exactly, So let’s kind of fast forward to today, Tells us what you’re doing today in Drag Racing?”
O’Shea – “Currently today my passion is in Outlaw Drag Bikes.”
Komodo Gear – “And for our listeners, describe “Outlaw”?”
O’Shea – “Outlaw is a Seventy-five inch wheel base bike, unlimited engine mod, and you can have nitrous or turbo system. My Bike is a nitrous Bike. You have to be on your toes when the power comes on. There is no wheelie bar as well.”
Komodo Gear – “So seventy-five inches, nitrous fed and no wheelie bar?”
O’Shea – “Seven Inch Slick, and basically it runs in mid sevens right now, we are going to get it down. I just built the bike last year, so I haven’t turned it up at all, I am just trying to get used to the bike. My fastest times is like mid sevens, at a hundred and eighty-nine miles and hour (189mph).”
Komodo Gear – “Ok, hundred and eighty-nine miles an hour, that’s pretty serious stuff considering when you were 5 years old you were on a Briggs and Stratton Sears mini bike. So, help us better understand, what inspires you to get into sanctioned Drag Racing? Most guys start drag racing on the street.”
O’Shea – “That’s right, that is exactly where I started. I am from a small town in Mississippi and we didn’t have race tracks, though once I went from the mini bikes I started riding dirt bikes and then eventually street bikes. Once we got into street bikes we didn’t have a race track so we would find a street that didn’t appear to have any traffic on it, so we street raced. Now that’s not a good thing, but we didn’t have any tracks so that is what we did.”
Komodo Gear – “Sure, you just did the best you could.”
O’Shea – “Once I moved from Mississippi to Texas, we had plenty of tracks here. I actually came here when there was a bunch of street racing here in Texas, there was a whole lot of people getting hurt doing that. So I started going to the different tracks that were here and thought, well, I was not going to street race anymore, I am just going to take it to the track.”
Komodo Gear- “You race in a professionally run organization now. Tell us about it?”
O’Shea – “Once I started going to the race track I started meeting other folks and found out that some of them were there just testing for events for the PMRA, that’s a drag racing series that is based out of Kansas, with the majority of the events in Oklahoma down at Thunder Valley Race Way Park. They invited me there just to see what was going on and I couldn’t wait to go back.”
Komodo Gear – “Big change of environment I bet.”
O’Shea – “Yes, the PMRA is an all motorcycle Drag Racing Series, no cars – just bikes.
Komodo Gear – What class are you racing in the PMRA today?”
O’Shea – “Today, I race in Super Street which is a non fifty class, on my ZX12, and I run in Outlaw Pro Street. Whatever you can bring, you bring it.”
Komodo Gear – “How many racers compete in those classes do you think?”
O’Shea - “Well, the super street when we initially got that started there was about thirty, and today were looking at about ten in the Pro Street Class and it is constant someone’s always building a bike for the class. So next year it could be approximately fourteen to sixteen bikes in the class.”
Komodo Gear – “The racers in this class are focused, dedicated racers.”
O’Shea – “Exactly, you have to be focused and dedicated in what you are doing because, for one in this class, you spend a whole lot of money to build a bike to go that fast.”
Komodo Gear – “You bring up a very valid point. For people who are looking to get into sanctioned racing, what kind of expenses could they be looking at? Where do they start and where does it go from there?”
O’Shea - “Well you can take a street bike, you can take your Hayabusa , ZX14 or whatever you got, actually it could be your cruiser, you could take your cruiser to the track, and bring it to PMRA or any other sanction and they have Street T, and basically you run your own race. You stay focused – you run down the track and you dial in your own time. You can run your bike out the backdoor, and say your bike ran 8 seconds, and your competitor bike runs 7 seconds, you will get a time assistance to make the race fair. At that particular point you just have to race yourself and be good on the tree. Just practice, practice.”
Komodo Gear – “Sure, so that’s kind of interesting you can run what you brought, and get started.”
O’Shea – “Exactly, you can drive it Ultra Street and a lot of people do that.”
Komodo Gear - “That’s interesting because the NHRA just released a new mandate, and these mandates are all around safety requirements, and I believe it is any bike that goes one hundred and twenty miles or faster on a NHRA certified track, one of two things. First you need to be wearing two piece leathers, and also be wearing Kevlar type Race Gloves. I bring this up because even cruisers today, hit 100 mph in the quarter mile.”
O’Shea – “Exactly, and the two piece leathers you spoke about also need to be able to zip together. If you go down and you don’t want your leathers to peel off of you like a banana or something like that. Once you hit the ground or whatever you are going to hit, those leathers could come off of you very quickly if you did not have them zipped together.”
Komodo Gear – “You actually, have tested out some leathers.”
O’Shea – (laughs) “Unfortunately, it wasn’t planned that way. I was at the very nice Dallas Race Way Park, all concrete quarter mile track, testing out my Outlaw Bike and I had my brand new Komodo Gear Leathers on. I actually had a malfunction with the swing arm. The swing arm broke, the bike just veered to the left and I smacked the left going one thirty to one thirty five miles an hour (135 mph).”
Komodo Gear – “To those listening to this podcast, we actually have that video, on the website and on YouTube. I encourage you to take a look at it. As O’Shea stated this was not a planned event, crashes never are. We think it is good to let our listeners know about that.”
O’Shea – “Exactly, I did not even realize I had hit the wall, I knew the bike had hit the wall, I did not know I had hit the wall. I didn’t even feel anything. I didn’t feel the impact. I was actually off the bike, looking to find out what was the problem, I thought I had a flat tire, and at that particular point, the paramedics and my brother and you guys were down there to make sure I was OK. I didn’t know why everyone was asking me if I was OK because of the scrapping on the leathers. Once you guys pointed it out to me I was like, whoa! Those leathers held up to their name. I recommend them to everybody. The padding was in the correct impact zones that they needed to be in.”
Komodo Gear – “Well, from our point of view – how the bike slammed on the side of the wall, it did not look good at all. It didn’t look good at all.”
O’Shea – “No, it wasn’t good, and fortunately I wasn’t hurt at all, I thought, you are going to be sore tomorrow. The next day, I never did feel anything, I felt just like I feel today, I walked just fine the next day and the day after that.”
Komodo Gear – “So tell us about 2010 what do you have going on for next season?”
O’Shea – “In 2009 I actually finished second in points in the Outlaw class, so my next step is to win the championship in the Outlaw, I am not taking second I am taking first this year. That’s my goal for 2010.”
Komodo Gear – “For the listeners, we are going to be following O’Shea for the 2010 season, and several follow up podcasts to come. So, O’Shea, for those listening any departing words for them?”
O’Shea – “Look for us on at the track and on Komodo Gear and our videos, and we are actually going to probably be doing some NHRA qualifying in the future as well.
Komodo Gear – Yes! That is going to be really exciting. Well, O’Shea, thanks for your time and to our listeners, thank you for tuning in.”
O’Shea – “Thank you.”

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