Rider, pioneer, builder
Some call him the Don Garlits of motorcycle drag racing. One of nine siblings in Corbin, KY, and with an 8th-grade education, Trett made his life’s ambition to become the fastest man on two wheels. He became just that, setting the pace in NHRA Top Fuel motorcycle drag racing for two decades until his death at the 1996 US Nationals. Like Garlits, Trett built the bikes he rode and was first to breach major milestones: 200, 210, 220, 230 and ultimately 235 mph, by 1994. When he went 200 mph at the 1983 US Nationals, the feat was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records. The only motorcyclist on the NHRA’s 2000 list of Top 50 All-Time Racers, Trett was also the first motorcyclist inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame (2002). Said MSHFA inductee Byron Hines, “He put Top Fuel on the map because he never quit working on his stuff.” Co-inductee Terry Vance: “I think anybody racing a drag bike today owes a lot to Elmer Trett.”