Grothus Dragbikes 4.60 continues to be a growing class at Eddyville Raceway Park’s Trick-Tools MotorcycleMania—held August 12-14—and at many events across the country. Also growing is the career of rider Chase Van Sant, who would assuredly have his NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle license by now if the Lutanol shortage hadn’t put the kibosh on post-event testing after NHRA national events for most of the summer.
Van Sant won Saturday’s 4.60 final over runner-up Mike Murphy, then runner-upped to Memphis racer Chad “Chicken Head” Otts on Sunday.
Murphy rolled up to Saturday’s final with a broken bike. “I took it to the line praying he would redlight,” reported Murphy. “It’s unfortunate, I would’ve gave him a good race that day.”
“I’m bummed for the Murphy’s and the issues they had that caused them not to be able to run the race how they wanted,” said Van Sant. “I don’t like winning that way—but I needed to get over a hump and things fell my way on Saturday.
“It’s been a little over a year since I’ve won a race, so to get through some rounds after struggling all day and come out with the win was a really, really good feeling.
“My cousin Teag and I were both able to pull off wins on the same night and I think that was the most special part of the weekend. He just started riding last year and has only raced a handful of times, so to have the weekend he did was outstanding. He won Street ET shortly after the 4.60 final and I think I was more excited for his win than I was to grab a win myself!
“It was great to make the final Sunday as well and have some really tight races. Chad Otts and I had some fun in the final on Sunday and we left close off the line, but I just slowed up way too much to make a difference. Chad had a great weekend, too, and his bike was absolutely rolling. They had such a good handle on it and I was lucky to squeak by him on Saturday.”
Otts took the starting line .003 to .012 and ran a 4.64 to Van Sant’s .68.
“The Eddyville Trick-Tools race was an awesome event to attend,” said Otts. “The best part about this event is that it’s two races in one weekend.
“As always, 4.60 had a bunch of tough competition, but thankfully Will Garner (Jones) had my bike dialed dead-on.
“I would like to thank my amazing fiancé for all the miles she drives us and all the great food she always feeds us. I also want to thank the boss man in charge, Ronnie Adams, and all my awesome teammates for all the dedicated hard work and long hours put in to keep the bike up and running. Also a huge thank you to Dyno Don for all of his endless hard work he puts in behind the scenes. We give all the glory to the good Lord above for each and every blessing and keeping us all safe as we travel and race around the country.”
“We had a great weekend at our home event and had a blast with family and friends!” added Van Sant. “It’s always special when you can have a good group of racers come up and support an event that a lot of people invest and put a lot of work into.”
And Chase knows first hand how much work that is, as his dad Bruce Van Sant owns event sponsor Trick-Tools. Bruce partners with Eddyville track owner Gerald Kramer and Cornbelt Dragbike Association promoter Kelly Hefner to put on MotorcycleMania—quickly becoming a must-do race for motorcycle drag racers across the country no matter what points series they run in.
“I would have loved to have my dad’s bike up and running better so he could have had a fair chance at going some rounds, but we still have to sort out an electrical gremlin somewhere on the bike,” finished Chase.
“All in all, this weekend was a major positive for me and we are taking away a lot of really great things. For the second year of doing the event, I think everyone was pretty pleased with the turnouts as well.”
This story was originally published on August 24, 2022. 
