King Of The Baggers Is The Coolest Racing Series You’ve Never Heard Of

Photo Credit: Brian J Nelson

Last month, I was in Minnesota with Indian Motorcycle for my first King of the Baggers race. Now I’ll be honest, prior to this experience I didn’t even know such a series existed. But after spending a weekend with the Indian Motorcycle race team at Brainerd Raceway and getting to experience it firsthand, I’m totally hooked!

So what exactly is the King of the Baggers, you might be wondering? As the name suggests, it’s a racing series.. for bagger motorcycles. Crazy, right? Yes, when you think of motorcycle racing, you think of superbikes that can do 200mph. But this series features big, heavy baggers, which usually have comfy seats, a wind-deflecting fairing to reduce drag, V-twin engines, and soft saddlebags or rigid compartments that hold a lot of stuff for long rides. These bikes were built for cruising, not racing.

In KOTB, teams take everyday cruisers, stripping them down and building them back up better than ever. They then hit some of America’s most famous racetracks, with a group of seriously competitive riders pushing these frankenbikes to the absolute limits. And the results are pretty amazing. I mean, when’s the last time that you saw a bagger going 180mph+ on the straights and leaning 50º in a turn?! You have to see it to believe it.

Photo Credit: Brian J Nelson

Naturally, my first question was “Who came up with this crazy idea of racing baggers?!” As it turns out, it was the brainchild of Rob Buydos (of Drag Specialties and Parts Unlimited), and after presenting the idea to MotoAmerica and later showing video of a bagger going around a racetrack, they signed off on it, with an inaugural King of the Baggers race held at the iconic Laguna Seca in 2020.

It was initially thought that all the baggers running would be Harley-Davidsons. But S&S Cycle had been working behind closed doors with Indian Motorcycle to prepare a Challenger (ridden by Tyler O’Hara), along with another Indian built by Roland Sands Design. Thus bringing the age-old rivalry between these two iconic motorcycle brands to life on the track, a true David versus Goliath story. In the end, the victory was claimed by Tyler O’Hara on his Indian.

While the King Of The Baggers was supposed to be a single show-event, it truly disrupted the motorsports world, going viral in a hurry and garnering 9.6 million views across social media. So naturally they expanded upon it, with a three-race season in 2021, an even bigger seven-race season in 2022, and seven races for 2023, held at some of the most famous racetracks in the country. While there might be plans to expand with one or two more races in the future, right now teams are happy with the current schedule.

Photo Credit: Brian J Nelson

Part of the draw about bagger racing is that these are factory motorcycles, and you can build a similarly performing bike of your own, provided you have deep pockets. The Indian Challenger RR bike that Tyler O’Hara won the 2022 series with took the already stout PowerPlus engine on the Indian Challenger street bike and amped it up with custom S&S camshafts, 112 CID big bore cylinder/piston kit, CNC ported cylinder heads, S&S air intake w/78MM throttle body, billet adjustable rocker arms and a throaty S&S 2-1 race exhaust.

With 17″ race rims combined with Dunlop race tires, Hayes rear caliper and dual Brembo M4 front caliper breaks all rested under Ohlins FGR250 front forks, this allowed for aggressive knee dragging cornering and responsive handling in all conditions. Additional modifications include TTX Ohlins rear shock, S&S chain drive conversion, S&S automatic chain tensioner, and S&S billet clutch cover above the custom belly pan.

Rounding things out are a fixed fairing with an aero windshield, Maxx fully adjustable ECM, an AIM DL2 data logger dash, and S&S fairing mount, along with a Saddleman raised seat, S&S rear set foot controls, adjustable handlebars, and a quickshifter kit. (Keep in mind, parts and settings change on these bikes weekly, as they are truly learning as they go and making small changes on the fly)

Photo Credit: Brian J Nelson

Most people won’t actually go and build a bagger racer of their own, but it’s pretty exciting to ride a Challenger street bike and see a version of that same bike tearing it up on the racetrack. It also plays into that whole “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday” mentality, potentially bringing new customers to the brand who might not have been riding their bikes beforehand.

But that doesn’t mean bagger racing won’t bolster the aftermarket for V-twin motorcycles, as people look to upgrade their rides and squeeze out a little more performance and such. And that was honestly part of the motivation behind King of the Baggers initially.

“These races are dynamic platforms to showcase the performance capabilities of our baggers,” said Gary Gray, Vice President – Racing, Technology and Service for Indian Motorcycle.

Photo Credit: Brian J Nelson

The races themselves are a lot of fun. Unlike traditional auto racing which spans hundreds of laps (and hours upon hours), bagger races are really quick, with most races running 15 minutes or less. Most times, riders won’t even pit. Over the course of the weekend, there was a practice, two qualifiers, and two races. In addition, there was a 3-lap Challenge, which was pretty neat.

Do the math, and that’s not a ton of time on the track. That’s great for those people streaming the race from home, as it’s not a huge time commitment at all. But if you’re attending the race in person, there’s a lot more that you can see and do, even if you’re “just here for the baggers.”

Much like with NASCAR, many people bring RVs or campers and make a full weekend out of it, with plenty of activities to keep them occupied. At this race, MotoAmerica had six classes of road racing – Superbikes, Supersport, Stock 1000, Junior Cup, King of the Baggers & Royal Enfield Women’s Build.Train.Race. They also had a stunt show, bike show, mud truck racing, motorcycles & snowmobiles dragstrip racing, freestyle snowmobiles on the pond, live music, and even a petting zoo. And plenty of Mission Foods samples. 🙂

Photo Credit: Brian J Nelson

If you were rooting for the Indian Racing team this weekend, it was a bit of a mixed bag. Tyler O’Hara came out swinging, topping the field of 16 riders in the first qualifier Friday afternoon. But due to the wet conditions, his record lap time of 1:53:543 wouldn’t hold up the next day when it was dry and sunny. The following day at the second qualifier, he ended up in third position, just a few hundreds of a second behind Fong and Gillim at 1:36.592.

While Tyler O’Hara took an early lead seemed like a sure thing in the first race, a mechanical failure with just a few laps to go forced him to leave the race. The following day (after the team wrenched away on his bike well into the night), Tyler rode hard but just couldn’t catch Gillim, coming in third place. But it wasn’t a total loss for him, as he did manage to win the three-lap Challenge dash-for-cash earlier on Saturday, pocketing $5,000 in the process.

Mechanic failures are just part of the deal, as these motorcycles are essentially prototypes, and things can and will break, often at the most inopportune times. As you can imagine, the spirits in the pits went from joyous elation to somber silence in a matter of seconds when O’Hara’s bike failed and he went off-track.

Photo Credit: Brian J Nelson

Harley Davison versus Indian is one of America’s oldest rivalries, with Indian founded in 1901 and Harley founded in 1903. While Indian fell on hard times after World War II and shut down in 1953, they came back in 2011, putting out some great bikes and getting back into racing.

Now to face off against their larger, more well-funded rival at King of the Baggers and come out victorious (with Tyler O’Hara winning the KOTB title in both 2020 & 2022), it’s a bit of a Cinderella story. But HD isn’t giving making things easy, proving to be very competitive and keeping Indian on their toes. It’s a fun battle to watch play out.

Tyler O’Hara is an incredible rider, and his technical knowledge and insights from his vast racing experience have proven to be invaluable in this series. While he’s ridden all kinds of bikes throughout his career, he genuinely loves bagger racing, and watching him make these bikes do things they never should be able to do is really something else.

If you want to check out a King of the Baggers race, there are a number of ways to do so, both live and delayed programming. MotoAmerica Live+ ($$) is probably the most comprehensive coverage (qualifying, races, interviews, behind the scenes stuff), but there’s also live coverage on MAVTV, MTRSPT1, and YouTube. In addition, there’s one-hour delayed programming on FOX, or a one-week delay program on FOX Sports One.

But if a race is coming to a city near you, there’s no better way to experience bagger racing at its finest. With your ticket, you get full access to everything – The race paddock is open, so all of riders are accessible. You can walk over and watch the mechanics working on the baggers. And there are all of the other races and festivities going on as well. And the people are great, motorcycle enthusiasts just having a good time. What more could you ask for?

A huge thanks to Indian Motorcycle, MotoAmerica, and everyone else who helped make my first King of the Baggers race such an epic experience. I’m absolutely hooked now, and I can’t wait for the next one!