Al’s first exposure to motorcycle drag racing was in Sturgis, South Dakota at the inaugural Sturgis bike drags in 1980. At that time, he got to meet some real icons of the sport. Bonnie Truett, a noted Nitro Harley racer invited Al to his drag race in Wichita - 8th annual all motorcycle event. It featured a plethora of Nitro bikes as well as lots of purpose-built gassers. He was Bit!                              

 For 1981, Al campaigned an old Harley Panhead at Edmonton's Speedway Park and returned the following year with a new Harley Shovelhead to pick up the pace and sharpen his skill set. This bike ran high 13's and was a lot of fun. In the winter of 1982/83, he embarked on building a purpose-built Harley laydown gas dragster. This took about 8 months to complete and when the 1000cc bike was finally ready, the Speedway was no more; he took it to Sheppard raceway in Calgary and qualified in the top 16. That bike would set many track records including Saskatoon, Prince George and Calgary and was also a poster bike for Saskatoon and Prince George.

That winter this bike was backhalved to accept a car tire and an increase in displacement. Various incarnations of this bike were campaigned around Western Canada, Wichita and Spokane. They set records for a number of years and won many engineering awards from various Racetracks, Artistry in Iron, and Cycle Canada as well as Magazine appearances. The best this bike ran was 10.18.

Al spent 4 years working on getting a new race facility in the Edmonton, area until finally inking a deal with the Airport Authority for YEG. He was one of the original shareholders in the Edmonton venture.

For 1990, he sold the old bike and embarked on a new knees up gas bike. Displacement was increased to 1750cc and a new design chassis gave him a bike that weighed a scant 303 lbs. More engineering awards, magazine articles and track records followed. Best ET was 9.83 at Edmonton's new Capital Raceway in 1992. Jerry Gordon came on board as his Crew Chief at this time.

At the end of 1992, he purchased a blown-up Nitro Harley Sportster in Louisiana. It took 9 months to rebuild everything and on the inaugural trip down the Race City course in 1993 was rewarded with an eye opening, wheel carrying 9.29 pass and a hurt motor. He was learning that Nitro is not your friend! They went to Capital Raceway and ran an 8.69 with no damage. At the California Fun Drags in Sacramento, they made the semis before hurting their stuff. They then went to their very first All Harley Drag Race (AHDRA) Finals in Palmdale, Ca. and was first round loser there as the cases just pushed apart.

1994 saw a new frame added and built a new motor. They were ready to go racing! They won the All Bike Drags in Edmonton and had progressed to the point with the modified stock Harley cases that they would qualify #1 and not be able to make the call because our engine cases were splintered.

For 1995 we purchased a set of very Strong STD engine cases. That put the heavily modified Harley cases in the metal recycle where they belonged. In 1997, he decided to spend the season chasing the Western Series in the US with AHRA.  They did the same thing for the next 2 years until they grenaded our ultra strong cases that were now built of unobtainium.

Due to product shortages, Al and Jerry embarked on designing and manufacturing their own billet engine cases. These were called Silver Bullet engine cases. Crankshafts were also extremely short in supply so we launched a modified crankshaft program at the same time.

2002 saw us win our first Season Championship and 2003 we were undefeated except for redlite loss and won another Season Championship. They also won an Event called the BIG RACE in Brainerd, Minnesota. This was the richest motorcycle drag race in history and were the only Canadian to win there!!

2004 was the year to design and build an entire bike c/w engine. This project was known as the Derringer Engine program; an exercise in designing and producing a bullet proof engine system that newbies would not go broke learning their craft.  Al was very instrumental in this venture and Jerry Gordon is acknowledged as the father of the Derringer Engine. They were given the Nitro Cup for innovation and technology in Nitro Harley Racing. The Derringer engine program would become the world standard and still is.

Al spent a lot of time trying to grow the sport and spent 6 years on the CMDRA board of Directors. 

Al won the Season Championship with the CMDRA in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and in 2013, won the Season Championship - undefeated. He was awarded the very prestigious Trev Deeley Memorial Award for Outstanding Contribution to Canadian Motorcycle Drag Racing as well as the Dennis Mark Award for Outstanding Achievement. He set CMDRA 1/8 Mile MPH record that still stands to this day.

Al continued to race and in 2019 set 2 CMDRA National ET Records.  4.52 1/8 and 7.29 1/4. These records still stand. At a race in Medicine Hat, Al crashed at 175mph and ragdolled down the track, spending 9 months in rehab.

In 2022, he started his 39th year of Motorcycle Drag Racing at 70 years of age.  Not long after, Al was diagnosed with ALS and passed away November 19, 2024.