Wow.

That’s about the only way that I can describe the drag racing that Jess and I saw today. For those of you who missed it, I’ll recap: “Wow.” And yes, Mom, I did say “drag racing.” Everybody on the same page? Good.

Simply put: It was amazing. We saw alcohol and top-fuel (nitro) racers today. The vehicles included:

  • Modified stock cars – which were basically muscle cars (and a couple of El Caminos);
  • Motorcycles;
  • Funny cars; and
  • Dragsters.

ALL of the vehicles were impressive. We got to the track a little after 6 PM. As we walked to the gate we could hear – and see the tops of – cars on the track. And it was loud. We got inside, looked for and found Bruce (our manager who had suggested that we check out the event) and his family and sat down. Another alcohol-fuel race started shortly after we sat. The noise, from outside, was NOTHING compared to the noise – and vibrations – that we felt inside. We watched the remaining qualifying heats for the alcohol-fuel racers and then the top-fuel qualifying started…

Oh. My.

Watching and listening to the nitro cars race was like standing next to a jet as it took off! That is the ONLY thing that I can think of that could be close to the experience. It was unreal. You hear the engine rumble and roar to life as the drivers did their pre-race burn-outs – they floor the accelerator, smoke their tires, and get a short run to warm up their tires (for better traction)… not to mention just to show off for the spectators. It was VERRA LOUD. The drivers then drive in reverse to the starting line where they line up, wait for the starting lights (the “Christmas Tree”), and take off. And, “take off” is what they literally do! The sound that the engines make during the burn-outs is maybe 1/2 to 2/3 of what the actual race sounds like. And the air and ground vibrations are felt throughout your entire body!

After the qualifying, we went to the pit area and walked around. It turns out that Bruce used to be the neighbor of the crew members of one of the racing teams. We watched as the crew changed engine parts and replaced a still hot clutch…. “still hot” TWENTY MINUTES AFTER THE CAR’S LAST RACE!!! So hot, in fact, that the parts were removed by crewmen wearing fire-retardant gloves and using heavy-duty pliers.

We returned to the track for the races. I had taken some pictures during the qualifying rounds and wanted to get some of the night races. I discovered just how fast these cars were: I attempted to get shots of the cars as they left the starting line. I figured that if I watched the Christmas Tree, I could time it to catch the cars as they left the line. I tried three times, unsuccessfully – by the time the shutter closed and the picture was taken, the cars were at least 1/4 of the way down the track! Let me add that the longest race that we saw was just under eight (8) seconds long… and the shortest was 4.89 seconds! I did manage to get one shot of a car leaving the line with flame shooting out of its exhaust pipes. It was the last car in the last race of the night. But, I got it. I am going to download the pictures from the camera tomorrow and will hopefully have them posted on my website in the next day or two.

Now, it’s off to bed. I’m a bit tuckered out and it will be nice to get into bed before 3:30 am at least once this week.

And just in case I didn’t mention it before: Wow.

Peace.