A New Kind of Racing (and I loved it!!!!)

Well it doesn't beat NASCAR in my book, but man drag racing is a completely different experience. I have been wanting to attend a drag race for years, so when I found out they were building one at the Lowe's Motor Speedway complex I decided that would be my first. So, I kept checking the weather and once I saw it was going to be good for the weekend I went and purchased my ticket and actually got right at the start line.


A pic of the main building

Now the biggest difference between NASCAR and NHRA, is the access to the pits and drivers. Your ticket to the races is essentially an all access pit pass. The drivers come out and sign autographs on a regular basis and you can literally stand there and watch them tear down and rebuild the car in a 90 minute turn around between rounds. Of course they're dealing with a much smaller number of fans at the event than a Cup race, but it's still a very awesome experience.

The pits is where I also learned a big difference between smoke at the two events: at NASCAR races we cerish the smell of a cloud of smoke from a spinning car or winning burnout, at
NHRA events run when you see smoke (or at least get out of it's way). NHRA smoke burns the eyes to the point of making me (and grown men) tear up, and you feel as though you've swallowed fire (or at least what I imagine that would feel like).

Here's some pics from the pits:


My first NHRA autograph: Ashley Force


John Force (who failed to qualify for the event)


Ron Capps


Fast Jack Beckman


Tony Schumaker


Tony Pedregon


Kurt Johnson


The US Army Top Fuel Dragster pit


The Caterpillar Top Fuel Dragster


Ashley's John Force Racing Top Fuel Funny Car

Then came race time and OMG I was no where near prepared for what I was going to see, hear and feel. The Top Fuel Dragsters come out for Round 1 eliminations first and I must admit I almost crapped myself when they took off for the first race. It was just awesome, deafening, body jolting and packed with adrenaline. I was hooked.

Here's some pics from the races:

These were just the competition class guys, and I loved that they almost lifted off.


The CAT dragster (had the local dealership as one of the sponsors for the weekend)


Ron Capps and the NAPA Funny Car


Ashley's burnout

Ashley Force vs. Tim Wilkerson

And she wins.

The finals in Funny Car: Cruz Pedregon vs. Fast Jack Beckman

Top Fuel Dragster finals

It was a fairly close race (I love that you can see the flames)

Fast Jack Beckman

Tony Schumaker

So all in an eye opening experience. It was even worth the horrible sunburn that I got by virtue of "race brain" taking over when I saw the track (I forgot all about putting on sunscreen). I will definitely return to future drag races as I thoroughly enjoyed the day. Next time I'll have to expand to 2-3 days of the race weekend and take in qualifying under the lights!!!

The Race For The Chase (and a visit from Hanna)

So, a little late in getting this posted, but too many pictures to sort through. Here goes:

Teresa and I decided to head to Richmond to be there to see who made the Chase for 2008. Junior was already locked in but Richmond always provides good racing under the lights. We decided to add the FanZone package for Friday, so we got to experience final practice from pit road (which was awesome!!!). So here are a few pics from pit road:

Dale Jr. coming out from the garage area


The #88 on the track (I really like the new colors)


Just trying a different angle to see what I could get.


If you only knew how many shots I took to get one lined up like this :)


My obligatory pic of the CAT car.


Morgan Shepard on his roller skates.

The FanZone also featured some driver Q&A sessions:

Landon Cassill (#5 JR Motorsports driver)


Kenny Wallace


Brad Kezelowski (#88 JR Motorsports driver)

After the Q&A's we were back off to pit road to catch Nationwide and Cup qualifying. Instead we got Tropical Storm Hanna, but not before having a little fun with a couple of the crews.

Kelley Bires crew were busy wrapping up their war wagon in prep for the rain and I couldn't help but make fun of their use of "PINK" duct tape to secure it. So Rob, the taper, decided that Grover needed a rain hat.


Grover and his rain hat


Me and Rob (he had a really good bear hug)


Teresa and the #47 guys (Nick, ?, and Rob)


Me and the #47 guys

Our other buddies were the #28 US Border Patrol team. We ended up sitting on pit wall right by Kenny Wallace's car and the whole conversation started with an oatmeal raisin cookie. Bugs and George talked to us during the sprinkles of rain that were falling, and when the rains came asked if we wanted to go back to the garages to get out of the rain. We took the opportunity and ended up hanging out in the Border Patrol hauler. Kenny was the only autograph we missed earlier in the day so we ended up getting it after all.


Bugs, Teresa and George


One of the JR Motorsports haulers across the way

After about 2 and a half hours of rain, they called the race for Friday night and announced that the track would remain closed Saturday. Tropical Storm Hanna had a possibility of dropping lots of rain and spurring tornadoes, so they decided to run both races on Sunday.

That left Teresa and I to find something to do on Saturday besides sit around at the timeshare. So I found a couple scrapbook stores and we hit Merchant's Square in Williamsburg.

Me scrapbook shopping :)


The end of T.S. Hanna (just liked the way the sky looked as the storm pushed through)

So, a day late, but much better racing weather on Sunday. Here's some shots from race day:


My To-Do List Flag (only 8 to go)


Pit Road during the National Anthem


Junior and Smoke racing for position


Hittin' pit road

This shot made the whole weekend worth it (would've been better had it been on purpose)

Jimmie Johnson wins!

Smokin' the tires in celebration!

So after the Cup race they cleared the stands. We decided to stick around and stay for the first hour of the Nationwide race hoping that would mean less traffic to deal with. And we wanted to see our new buddies from the day before in action. Here's some shots from the second race:

The US Border Patrol transporter where we escaped from the rain Friday

The #28 crew pushing out onto pit road

The #47 Clorox team taking a last minute break

Brad in the #88 NAVY Chevrolet

Landon in the #5 National Guard Chevrolet

The #28 team in action (George is jackman, Bugs is one of the fuel guys)

The #47 team in action (Rob is the jackman, Nick was a tire changer)

The #88 wasn't handling very well

So a successful weekend, and a race weekend with Hanna.