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!!!