The other upside was that most of the race goers were more interesting in keeping warm than getting drunk. Most people drank hot coffee and shivered inside their coats and blankets wishing they had worn long under ware. This was a welcome change from the August races where some big hairy drunk guy dripping in sweat plops down beside you and proceeds to take off his shirt.
Racing is a sport that many people think is only for younger men. I thought that too until I started paying attention to the announcer. I just love it when a person that doesn't fit into the typical racer stereotype is at an event! I've seen grandmas, teenage girls, husband and wife teams and octogenarians. Yesterday there were two older guys that did fantastic -- one was 81, the other in his early 70's. It is a great reminder to not let life pass you by. Whatever your thing is, get out there and keep doing it until God calls you home.
On the drive there (when I'm wide awake) we take all the back roads and just enjoy the beautiful scenery. The drive home is a constant loop of me fighting to stay awake to keep George company while he drives, pouring coffee from the thermos and then nodding off.
In spite of being cold, and not getting home until 1 am, we had a fantastic time. After church, we had lunch and took a 3 hour nap to make up for the lack of sleep last night. Here's some photos from our day. My apologies for the formatting on the photo descriptions -- Blogger was not cooperating.
This is Blastro. Believe it or not, it's street legal. Isn't this the coolest Astro
van you have ever seen. I'm just sorry I couldn't get a better photo. This van
is hauled in a trailer that is almost a cool as the car.
Interior shot of Blastro. Not big on creature comforts,
but I guess you don't really need a cup holder in a
race car.
These types of cars are interesting because the whole body
lifts up. Many racers bring a whole 'nother body with them in
case they wreck. The big time racers also bring enough parts
to build a whole new car from scratch-- engine and everything.
I find that amazing, considering it might be an all day project
for me to change the oil.
My all time favorite type of vehicle at any drag race is
the jet powered variety. They make lots of noise and go
super fast and there's fire. Lots and lots of fire. A girl couldn't
want anything more.
The jet vehicles are what's called an Exhibition Vehicle. They don't race to see who
wins. The track hires them to come and put on a big show to entice more
people to buy a ticket to the races. Much to my disappointment
these jet vehicles only run twice at any event I've ever gone to.
This vehicle is from Les Shockley's ShockWave line of jet vehicles.
Do you see how much fire that is? Awesome!
Here he is gearing up to take off. This particular vehicle
has two jet engines and burns 100 gallons of diesel for
each run.
You see a lot of old 60's and early 70's muscle cars.
This is another exhibition vehicle. It does wheel stands.
Please note, while this vehicle is neat, it is not nearly as
fun because there is only a very small amount of fire.
One interesting thing to note about the tires on this vehicle.
The entire tire is completely smooth -- no tread of any kind. The tire
walls are so lax that they are wrinkled. That's the Trixie description.
The official description is Wrinkle Wall Drag Slicks. It's weird to think
that you could drive anywhere on tires like that.
This is an ancient history dragster from the 1970's. Dragsters
look very different today and are built with more safety features.
This car was probably the least safe car out of any we've ever seen at
any racing event. If anything goes wrong in this vehicle you are as
good as dead. I'm not sure if this car was for exhibition or was racing.
That's George talking to the driver in the background. He wants to sit in it but
is hesitant to ask. He likes stuff that goes fast as much as I do.
This photo goes with the one above. Look at the bright pink
parachute in the photo above -- that's where the driver sits.
You cannot see the racetrack when racing. What you see
in this photo is all you see while you are going 200 miles per hour.
Racers have many occupational hazards. In this car (same one as
above) the driver is literally sitting on the gear box. Gear boxes frequently
blow up. See that metal thingy that looks like a handle at the top of
the photo? That's the steering wheel. Not very luxurious are they?
*Regarding the slogan on the gear box above.
Boys and boys and men are grown up boys.
I thought it was hilarious.
Post Title → Race Day Recap
