Yep, I made my yearly trek to
the Top Fuel Drag Races and got there and got back in one piece. I must be getting old because when I got home
and ate supper, I had trouble staying awake to watch it on TV. In case you ever want to watch them, they are
on ESPN and I believe there will be another one next week. Usually they have two weeks between
races. Anyway, I am going to show you
some pictures that I took when I first got there. Getting in is easy, they remove the toll from
the toll road and close the road in front of the racetrack for one way traffic
only. They direct you into this huge
parking area and I was anxious to get into the race area that I forgot to count
the rows to where I parked. No problem,
I found it; was only a couple of rows off, but spotted it. Of course it took a lot longer to get out of
the parking lot than getting in
Of course what would a drag
race be without John Force and all his drivers and cars? One of his drivers, Mike Neff, won the top
fuel funny car race. Here are the pits
of John and his son-in-law, Robert Height:
And just a little bit further in is John’s other
racing daughter, Courtney. Ashley took
leave to raise her new baby and Courtney is filling in for her and doing a
great job.
If you don’t think this is a
big event, here is a picture of just one of many streets lined with pit crews. I would bet that there are more people
associated with the cars than the amount of paying spectators. This huge “city” should have disappeared by
now.
Another top fuel dragster:
Here is Ron Caps letting a
spectator get her picture taken with him.
He is a friendly fellow and came in runner up.
Here is the Kalitta team
getting their car ready for the first race:
And here is my wife’s
favorite driver, Greg Anderson who drives a Pro-Stock car. The Pro-Stock cars run the full quarter mile,
whereas the top fuel cars only run 1000 feet.
There are a lot of neat cars
sitting around and this is one of many:
OK, that is enough for today. Will show you some race pictures tomorrow. You all have a great day now, you hear?
what a day! been there done that. 1st time we saw a funny car was way back about 1960 in San Antonio, at the drag races there.
ReplyDeleteThings have changed since then, they now go very close to 300 mph in 1000 feet and have 8000 hp. Unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteBoy howdy, sure wish I could have been there. It's been too many years since I've been to a race. But that's my fault. All the new faces, names and rules have changed to where I don't know nuttin bout drag rac'n no more. Would love to make one last run down the strip....even in "that jeep".
ReplyDeleteCan't wait till tomorrows photos.
BB, check the schedule on www.nhra.com - They will be in Georgia next week, aren't you heading that way? If i had known you could have used one of my seats, I will show you a picture of it tomorrow.
DeleteSounds like you had a good time, and that's the main thing...right?
ReplyDeleteI love that last picture of the hot rod!
HJ, that was a neat car, probably the neatest there, of course I didn't look every where. To see it all you would miss the racing.
ReplyDelete