Drags
So, my buddy, Cherokee 3-2, calls me up last week. It’s his birthday and his wife had just handed him a couple of tickets to the NHRA “Midwest Nationals†@ Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis. I am not a big fan of motor sports, but the opportunity to spend the day with my best friend was too good to pass up.
I had never been to a drag race before. The closest I had come previously was when I was 11 and asked the neighbor what he was doing to the old Jeep in his garage. The next thing I knew I was at a ‘mud bog,’ bored out of my skull.
First off, this is an ‘arena’ event. This is big league stuff, and as such, it has big league prices. T-Shirts, sodas, and everything else is priced in a big league way. It is big business and the sponsors all had trailers selling wares. Some had games/experiences available (for a price of course). On the plus side, some of the vendors had “car show girls†manning the booths.
In NHRA, the pits are wide open. You can get up close and watch them work on the cars and grab yourself a snoot full of Nitro. (Nitromethane fuel – one whiff and you won’t forget it). Not only can you get up close to the ‘behind the scenes’ action, you never know when you are going to be able to snag a cool souvenir. I saw two people walking out with a busted crankshaft. I thought that was cool until I realized my wife probably wouldn’t appreciate it as a coffeetable certerpiece.
The races were loud and smelly. I thought to myself that drag racing (go fast then stop) was for those who couldn’t grasp the concept oval track racing (go fast, turn left). The smell – well, mix burning rubber with a bad day in the school chemistry lab and that about gets you there. They sell ear plugs, but the high decibels last for three seconds at a time, and you could do just as well by using your fingers. As the cars go past you, your rib cage literally vibrates.
The race results surprised me a little. Of the top four events, women in the top four in three of them, including a second place in the Drag Bike and the winner in the Top Fuel (Melanie Troxel – a name even this neophyte recognized). Ashley Force did better than her Dad, John (top 8), when she finished in the top four. Also amazing was that races were decided by one-thousandth of a second. That’s 0.001 seconds. Speeds topped 330MPH, which, when you consider all that from a standing start in just one-quarter of a mile is pretty amazing.
The races don’t always flow smoothly, and there is a lot of downtime. This provides the opportunity to get a grilled Polish (it was top notch with plenty of onions), some nachos, and walk around the pits/concession area and people watch. Yes, every stereotype of motor sports fan is present. There was plenty of flesh to be seen, although a vast majority was sunburned and hairy, as the wife beater was the uniform of the day. The wallets were mostly chained to the belt. The dude to the right of me had a shaved bald head and was wearing his ball cap backwards. Late in the day he took off the cap and had a semi-circular sunburn on his dome – how sweet. The dude behind and to the left looked like a much skinnier (not to say svelte by any means) version of Fat Bastard from the Austin Powers movies. There was a lot of ink to be seen, but my favorite was the dude with the lightening bolts running the full length down either side of his spine, a swastika just above his right elbow, an ‘SS’ just above his left elbow, and the left shoulder sporting a Confederate flag. I would have noted more of his tattoos, but I was too busy looking for something to make into a shiv. Yes, my self esteem went up in the same way it goes up whenever I watch “Cops†or “Jerry Springer.â€
When all was said and done and we got back to the car, I looked in the mirror and was freckled with rubber (we were in row 24). This stuff doesn’t come off too easy. After two showers back home, I still find vulcanized specks on my arms or legs.
Racing is never going to replace baseball and hockey as my favorite sports. However, if I ever get a chance to spend a day with my best buddy, eating grilled Polish sausage on a beautiful spring day again, I’ll be there.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Cool. Any pictures?
Having been to 2 Indy Nationals I can relate and I have to agree. The only down side was I was front row center when Blaine Johnson was killed in qualifying.
When I lived in Florida, we went to the Jet Car Nationals at Moroso a couple of times. I definitely remember the chest vibrations, and feeling the bleachers shaking under my feet from the sound. I’ve never been a big fan of drag racing, for the same sort of reason you stated, but it’s something everyone should experience at least once.
Go Red Wings!!
I love the smell of nitro-methane in the mornin’
Glad you had a reasonably good time. You might be surprised at how the make up of the crowd changes from town to town. Hope you can make it to one of the larger venues on the schedule next time. Joliet (in a couple of weeks), Norwalk, OH (in a month or so) and Indy (about a week ending on the Labor Day Weekend) come to mind for tracks in your easy driving range. I’m sure that if you contact the NHRA media relations department you could get media credentials for an event and probalby a guest pass to pay your buddy back! If you get there, look me up!
See ya
. . Les
“The wallets were mostly chained to the belt.”
I hate to have to pick about one thing, but I’ve been going to drag racing national events for over twenty years and I don’t think that can even close to the truth. Is the author dishonestly stereotyping to make his story sound more interesting?
Ron Dunlap sez: “Is the author dishonestly stereotyping to make his story sound more interesting?”
I sez: Is the commenter deliberately picking nits to make a point? (I suspect, no).
Well, here is my retraction: I did not intend to imply that a majority of those in attendance wore belts. I didn’t not intend to imply a majority of those in attendance had wallets. I did not intend to imply that a majority of those in attendance had chains. In fact, I cannot recall a single incidence where I saw a female with a combination of the three, let alone linked together.
I did, in fact, see a significant percentage, however not exceeding 50%, of the males in attendance, wearing a chain that was attached to both their belt and a large wallet.
Happy now?
Anon E. Mouse wrote: “I sez: Is the commenter deliberately picking nits to make a point? (I suspect, no).”
Well, heaven forbid anybody do THAT.
[/sarcasm]
“I sez: Is the commenter deliberately picking nits to make a point? (I suspect, no).”
““The wallets were mostly chained to the belt.â€
“I did, in fact, see a significant percentage, however not exceeding 50%, of the males in attendance, wearing a chain that was attached to both their belt and a large wallet.”
I appreciate the retraction, though it still seems filled with venom. I’d be happier if you didn’t attempt to wrongfully stereotype a group of people in the first place.
I believe NHRA national events (23 of them) average around 100,000 spectators. I happen to be a truck driver who goes into the back doors of businesses every week and the people I see at the track look like the people I see at their jobs. They’re called Americans. People make a lot of fashion statements with their attire that I have no interest in for myself, but I would not try to use that to give anyone a certain impression about the person. As Elizabeth said to Rosie, “Explain you’re own insinuations.”
“The dude to the right of me had a shaved bald head and was wearing his ball cap backwards.”
“….but my favorite was the dude with the lightening bolts running the full length down either side of his spine, a swastika just above his right elbow, an ‘SS’ just above his left elbow, and the left shoulder sporting a Confederate flag.”
Again, out of around 100,000 people, these are the ones you decided to include in your story. Out of the two above, just what is wrong with the first one? For the latter, as much as I might disagree with their statements, people fought and died for them to have the right to make them. Would you have also included people had you seen them wearing clothing that reflected religious or ethnic backgrounds? Or, do you only arrogantly single out people when it’s “politically safe” for you to do so?
I just don’t know why you had to mention the “type of people”, in your opinion, who attend drag racing events instead of just reporting on what you did or didn’t like about the event. Apparently the “type of people” are one of the things you DIDN’T like. Maybe you just can’t say that, so I’ll do it for you. I’ve long said “Try to group people any way you want to, and I think you’re going to have a little of everything in that group.”
People have to conform when they’re at work. When they’ve paid good money to be entertained on a weekend, I don’t think they need to check with you to see which way they need to wear their cap.
Well, well, well. Ron Dunlap seems to have taken offense at more than just that teeny tiny sentence in my article as he originally stated.
Why the backward cap dude was included? Because he wasn’t wearing sunscreen and got a “D” shaped sunburn on his forehead – it was funny.
The dude with the Nazi tattoo’s was included because I still find it had to believe that people hate that much.
Why did I include those people? Simply to flavor the article. Why did I include the polish sausages? Why did I endeavor to describe the smell of the Nitro? Why did I describe getting speckled with rubber? Why did I tell about the people walking out with a crankshaft?
Didn’t like the people? Where did I say that? Other than the Nazi dude, I didn’t see anyone I “didn’t like.”
The people are part of the flavor of the event. I just tried to describe some of the more interesting ones. That’s kind of the idea of what a writer does.
Let me say one other thing. I notice in your bio that you call yourself a conservative. I’m a fiscal conservative (the Republicans are too liberal for me) and a social liberal. I’m also a small business owner who campaigned a sportsman/weekend class “rear engine dragster” at various tracks from 2000-2005, only setting it aside to start work another business that I should be able to open this year.
One thing I noticed at the five different tracks I ran at was that a LOT of the other car owners were small business owners. We’re people who want more out of life, and realize we’re going to have to work a little harder/longer and take a little more risk in order to get it. I’ll guarantee you that a heckuva a lot of the people you’re talking about at a national event are those same ones. THAT’S the stereotyping I like to focus on.
If you think you can judge someone’s achievements, intelligence, or whatever it is you’re trying to say about them based on what they wear? Maybe they’re secure enough that they’re not trying to impress YOU. One friend of mine who fits your “shaved head” description owns 23 trucks. He doesn’t LOOK like he has a penny to his name.
I believe the necessary capitalistic leanings required to be involved in this sport might be why it seems to get shunned by the mostly liberal media. I’m there because they’re somehow able to cram 7,000-8,000 horsepower into a relatively small aluminum engine that, like you say, vibrates your ribcage when they go by. After that, I give a rat’s butt what the person beside me is dressed like.
“Why did I include those people? Simply to flavor the article. Why did I include the polish sausages? Why did I endeavor to describe the smell of the Nitro? Why did I describe getting speckled with rubber? Why did I tell about the people walking out with a crankshaft?
Didn’t like the people? Where did I say that? Other than the Nazi dude, I didn’t see anyone I “didn’t like.â€
Your “wallets were mostly chained to the belt” exaggeration set me up for thinking that the rest of your descriptions were meant to “flavor the article” at the expense of putting the average drag racing fan in a negative light.
Dude – *I* have a shaved head – get over it. I mention the one fellow be cause it was funny that he was going to work the next day with a goofy looking sunburn.
I wasn’t judging ANYONE (except maybe the Nazi – I hate Illinois Nazi’s).
Anon E. Mouse: Give up.
In my experience, the people who complain the loudest about the “value judgments” they ascribe to others are themselves the most judgmental and biased of all, because they don’t believe it’s possible to have an rational opinion contrary to their own.
Again, I do appreciate your retraction of the “wallet” statement. That misunderstanding is what caused me to think that you were also being negative with the rest of your statements regarding drag racing fans. Do you not realize the undeserved negative impression that you might be making upon the average reader? On the drag racing site (nitromater.com) where someone posted a link to this article, that’s the impression most of the posters there got from your words.
Most Americans don’t know what experiencing a blown (meaning the “blower”, or compressor on top of the engine) nitro engine in person is like because it IS now a professional level stadium sport. That’s this sport’s catch 22. Most people aren’t going to spend $50-60 a ticket on something they don’t already love, and they’re never going to be exposed to it TO fall in love with it without spending the money.
A lot of us believe that drag racing was as popular in the 70s as NASCAR is now because you had these cars putting on booked in shows at small tracks all over the country. Back then they made little enough power that they could usually make enough passes for a show, then go home and rebuild everything. It was affordable family entertainment. Nowadays the engines have to be completely rebuilt after each run, which requires more paid people, parts, equipment, etc. Now the car’s the cheapest part. It’s supporting the car.
If you go to http://www.roadsters.com/ndr/#sites you’ll see links to a lot of sites/people who are part of a movement called “nostalgia drag racing” who think that what worked before could work again.
Just put nitro, warmup, and NHRA into your favorite video hosting site’s search engine and see how many people gather around when they only start these beasts on jackstands. I like to think of them as the bass of all combustion engines because of the tone.
A nice one is here. They warm the engine on $2 a gallon alcohol before switching over to $15 a gallon nitro halfway through the video. Just listen to the difference in the same engine on two different fuels. Plenty of links to other warmup videos to the right.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hrQN_irjTJM
Just FYI – here is the discussion on http://www.nitromater.com about my article.
http://www.nitromater.com/nhra/7242-view-someones-first-nhra-drag-race.html
And here’s a thread that jokingly asks the question that is the point I thought you were seriously making.
http://www.nitromater.com/nhra/7077-nhra-redneck-sport.html
I wasn’t trying to be your enemy. Yeah, you’re going to get a little of everything in a crowd of 100,000. I had reasons to believe that you were painting the majority of them with a negative brush.
What reasons led you to believe that?
Again, when you exaggerated your description of the fans by saying “The wallets were mostly chained to the belt.” If we’re joking about someone we call “Johnny Trucker” in my industry, it’s usually followed by “along with the cowboy boots and big belt buckle.” Most people I know of will associate that stereotype with someone of low intelligence. Wrongfully so, if that’s just what person likes to wear, but that’s the stereotype.
It would be like me making a similar blanket exaggeration about sports writers. I would not lie to “flavor” a story at your expense. If I did, I don’t see how anyone could blame you for taking the rest of my words in whatever light you chose to. Most of the people on that site seem convinced that you had a bad time at the races. I didn’t even get that from it. I just took offense to the way it seemed to me that you were portraying the average drag race fan, especially when I knew that one part of it was 100% dead wrong. Once you give me a reason to doubt your intentions on one thing, and it seems like you’re doing it to knowingly and wrongfully put a group of people in a bad light, why would you be surprised if I think that’s what you’re trying to do with the rest of what you say about them?
You can’t “flavor” a story unless you think that what you’re saying is “flavoring” it. You said what you said about wallets to give a certain impression about the people you were talking about. Somehow, I wasn’t supposed to recognize this and apply it to everything else you said about the same people.
I have to say after reading the article it seems that the author is making a fair attempt at sounding intelligent. I dont think that he is baching the sport or it’s attendees. His initial statements about being bored at the bogs and not being a motorsports fan does set the tone, and his conclusion about returning for the sausage leads readers to believe that the highlight of the day was lunch, I guess you can draw your own conclusions from that.
Remember, anybody can feign inelligence, some just do it better than others.
Former Clutch Specialist
Current Career Fire Lieutenant/Medic
Not Feigning