For the past number of years I have been going up to watch the big time, real deal drag racing in a small town in the middle of the state. My Dad brought me up there one day on an off year where none of my Uncles could make it up with him as he has been going since the early 90's. We went up for the afternoon, 3 hours each way driving, to see pit lane and sit in the cheap seats at the end of the run (it may have still been 1/4 mile back then).
The first experience I had was in the pits where they work on the top fuel funny and drag cars. The engines are completely disassembled, inspected, rebuilt, adjusted, and put back together while you stand in line for a porta potty. After they are reassembled the teams start up the motors for testing, maybe five minutes at most, bringing to life this burbling beast. As the crews whose faces are hidden behind gas masks, busy making sure they didn't miss a bolt somewhere, crowds form around them. This is a site in itself as mostly newbies stand too close to pit and get a face full of nitromethane fuel quickly cowering away with red crying eyes, and runny nose. It takes a good 10 minutes to breathe full capacity again, and probably 10 years off your life. I will never forget the smell.
At that time my Father was still getting promotional tickets from his work which came with access to old wooden bleachers at the end of the rows of multi-story aluminum structures. After watching what seemed like 100 pro stock cars go by (which are in no way stock, think nascar) the big guys rolled up. First you hear the noise on the loud speaker and then a split second later just as loud from the water box, looking down to the start there is a huge cloud of tire smoke from the burnouts. It then quiets down, as the motor idles out of the headers with no muffler, it's still loud. Trying to make out the little blue staging lights on the tree to see if the cars have moved to the starting position when the revs jump up and the yellows start to fall. The noise. The wall of pressure. The experience is like nothing else.
Here are some photos from this years race.
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