I have been attending drag racing since I was but a wee lad in southern Illinois. The Gateway Nationals were the big yearly event held very close to my home town and they are still held today. Yesterday, March 30th, I made my yearly pilgrimage to the National Hot Rod Association Spring Nationals. This drag racing event is held in the Spring in Houston every year and brings together the top drivers in the country in classes from street eliminator to top fuel dragsters and everything in between. It is a rockin' event!
This years races were a bit overshadowed by the recent death of Eric Medelen, a racer for the John Force racing team. There was a nice tribute to Eric, who was killed after a test run accident last Friday in Florida. He was only 34 years old.
If you've never been to a drag race, you must go. But don't bring along a nice Chianti and some fava beans. Pfffft-pfffft-pfffft. The funny cars(so-named because of their unique flip-top bodies) and top fuel dragsters hit the track with some 7,000 horsepower. Yes, that's seven thousand. Each cylinder puts out more horsepower than an entire NASCAR engine and these nitromethane-powered puppies make it down the track in less than five seconds at about 330 m.p.h.!!! The drivers in these two classes experience the same G-forces as the astronauts on the space shuttle at take off. Drag racing is a sport unique to any other in the wide world of sports(should there be a TM here?) Your entire body shakes and you may lose a filling or two too. Do yourself a favor and once, just once, watch two top fuel dragsters scream down the track at night without wearing ear plugs. It will be an experience that you never forget!!! I promise.
In any event, the weather was nice with relatively cool temperatures and cloudy skies, so the photo opportunities were many. I have been wanting to begin honing my skills with sports photography, so I gave it my best. Perhaps the honing only resulted in a moderately dull knife, but I sure had a good time doing it! Below are a sampling of some of the shots from the races. Just click on a picture to see a larger version. The photos were taken with either a Canon 70-300 mm 3.5-5.6 IS zoom or a Quantaray 18-125 mm 4.5-5.6 zoom on a Canon Rebel XT body. I used a neutral density filter on some for panning.
********************************************************
Drag racing is a family event. This young man was hamming it up when he saw that I was taking pictures.
Drag racing brings out every kind of fan imaginable and their dogs!! This wheelchair-bound gentleman is a regular at the races.
This is a funny car. This is a false body overlying the chassis.
Much work goes into preparing for each race. In the top classes, the engines are re-built after each race.
This is the 'Christmas tree' and it tells the drivers when it's time to go!
These are 'burnouts'. The drivers spin the wheels at a high rate of speed to heat up the tires and make them more tacky for better traction during the race.
This is Brandon Pesz's wife(and crew member) making the sign of the cross before her husband makes his run down the 1/4 mile track at over 250 m.p.h. She had just finished directing him backwards into his starting position after his burnout.
This is a close up of the engine of a dragster.
This is a shot of the Kalitta top fuel funny car leaving the starting line. Notice that the light on the Christmas tree is green. The power of these cars is incredible. Take special note that everything in the photo is in focus except the funny car body. This demonstrates the 'shake' that these cars experience when leaving the line.
Some cars pull wheelies when leaving the starting line.
These captures of a pro modified and a competition eliminator give you and idea of the speed of these cars.
Time to go home.
And there you have it. A bit of a story of this year's NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston, Texas. I hope you enjoyed it.
Remember to keep clicking that shutter, because if you aren't clicking, you're just holding an expensive black box that makes lots of noises.
Please don't pirate my images. I've worked hard to make them. Please enjoy them, but don't steal them.
Copyright 2007 Lawrence H. Wyatt
1 comment:
It looks like you had a wonderful time. I have never quite seen drag races presented in this way. As a little girl I used to go to our local dragstrip to watch my uncle, but have rarely seen the funny cars and such in person. They are loud - unbelievably so. As always, the photos are amazing. J
Post a Comment