Something about a Car…
This was parked in front of the new-old Fior D’Italia on Mason near Trader Joe’s. Why? Asked the valet working nearby and he said it had nothing to do with the hotel or restaurant.
I’m not positive, but I think it may be something called NHRA, and the FRAM-AUTOLITE NHRA Nationals in
Sonoma, California this weekend. From the ESPN2 site. I think it’s something to do with drag-racing. All I know about drag racing is that my cousins made some tidy cash one summer fixing up cars and racing them, or so they said. That’s why it’s hard for me to believe this beautiful hunk of metal is going to be part of a drag race.
Overheard, while I was taking my photo.
Girl to guy: “Why are you taking a photo of that? You don’t know what it is!”
It is a funny car.
Yep. NHRA is the National Hot Rod Association, the governing body for drag racing in the US.
Drag Racing is simply driving as fast as you can for a relatively short distance ie. the ultimate test of power for your vehicle. That’s why people drag race “beautiful hunks of metal.”
For the casual viewer, it’s not very fun to watch tho – except to see the aforementioned hunks of metal, which can be pretty amazing looking. The races last seconds and are so loud that they sell ear plugs at the concession stand and EVERYONE is wearing a pair.
Growing up near Pomona, CA, there were two opportunities a year to see the drags. There’s no better high for a ten-year-old boy than to see a top fuel dragster pull slowly up to the line, popping, bubbling. Then WHOOOOM. The initial burnout heats up the racing slicks moistened with water and throws massive clouds of rubber smoke into the air. They go about 100 yards and then pop, POP, pop, pop, back to the starting line.
Then they wait for the christmas tree to light up, and then the unholy roar. The tires squeeze and increase in diameter, flames shoot out of the exhaust pipes, the cars fire away from the line like hot lead out of a cannon. BRAAAAAAARAAAAAAAAP. It’s all over in less than 5 seconds. Audible for miles.. If you’re anywhere within a stone’s throw when one of them goes by, you feel it at the base of your spine.
Boring? Hardly. Stinky and loud, yes. And you have to go into the pit areas to see the crews, talk to the drivers, just to get a complete sense of the whole thing. Really amazing.