Spent the weekend watching top fuel dragsters and funny cars produce 300 mph horsepower for the 1st time in my life, and all I can say is 'wow.'I mean, real 'wow.'
My nose was burning, my eyes watering, eardrums bursting, I couldn't breathe and with every pass I felt like I was about to fall over or get sucked into their jetsteam. And I thought it was one of the most amazing sensory experiences I'd ever had.
Loved every minute of it. OK, maybe not EVERY minute of it -- but certainly every minute of the IHRA Amalie North American Nationals at New England Dragway contested by the pro series cars. I could take it or leave it with the amateur divisions and their bracket racing.
For the life of me, I'll never understand why drag racers will lift off the throttle a hundred feet before the finish line so as not to go over their estimated time and "break out." Hey, it's drag racing -- line up, flash the green light and the 1st guy to the line wins. Isn't that the point?
But back to the 8,000-horsepower. We talk all the time about the boob tube serving as an injustice to stock car racing, baseball, hockey -- whatever -- but TV can't even touch what it feels like to stand 15 yards from the light tree in the staging area when those nitro funny cars go from 0 to 100 mph in 8/10 of a second.
My whole body felt every bit of it. And, by the time you looked down the track, the cars were already deploying the parachutes. Awesome stuff, awesome blend of man and machine.
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