Ahhhhhh, showmanship! In an amazing twist, the world of modern pro stock seemed to stumble upon the idea of entertaining their fans last weekend in Brainerd, Minnesota. How? Breaking in tires. Those guys really lay down some awesome burnouts when the first bolt new tires on a car. It was Shane Gray’s job to break in tires for both his kid Tanner and his dad Johnnie who will be racing in Indy coming up next week. He did hellacious 400-500ft burnouts on every run and the place went crazy every time. The fun started to bleed over to other drivers as Derrick Kramer (among others) decided to dip their toe into the pool of fun. Guess what? People freaking loved it and they cheered for pro stock cars like they haven’t for a decade or more. Hmmm.
While this video has nothing to do with that scene directly it does have everything to do with it otherwise. Why? Because this dude does the same stuff with some additional touches and gets the entirety of the Meltdown Drags audience worked up into a lather. This video is what drag racing is about. Loud, crazy, in your face, and unrelenting. From the tire smoke hundreds of feet down the track to the backup professional to the violence of the dry hops before staging, people love it all.
So why do this? Why put extra wear into the tires? Why put extra heat into the engine? Why burn extra fuel? BECAUSE IT’S FUN, CLYDE. That’s why. At the end of the day did more people leave talking about this run because the guy went berserker on the pre-race stuff or because he ran 2 hundredths off what he ran on the last pass?
Yes, professional level pro stock racing and nostalgia racing are two totally different universes entirely but I’m convinced after one weekend in Minnesota that one can certainly learn a few tricks from the other and have some positive, long lasting effects.
I remember Fremont Drag Strip in the 60’s. There was no “bleach box” as was called back then. We did dry burnouts and a lot of “dry hops”. The 12 bolt in my Camaro would last about 7 or 8 weeks before a new ring and pinion was replaced!
Another Tard with white go -go boots . Guess no one told them how stupid they look. Backing up your old mans ride is fine but just dress normal.
Umm… Back-up girl was hot. Great outfit. An elegant, period-perfect break from the Walmart skanks …
EZ its all in fun and good times
Remembering the old days the prostock drivers would wield the Rosen bags and push brooms themselves, lay down a patch and then repeat the process. Then dry hops and test launches. Might take 20 minutes. Showmanship at its finest. Grumpy and Dick Landy with their cigars, great stuff! Lions, Irwindale, OCIR…
not sure if they sprayed enough water in the burnout box hehehehe
if they made a really hard compound tire that didn’t cost an arm and a leg, we would buy some to do those style of burnouts. but they don’t
When Gray did that first John Force style burnout I almost regained my love for Pro Stock. After the dry hop it was sealed. I haven’t stood up on my seat and cheered that hard in years. Greg Anderson said it best “We need to make Pro Stock fun again”. Tell Rinehart to keep calling out the “Sissy” burnouts!! LOL