For the most part, I’m not exactly surprised with what I see at a dragstrip. There’s cars that I’d love to drive, cars I’d love to own, pit vehicles, food stands, fuel, track glue…all of the things that make a day on the strip a memorable one. But that tends to get…well, I hate to use the word “boring”, because that isn’t right, but “familiar” might be a better term. It’s not everyday that I see jet dragsters, for example. Or a starting-line burndown or burnout contest that wasn’t planned for.
But what has taken the cake for me a couple of times over has to be the very weird races that I’ve seen go down at an event. I’ve watched Cleetus from 1320Video run the entire length of Beech Bend on the back wheel of a pit bike. I’ve watched two…um…well-fed gentlemen settle a bet with a foot race to the 100′ mark. And then there was today. I’m not quite sure what to call these things…uni-mopeds? They are powered by Briggs and Stratton engines and sound pissed off, and as you can see, they can scoot along at a surprising speed for something that you couldn’t pay me enough to attempt to ride on. Have you seen anything stranger than this? Let us know below!
Cap’n Jack McClure’s Rocket Go-Kart blew my young mind in the early ’70s at Fremont Drag Strip (200 MPH plus)
Back in the day when streaking was popular, 2 friends of mine staged and ran naked the quarter mile at Md International Raceway in Budds Creek. The winner won by a head
Two crew cab duallys at Super Chevy event at Indianapolis Raceway Park in the eighties!
Wor Lass trying to keep up with me wearing high heels during the quarter mile sprint over Newcastle upon Tyne’s High Level Bridge on a Friday night after working all week on the land during a hot summer. All I could think of was the freezing cold beer at the pub at the other end and was deaf to her cries for me to slow down!
Not trying to brag here but I do run a jet powered outhouse on the quarter-mile, strange enough?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zWREcuQ6l9w
Well you win.
And I thought I was a lunatic!
Paul – at least your’e in the right place if it “scares the shit out of you”. Now could you build a pair of jet powered high heels in UK size 5 so Wor Lass can keep up with me…
Back in the early-to-mid 90’s, Winston County Dragway near Lynn, AL was always home to some weird backwoods creations. However, one of them always stood out. There was a homebuilt dragster made entirely out of square tubing. It had a 9″ Ford rear axle that wasn’t narrowed, junkyard tires on the front and the chassis had not been painted so the whole thing was covered in surface rust. It was a sight o behold. Other honorable mentions: A Vega painted purple with the headlights, taillights, grill, bumpers, and all trim painted lime green. There was a (poorly) painted picture of Barney the Dinosaur (this was when that show was becoming popular with the kids) on the doors with “Barney Rump Shaker” painted on as well. There was also an old ragged GMC conversion van that ran in the foot brake/street tire class back then that used to mop the floor on a routine basis. It was painfully slow, running 1/8th mile times in the 13-second range, but it did so with amazing consistency. In bracket racing, that was all that mattered and I saw that guy win the money on numerous occasions.
1986 CR 500 at SIR, now Pacific Raceways.
that’s my friends Kerry and his son Colton Mclean and the Monowheels they build. Kerry holds a land speed record with a V-8 powered one!
I have seen the jet powered shitter. And have talked to Paul . It has been years ago. He puts on a very good show. Also watched him melt the fence gone as he spooled up his jet powered beer truck . Fence with painted signs of sponcers glowing red and melted away. A couple weeks after that I was back at that track. And a couple acres of corn across the road was cooked and dead from the fence being melted away. He is a kinda mix between EJ Potter and Art Arfons. I believe he even has a jet powered 4 wheeler. Yep if you have seen a jet powered shit house ,you’ve see it all .
In the first round of a Friday night Gamblers’ race at Englishtown, a matchup between a Super Gas style street roadster and a diesel tractor. The tractor got something like a 15-second head start, won the race, while the roadster crashed at the top end.
Kerry is the definition of cool – and has been cool pretty much forever (at least since the middle 1970s)! He has built a bunch of mono-wheels over the years. The one with the dual quad alloy Buick V8 is awe inspiring…