(Photos by Charles Wickam) – One of the most pure and true joys that I have in the sport of drag racing is experiencing new things. Whether that’s new tracks, new events, or seeing new cars, I love it all. Being able to announce the 2015 Nitto Tires NMRA/NMCA meant that I had struck the trifecta in this regard. I had never before been to Rt 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois, I had never been to this particular event before, and I had never seen many of the most infamous/famous cars that would be racing in person. Machines like the Camaro of Dwayne Mille, the Bruder Brothers Mustang, several of the pro mod racers, and the vast majority of the other sportsman racers were all new to me.

I did my best to prepare and get ready for the event but nothing could have set me up to for the sight of the race schedule we were staring down that started on Friday morning. With old races that were stopped by rain early in the season, 500 cars on the grounds for the race we had to run over the course of the weekend, and specialty races within that event, this thing was FULL. A couple of 14 hour days finished off with a brief 12 hour affair was what it took to get it done and the entire program was completed on Sunday night.

We’re going to have coverage all week. This was easily in the top five of events I have ever had the pleasure to be associated with and it was a thorough ass whip. My last three vocal chords were screaming for mercy by the time we hung it up on Sunday night. What a show!

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