Story telling without the use of words is among the hardest things to do in the artistic world. It’s what paintings do, what jazz music does, and what the finest orchestral arrangements bring to their audiences around the world. It is also what films like this one do. Films that are rare to see in motorsport and perhaps even more rare to see in drag racing.
This is not a piece of work that is elevated by trickery and effects, it is a piece of work that stands on its virtues because of the story teller that made it. We’ve had the good fortune to know Jake Simmons around here for several years. Might even be able to say we have consumed untaxed liquor from jars with him a time or two. He’s the real deal. He understands and loves the sport. He knows where to be looking. He knows how to make these visual pages flow together and he knows how to pace a story telling piece of film really well.
We love the cadence of this. It is perhaps the cadence of testing, the cadence of the day, the cadence of the week. The short runs, the missed runs, the less formal tone of testing, the feeling of that wide and empty track being used one rip at a time. It’s all showed here and to the informed eyes of longtime drag racing fans, you’ll see the art.
We love that he captures the violence so artfully. You’ll know what we’re talking about when you see it but this is so well done that it lands on the notes you want it to hit when your brain is wanting to see them. Also, stay until the end for a wonderfully awesome flurry of a finish. This is well, well done.
Gawd, for a second there, during the burnouts, I swear I got a whiff of nitro!
Wicked good!
Wow! Thank you. Great way of storytelling.
We lost our drag strip about 14 years ago and we m.iss it in Honolulu.
outstanding video,very very cool.