If it was a perfect world, everybody would line up, make a good burnout, back up, stage, and go straight down the track as fast as they can at the strip. There would be no oildowns, no wall-to-wall pinball, and the Safety Safari and ambulance people would be the most bored folks around. Well, surprise, sunshine: this isn’t a perfect world. Stuff happens every moment and it happens at random. The car that had been going straight as an arrow all day could suddenly start spitting oil at the rear tire, making life inside the car quite interesting for the driver. Or the wheelman could suddenly get a great view of the underside of a passing Boeing as the nose goes vertical. Or the one that is always fun, something can explode underneath the hood, giving everybody at the track a start and anybody close to the car in question a reason to go check their shorts. Racing is exciting to watch, but when you’re in the car when things go wrong, “exciting” means something totally different. I promise you that each and every one of the drivers you see here will have a story about the ride they took here for years to come!
