The Top Fuel Experience is not a new film but it is certainly an interesting one. Made in 2011 by Corey Michalek it is easily one of the most creative and awesome looks into what life is like on a top fuel team running at the top level of the sport. As it turns out, this video started a friendship between the Michalek (Corey and Kyle) brothers and I that has been rolling for a couple of years. Last weekend the brothers were running the injected nitro burning dragster that they partner up on with the Dreher family. This is a car that runs 5.30s at over 270mph and it carried them to the final round at Norwalk last weekend. They fell just short to defending NHRA top alcohol dragster champ Chris Demke in the last round on Sunday afternoon. The guys are as real deal as it gets and I had the opportunity to eat dinner with them on Thursday night at the event. It was a wonderful conversation about a wide range of topics but it all came back to the strip and the careers that these two guys have forged on it.

Both of the brothers crewed for the famed alcohol funny car racer Mark Thomas (at different times) and then they were able to get on with Pat Dakin’s operation (which is the team profiled in the film below) where they spent a couple of seasons before winning a contest with Champion Spark Plugs that netted them a sponsorship deal. That got them with the Dreher family team and both of the guys take turns driving the car a few times a year. Corey won his first national event appearance at Charlotte last year and he nearly made it two for three a couple of days ago. Kyle is as bright and enthusiastic as you could ever imagine and these guys know how to work as well. Guys with “regular” jobs outside of the track, every waking moment that doesn’t involve the careers that feed them goes into the race car and the racing operation. They have Kenan Advantage Group as the major sponsor on their car (www.TheKAG.com) and we’re sure that the Ohio based KAG was excited beyond all measure to see their car in the finals at the biggest race Ohio sees all year long. KAG is a massive trucking outfit that specializes in bulk hauling of liquids. The brothers used their own passion, skill, and character to get them on board and it has been a successful partnership for sure.

So now that you know who these guys are, you will better appreciate this film. There’s nothing quite like the cadence of a race weekend. Every person from the announcer to the guy washing the oil pan on the top fuel car has a specific job and that job morphs in its intensity and speed day to day. Friday is kind of a loose atmosphere that gets busy in the evening with qualifying, Saturday has a lot of pomp and circumstance but the snowball continues to pick up speed, and Sunday is calm and quiet until the first pair goes off and then it is an incredible rush of action and activity until the day is done. This video captures all of it. It does so in such a way that you actually understand what the team goes through and how hard they have to work to keep one of these things going down the track.

I have likely gone on too long already with this so I’ll stop and only beg you one last time to press play below. You will NOT be disappointed.

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE THE TOP FUEL EXPERIENCE –