As long as there has been drag racing there have been people willing to try to get a psychological or mechanical edge on their opponent at the starting line. There are a million ways to do it and there have been lots of guys that have made careers on worming their way into the heads of competitors and beating them before the tree ever flashed a light. While we cannot say that either of the men featured in this video are destined for greatness we can say that their shenanigans on the starting line touched off one of the uglier incidents we have seen in a while at the drag strip.
In our experience it is pretty rare to see anything more than some yelling and screaming at the starting line. If you pay attention at stuff even at the NHRA pro level you will hear and see people copping an attitude with each other. While the drivers may shake hands at the end of the track, the crews at the starting line have no such tradition. That being said, we have never seen them tango like this.
Ozark Raceway Park in Missouri is the spot where this video was shot and as you will see, there’s some chess being played between the blown Studebaker and the shoebox Chevy that are lined up for this matchup. This looks like the classic case of one competitor looking to melt the transmission of another competitor down and judging by the smoke trail at the end of the run for the Studebaker, we’re thinking he got the desired result.
We’e certainly not advocating for fighting on the starting line but we are in favor or more raw emotion from professional level drivers these days. We’re sure some of you will hate this video. Many of you will love it…we’re among you!
Even fake redheads have a temper! Racing is (sometimes) stupid.
geeeze, is everyone fat in America nowadays. what a bunch of lard rollers
that was pretty much nothing
Could that studebaker have any more people around it? What a cluster f#$&.
Classless assholes. Really helps teach sportsmanship to the kids, uh?
Since I can’t edit what I’ve already posted, let me add this in response to the Bangshift admin’s comment. There is a huge difference between “raw emotion”, and this nonsense. Like I said, professional level or sportsman, this is a sport, one of only two according to Frederic Remmington, the rest are just “games”. And teaching sportsmanship to our kids is more important that showing them this kind of stupidity. The only issue going on here is that the Stude guy let himself get caught off gaurd, and he wants to blame it on a shrewd competitor. Personally, I wouldn’t let any of these guys have more than 2 crewmen up on the line with them, ever, and I thing one is more than enough unless it’s a flooper or a fueler.
Our track only lets 3 people per team on the starting line. Looks like the guy in the silver car had problems and could not back up on his own so the red car waited for him to get backed up. That is sportsmanship to me! then then silver car just messed up! No reason for his crew to be mad! If I were the driver of the silver car I would get a NEW CREW!
I do not like the direction drag racing is going. All these backward hat wearing tards who have watched too many Pinks and Street Outlaws episodes show up with more money (and credit card debt) than brains. Drag racing is a sport based on family, and sportsmanship in my area. If you want fights and people drama then go race dirt track.
This is just stupidity. Get on with it and race and enough with the poseur tough guy crap. The hoards of black T-shirted spectators on the trackare just about as tiresome as Dumb and Dumber are in this video.
Why do all those people need to be there? Road and oval racing , when the 5 minute board goes up, everyone has to clear. Won’t start? Too bad. Stalled? Too bad. Can’t get it heR? Too bad. Deal with it later. Same for drags, if it can’t get to the line and stage, too bad. Self important hangers on.
Gear
good to be enthusiastic about your sport and the people your supporting,
but what a circus, i really feel like there is a tilt-o-whirl being unattended somewhere.
theres more people on the starting line than in the stands.
drag tracks might have to start having a ufc style ring in the pits so guys can let it go.
pretty much every one of the comments above are spot on… hard to add anything else. Just cause you have a big dollar race car, doesn’t mean you have any class. That Studebaker crew would’ve a perfect on the Jerry Springer show. Feel bad for the kids who came to watch the racing, they may never come back if that’s the level of trash that is representing racing.
(typo correction…. …crew would’ve been* perfect on…)
Looks to me like the Stude had no reverse. No reverse = no transbrake, he went to get it up on the converter and pushed it threw the lights and ran it out and by the looks of it his already wounded transmission shit the bed. If that’s what the scuffle was over then team Stude should get schooled on how shit works.
It didn’t look like the ’55 hung the Students out at all to me. What a bunch of ignorant f’ing hillbillies.
Rednecks + Nice things = Urban Hillbilly Youtube 15 minutes of fame. Way to go, wannabes.