When Larry Larson made the first six second lap in the history of Hot Rod’s Drag Week last year, I gulped a little. While the individual performance was amazing and noteworthy on many levels, I had major worries about how it would, how it could, steer the future of the event. Elapsed times are like crack cocaine. You get a little taste, then you are hooked, then your life goes to hell. A similar series of events can befall an event when so much emphasis is put on big numbers that everything else is overshadowed. Most times it is promoters feeling pressure (real or imagined) from the fans to provide that environment where records are shattered and hero runs are supposed to come one after the next. That’s one of the reasons I was happy to see no six second runs at Drag Week this year.
I have to give props to Freiburger and the rest of the cast of thousands that set the event up, picked the tracks and laid out the driving route. You resisted the easy road of picking a week full of “big name” tracks that would have allowed Larson and (if their stuff had held up) the Sick Seconds guys to dive bomb the books with six second laps all week. The drag racing fan in me was riveted every day because of the fact that hometown tracks like Amarillo Dragway and Great Bend, Kansas are still on the docket. While it is 100% true those tracks were not going to yeild six second laps from the heavy guns, that did not detract from my enjoyment of following the event. It is far more compelling to know that Larson had to really think about what he was doing, maybe even change his setup a little to get the most out of the car and track that he could, rather than roll up and mash the gas at a week’s worth of national event facilities.
I’m sure everyone takes a little something different away from the event, but my experience on the road in 2005 left me feeling that the week was as much about drag racing as it was about celebrating our mobility as a people, seeing those fantastic little nooks and crannies of our country that we may normally speed past, and affirming all the good stuff about being a hard core gearhead.
Judging by the interest around the internet, including here at BangShift, no one else seemed to care that six second runs were not falling from the sky either. It was also refreshing to see some of the stories from other classes get headlines like the little Pinto ripping of an 8.02, Mike Roy hitting the 7-second zone in his battleship of a Monte Carlo, Todd Maschmeier’s second Modified Power Adder win (and being the quickest nitrous car all week) in a row after rebuilding his car, and lots of other great tales of gearhead survival and camaraderie that would have probably been shouted down or at least lost in the screaming about six second laps.
To be clear, those insane numbers are impressive and are ultimately good for the event, so long as the focus of Drag Week does not become those numbers and by all indications from this year, it won’t any time soon. With nearly 180 entires in a year that has barfed a constant stream of negative, depressing, scary news, the event is very healthy. The stories we heard from the road reflected the classic drag week experience. Lots of late night bench racing, frantic wrenching, little sleep, and plenty of tomfoolery.
Ultimately, the soul of Drag Week lies with the competitors, but the role of the venues cannot be denied. For the small mom and pop tracks the event visits, the impact is huge. How many people are going to open an issue of Hot Rod and say, “Woah! I had no idea Amarillo and Great Bend were still open!” They can’t buy that type of publicity.
Drag Week 2011 was not the quickest one on record, but I’d venture to say it was the best yet. Here’s to 50 more.
I think the variety of tracks is what makes Drag Week an event, not just a race. You go to an NHRA or Nascar race- they call it an event- but it is just a race. From what I read, as much happened this year off the track as did on the track. The drama of the individual competitors- that is what will keep Drag Week interesting- not just low ET’s. This year, 177 cars entered- there are at least 177 stories to be told!
I think this is why I’ve put in my pre-order for Kyle’s Drag Week DVD. It’s not just simply an order for a DVD of a week’s worth of drag racing on video, but in its entirety, it is a STORY. There are laughs, wide-eye surprises, grimaces, and inspirations. I’m looking forward to seeing it, and hopefully I can be part of the story someday, as well.
Brian, good point about the small, hometown tracks. Those kinds of places warm the heart (depsite what may have been poor traction), and, yeah, it’s good publicity!
To me, the numbers don’t mean much. It’s who comes out on top at that track, on that day, under those conditions.
The numbers only allow comparing those numbers with other numbers, with no regard to enviromental variations. IMO, things might be better if there were no timeslips. Too many cars stay at home because they feel they might not be competitive. If there were no timeslips, they would have to show up to answer that question.
We need to be comparing cars, not time slips.
I would disagree with you on the fact that SRCA Geat Bend would not have yielded a Larson 6 second pass. They are a Division 5 Lucas Oil track and run Alcohol with some very impressive times against the “National Tracks.” If it wasn’t the 2nd day of competition and Larry would not have started in the wrong gear on the last attempt he made I do believe he would have made a 6 sec pass. If the Sick seconds car didn’t have engine problems I think he would have had a good chance of breaking into the 6 second time. On another note, it looked like SRCA was the faster track even against Topeka and Tulsa for the most part. Just my opinion.
To continue they also hold NHRA records in various classes at this track. And it is an all volunteer track.
I knew going in I wouldn’t be top tier competetive, but I switched from Daily Driver to Big Block N/A because it would “improve” my chances of winning something, rather it’s simply surviving the drive or even possibly being quicker than the other racer. Now because of this, it’s got me thinking that 600HP straight six I want to build, may try to become a 1,000HP straight six =P
While I am all for small tracks being involved, I would hate to see Larson, Lutz, Barry, etc get hurt because they needed to “make up” time at a track that cannot hold them or have enough shut down. Chad put in his post that Topeka “which had been sorta like a dragstrip only slicker on Monday,”
Not trying to poo poo any of the the tracks, just need to realize racers will go faster then the track will hold if they have a car they think will go faster then it has ran.
Well said, Brian . . . .
(although the shot of that pointless “LSx Pinto” makes me want to barf . . . It would have easily gone sevens with a proper twin-turbo “Clevor” SBF. Just ask Jon Kaase or Jack Roush)
Epic is an overused word these days. But Drag Week is truly epic. While the headlines and ink are consumed by Larson and the other single-digit runners, the soul of Drag Week is the scores of sportsmen racers who show up to every track, thrash their actual street cars within inches of their lives on some almost forgotten back-country strip, and then pack up hundreds of pounds of gear for the long drive to do it again. And again.
It’s second nature for most of us to make excuses about how our stuff isn’t “done” or ‘feature ready.” It’s elementary to go all “Dave Ramsey” about the financing of “clock racing” for fun across the heartland. It’s simple to think that our car isn’t fast or flashy enough for an international stage like Drag Week. It’s easy to rationalize staying home until next year.
But this year, our own “Silver Buick” inspired me. WhenI see someone like Randall . . . hanging it out for mostly private glory in an unfinished, high-tech, old-school street machine on a shoe-string budget, and I realize that all those “logical” excuses are just empty canards. I realize that waiting for things to someday be “perfect” means that a lot of life is passing me by.
To paraphrase G.T.O. from “Two-Lane Blacktop,” when you build an epic week of your life really living on the road during Drag Week, “those emotions are permanent.”
Neal, I’d point out that of all the 2011 Drag Week tracks, the one with the highest national profile (and the only one that’s a national-level NHRA track) is Topeka.
Part of what’s wrong with drag racing now is all of the focus on needing “perfect” pro-level tracks. Drag Week ought to be about improvising, adapting, and overcoming. It’s not bracket racing! It’s not the homogenized, sanitized professional “show” that guys like the IHRA’s Rickie Smith sold to mega-buck sponsors and greedy sanctioning bodies. It’s more “real” than that. And as Brian said so well, it’s not about continually upping “the record” or stoking the jaded “peanut gallery.”
Thus, running the quirky small tracks makes more than just economic sense for promoter Source Interlink. It forces the racers to do more than stab and steer at a concatenated series of mini-national events. It forces those who say they want the headlines to demonstrate their tuning and set-up chops in a grueling environment. It forces them to be more “real.”
I liked running at the smaller tracks, my times were a bit slower but you gotta admit that Amarillo gave you a heck of a thrill ride! And Great Bend was also a fun place to be, although they need to do something about that big white strip that’s 320 ft. before the finish line
The small tracks definitely keep it real.
I have not seen a white stripe 320 ft from the end as SRCA. I believe that is where they ran out of paint for the barriers. Which will be completed by next year. But, at the finish line there is a 3′ wide yellow strip on the track and on the gaurdrail. As for shut down, at SRCA you have over a 1/2 mile before you will run into a pea gravel pit. Alot of tracks don’t have anything close to that. Track is very safe and can compete on a National level with the times that are run during the Divisional race they hold every year. SRCA didn’t have anyone hit the wall or even come close during drag week.
Squirrel, I got to thinking about it. They had to replace some concrete down there and that might be the concrete patch.
Here is some information about SRCA:
Track Record 5.37
Track Speed 266 mph
Currently they hold 3 NHRA National records
This track was prepped like it was the first day of the Divisional wall to wall and all the way down the 1/4 mile.
SRCA enjoyed having Hot Rod and all the racers and would love to have them again. Thanks
My first pass at Great Bend I let off at what appeared to be the finish line…ran a tenth of a second and 15 mph slower then the next run, when I let off after passing the time towers. I just assumed that that big white stripe was at the 1000′ mark. My 1000′ times for both runs were within a hundredth
I liked having the smaller tracks. I’m a little biased, but I think it really calls to the people that are the roots of our sport. The sheer number of people that came out to Amarillo is testament to that fact… despite the fact they had to pay $10 to get in! You would not believe the number of people in Amarillo that want to do Drag Week now. All because they got a glimpse that Wednesday morning.
well said..ive been all over our wonderful country ,, most of the time going 75mph plus on the highay..it was cool getting to see the back roads…and i think it was a nice shot in the arm for drag racing in great bend and amarillo…i didnt care that a 6 second pass wasnt made…. if they did it everytime it wouldnt be so special…i cant wait until next year….