Sure the ride was eight hours, but in comparison to the vast majority of competitors at the 2010 LTA Meet at the former Loring Air Force Base, my trip home was weak sauce. Many are literally still driving as I type this nearly two days after the event closed. They left the LSR field of dreams in Loring, Maine, with varying senses of accomplishment, dread, hope, frustration, or relief. If there is one thing that I learned during my weekend hanging out and lending a hand with the Hot Rod Special, its that this shit ain’t easy.

On paper, hustling cars with massive amounts of power and aerodynamic enhancements down a straight course seems like a cake walk. A virtual point and shoot exercise in speed and grunt. As many competitors who blew up parts, fell short of their own “magic” number, or simply had a “learning experience” will tell you, that idea can’t be further from reality. I have a level of respect for these racers that I can’t say that I have for many others. That’s not a shot at any other form of racing or the people involved in it. It’s more an affirmation of just how unique this band of speed addicted brothers and sisters in the LSR community is.

Some thoughts from the weekend:

The Loring venue is a pretty awesome place. Entering the facility there is a large holding area filled with military equipment like Hummers, Howitzers, and all manner of other stuff that rules. Once you get past that, it is just open. Hundreds of acres, three runways that stretch so far you physically cannot see their terminus, and humongous hangers that once held everything from nuke laden B-52s to cutting edge spy planes. The course itself has a slight crown, but other than that is as smooth as a freshly paved highway. Competitors were really loving the track.

My only other LSR experience came at Maxton a couple of years ago when working on a story for Hot Rod Magazine where we ran a couple of cars from Factory Five Racing down the course. At that event I wasn’t able to spend a lot of time really experiencing the race like a crew guy or racer would, so when I was told that I could help out with the So-Al Racing Hot Rod Special Camaro, I was really excited. This was a much more “real” experience for me and showed me more than a couple of things about LSR. The most major was just how much thinking was happening during the event. LSR is a incredibly analytical form of racing. Gear changes, aero-changes, launch changes, everything is on the table, and calculators are often involved. Analysis is an important of all types of racing, but normally it is made at a breakneck pace when an event is swirling around you. At an LSR meet, you pretty much move at your own speed, so the thinking is not done in a rushed, hasty fashion. Instead, the numbers are run and decisions are made after some debate. It was a wonderful process to observe.

It was freaking great to see a whole bunch of BangShifters there and hear positive words from many readers who regularly scan our pages but maintain a low profile. Chad and I do this because this is who we are. We literally live this stuff like you do. I’m too dumb to act and Chad’s too ugly to get by on his good looks so the only option we have is to be honest and present ourselves as what we are…bloody knuckled gearheads like all of you. Thanks for getting it and spreading the word. Not sure how I can ever repay any of you.

John went 200 in the Rambler. I heard that on the way home and I got emotional for him. I know that it was a big deal for he and his brother to get the car there and leave with a 200mph slip. Is it weird to mist up for a guy who you’ve met a couple of times at the track? If you’ve never invested your time, heart, and soul in such a quest you probably think so. I feel bad for you if that’s the case.

You’d have been blown away by the number of spectators who showed up on Saturday and Sunday to watch the racing action. They were all great and asked lots of questions. This was a big deal to the people of Loring and the surrounding community. They welcome the racers with open arms in a way that so many other communities across this country should be doing.

After racing concluded on Saturday, we gathered up our band of merry men and women (well just one brave woman, Tonya Turk) and headed to the Northern Maine State Fair being held in Presque Isle. Thanks for BangShift forum member Rightpedal (Steve) who had been beating the tractor pull drum since Friday, we caught some killer tractor pulling action. There were blown trucks, 7500 and 10,000lb Pro Stock tractors shooting smoke 80 feet in the air and even 20,000lb rigs to close out the evening. Steve is a cool dude and it was a real treat for me to see this stuff. I’m pretty sure that I was the only one who had ever attended a pull before so I was also the tour guide for what was happening on the track. It was a great change to go from the fastest racing vehicles on Earth to some of the slowest. Diesel Power indeed! Freiburger and I were hoping to see some major carnage (none came) and hatching devious plots to get a multi-engine tractor on a drag strip. 

Yanking up the e-brake at highway speed for 5 seconds or so WILL result in flat spots that ca-thunk all the way home. I heard a rumor about that.

I’m still not a big motorcycle guy, but Jesus Christo they are FAST.

A Moose caused several delays on Sunday because he kept walking near the track.

Land speed racing personifies all that is right and good in the gearhead world. There is virtual mass acceptance, tons of homebuilt iron that uses thoughts and tricks only an enthusiast owner would try, and obscene amounts of power coming from a weird assortment of vehicles.

Nirvana was in Maine last weekend. Thank God I was there.

Thank you for reading,

Brian

Here’s a wrap-up of the coverage I did from the Loring LSR meet:

2010 Loring Timing Association meet, Thursday

2010 Loring Timing Association meet, Friday

2010 Loring Timing Association meet, Saturday 

2010 Loring Timing Association meet, Sunday