Chad’s recent discovery of some build photos of his ’56 Chevy called Rusty got me to remembering that I have a treasure trove of photos from Hot Rod‘s Drag Week 2005. I covered the event for CompetitionPlus.com, a drag racing website that I was working for at the time.

It turned out to be one of the most memorable weeks of my life. I was a complete wall flower that week, mostly because I was the “internet guy” among the heavies of Hot Rod magazine. It was very cool to be embedded with the racers all week and really see the stories unfold first hand.

Here are three photos that I shot with the only digital camera I had at the time, a little point and shoot Olympus. I would get to the hotel we were staying at and send my photos and notes from the day to the editor of the site, then get ready for the next leg.

I’m sure the following Drag Weeks were just as good, but there was a complete element of the unknown on ths first one. There was no prescedent or protocol to follow and that made it very cool.

If there is a level of interest, I can put together a large gallery of photos from that inaugural event. It’s recent history, but in the gearhead world, it’s important history. The other neat thing is that, to this point, these photos have gone virtually unseen so it may bring a different angle onto some familiar topics and stories.

Enjoy this taste test!

Here’s a shot to prove that Rusty has enough snot to spin the tires, barely. I think that this shot was taken at St. Louis. Daphne was somewhere over by the wall cheering Chad on.

This Camaro was a nice car, and this section of the drive, on the way to Bowling Green I think was my favorite part. This highway was georgeous but I have absolutely no recollection of what route it was. Maybe someone has a copy of the original route and can refresh my memory.

Here’s Larry Larsen dropping the hammer in Columbus, Ohio. Note the Hot Rod TV camera guy hanging over the wall and shooter Wes Allison in his bucket hat with the mondo lens blasting away to the left. This shot really summed up the week for me. Empty drag strip, hot car, and people paying attention.