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I'm going to my first NHRA race tomorrow (St. Louis) and I'm PUMPED. I've seen alcohol nostalgia drags and go to around 8 big truck/tractor pulls a year...but I've never seen nitro before! My father in law, an old super stock racer, is going with me. He's been legally blind for around 15 years now and hasn't been to a track in 20 years. He is 65 years old and is acting like a little kid he is so excited. His eyesight is so bad that everything is just "smeary blobs" (his words) but he wants to go to just "breathe the nitro and get my bones shook" (also his words). Any tips for a first timer like me? We are sitting pit side and I'll be shooting pics at the event (I'm an ok amateur motorsports photographer). I've heard from everyone to definitely go check out the pits to see the top fuel crews perform wizard like engine work. Any other tricks? And yeah, I've got ear plugs 
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Sep 26, 2014 20:54
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 10:45 |
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Thanks for the advice. I'll be sure and post some pics here. We have reserved seats right by the starting line, but I plan on moving around to take it in from all angles. I no longer work full time for Bigfoot but still do sidework for them and hang out at the shop (we just started racing r/c monsters up there in the shop every two weeks). I'm going to an event with them in two weeks so I'll post pics in this thread if people would like to see it. So yeah, despite working in a race shop for 7 years I've never seen a Top Fuel run. It's a bit embarrassing. That changes today! I'm really excited to hear and feel the cars and see how it compares with tractor pulling. As I mentioned earlier, I travel around the midwest during the summer and shoot pics at a few national tractor pulls so I'm used to hearing rails with up to 6 blown hemis mounted.....but those aren't nitro engines 
ColonelJohnMatrix fucked around with this message at 15:14 on Sep 27, 2014 |
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Sep 27, 2014 14:59
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That was loving incredible. The first time I was hit by the blast wave of a top fuel I nearly dropped my camera due to the force. It felt like all the air was sucked out of the atmosphere. I got goosebumps due to the adrenaline. It's really crazy. Nitro is amazing. I actually felt the freaking pavement shake (along with my internal organs)! There is simply nothing else like it in motorsports. What they say is true; you can't really describe what it feels like and if you haven't seen it you MUST see it live at least once. Going on advice from friends and people in this thread I got to: - Watch multiple crews rebuild and then warm up their nitro engines in the pits. - Catch sessions both at the start and finish lines. The explosion/concussion blast from the start feels way different than the Doppler effect near the finish. - Catch a few runs while standing on the retaining fence. - See an engine explode. - Watch John Force nab a TQ in person. - Stand in the staging area and see everyone do last minute prep. I think I accomplished everything I wanted to for my first NHRA race. I can't wait to go back next year! Here are a couple pics I took:      
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Sep 28, 2014 04:38
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Watching Pomona last night was a big bummer thanks to the team order bullshit with Capps and Johnson taking dives for Hagan. I understand the business end of it (and that Force has done it in the past as well) but it really left a bad taste in my mouth. Ever since attending a race in St. Louis in late September I've become "new" NHRA hardcore fan and I can't help but think that kind of poo poo turns a lot of people off. I mean, its bad enough when the finals are pre-empted for the loving CFL, but then having the the much balleyhoo'ed funny car championship get decided on garbage like that is a major turn off. Also, in a sport where even the big teams have a chore in finding sponsorship, I can't imagine that kind of poo poo helps anything. You see the announcers go on and on about "it's so great that Make-A-Wish has signed on to sponsor the car another year" and then it immediately goes out and takes a dive. ColonelJohnMatrix fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Nov 17, 2014 |
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Nov 17, 2014 19:26
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Alain Post posted:How's NHRA doing these days anyway? I watched it for a while before I kind of lost the time to watch everything, but it seemed like a lot of the sponsors had left the last time I tuned in. I sort of mentioned that in a post edit above yours, you posted before I could edit it. Anyways, from what I've heard the sport has problems attracting new fans, especially younger ones. If that's the case then I must be one of those special snowflakes from a demographic they are desperately trying to attract. I see that kind of crap and its such a turn off. Two circle track friends of mine tuned in last night (at my urging) and felt the same way. Team orders will always be a part of any racing but the NHRA needs to figure out some kind of way to curb that poo poo, especially when championships are on the line.
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Nov 17, 2014 19:41
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Yep, as I recently learned, watching the NHRA in person is absolutely crazy. It immediately made me a fan. The access you get really is amazing. It was fascinating to watch the teams in the pits pull off that kind of coordinated madness. Really, the sport as a whole is coordinated madness. Has it leaked what manufacturer is going to be on board with Force next year? I've heard the big rumor is Chevy but I can't find anything online to back that up.
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Nov 17, 2014 20:35
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VikingSkull posted:God, that would own. PST were so cool I just found out there was such a thing as nitro bike last week. Those things are loving crazy and would rule as a pro level class. The people who ride those are nuts. Also, this was in the comments section of that video you linked. I'm pretty numb to wacky youtube/internet comments but this gem was so  I figured it was worth posting here:"I'm gonna shove a cactus up your rear end, and gently caress you with it real good, so when I pull it out of your cactus-shredded rear end in a top hat it'll have all of your entrails hanging off of it, and then I'll give it to your grandma as a christmas decoration. She'll knit a sweater for you for christmas dinner but you won't be able to wear it cause you'll be dead from internal bleeding from getting hosed up the rear end with a cactus. By the way, Chevy blows dead goats." - whiterthanhitler ColonelJohnMatrix fucked around with this message at 23:00 on Nov 17, 2014 |
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Nov 17, 2014 22:57
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Yeah the IHRA stuff was a joke. I remember when all that went down. I hope the NHRA doesn't go out of business. I just got into drag racing and now it's going down the tubes (I'm exaggerating of course, but still the news has been really bleak as of late). When I was at my first race last fall I found out about the Sheik's involvement via some wildly racist folks in the stands spouting off about the team. The facebook stuff is also pretty bad. Speaking of monster truck stuff, I'm pretty excited this weekend as the newest Bigfoot truck is going to make it's debut. I was at the shop two weeks ago for testing and Bigfoot #21 is a beast. The shock angles are really horizontal compared the vertical designs of past trucks and it absorbs everything so much better. The real test is competition though, so we will see how it holds up.
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Jan 9, 2015 22:24
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 10:45 |
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John Force is going to Chevy. Hooray! I hope this means Traxxas will update the Funny Car kits soon and offer a camaro body. I race r/c funny cars and it sucks being limited to the current ford shell. ColonelJohnMatrix fucked around with this message at 15:55 on Jan 15, 2015 |
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Jan 15, 2015 15:49
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