Quote:
Originally Posted by fieldodreams79
I went to the NHRA's Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway 7 years ago and got hooked on Nitro Funny Cars and Top Fuel Dragsters. Completely bonkers. Insane acceleration. Jaw dropping speeds. Ridiculous noise. Smells. Tastes. Everything that got me into motor racing was there. LMAO most of the time. It was great. Hate that the place closed for more crap housing, but what are you going to do? Go to Charlotte or Bristol!!
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Similarly a few years ago, an Aussie forum friend of mine who happens to be a Drag Racing (and now his career has progressed to other more mainstream categories) TV commentator invited me to a Top Fuel demo meeting at a car show.
I duly attended and was absolutely blown away. I was literally within a couple of metres from a top fuel car being started and run as part of the demo. No ear defenders or anything sensible. Cockily I had thought, I have heard it all before with other race cars , racing rotaries etc....
How wrong I was. The noise was staggering, the ground shaking under me, the engine visibly twisting, car almost jumping as it revved. The fumes from the fuel had me by my throat , my eyes and nose were streaming, and my ears ringing. I was to say the least startled by the sheer awesomeness of it. It certainly left a lasting impression.
Less impressive was my friend was there doing the intro and a piece on the event in front of the cameras. As the engine was cut he walked over to me, without any advance warning, stuck a microphone in my face, a cameraman next to him doing same with a cTV camera and asked me what I thought. My 15 seconds of TV fame showed a startled me with eyes and nose streaming, coughing and spluttering, ears ringing, trying to get a couple of words such as awesome and mind blowing out, as he and others in the crowd laughed at the effect it had had on me.
A truly unforgettable experience