Friday
We left our house at 2:30 AM on Friday and arrived at the track at 3:30 PM. When we arrived, we were greeted by 100 degree temperatures, which is something I had not felt since July. The parking lot was massive and we were parked down by the top end of the track. As soon as we entered the gate, we went into the stands to secure our spot for the evening session by placing our cooler down. Next, we began walking around the Pro pits to check out the lay of the land. The first thing we noticed was that the place was massive. We found it strange that the Pro Stock Motorcycles and Pro Mods were pitted on the opposite side of the track. It didn’t make sense since PSM and Pro Mods are considered Pro classes and NHRA chose to pit the Alcohol cars on the Pro side instead. I hope they change this next year. After stopping by to say hi to some of our driver / team friends, including @NancyBenza, Steven and I hit the midway displays to play games. He loves playing the games and winning prizes. Next, we made our way over to the Toyota Racing Pit Pass Display where we met the person who runs their Twitter account. She brought us inside to cool off and gave us water and very nice hats. Minutes later, Morgan Lucas and Shawn Langdon stopped by the area for an autograph signing and we were given a private meet and greet with them. It was awesome! Soon, it was time to hit the stands to watch the only pro session of the day. Since it was so hot, cars were not running big numbers but it was awesome to watch the action on the historic track. In between Pro Stock and Funny Car, there was a cackle fest with nostalgic cars, which I had never seen before. At the end of the night, NHRA ran a pair of exhibition jet dragsters down the track. Unfortunately, one of the drivers (Darin Bay) crashed his car up and over the wall in a horrific wreck. Thankfully, he made it through the crash alive and was transported to the hospital. At the end of the 2nd round, we walked around the pro pits talking to more drivers and Twitter friends. While we were walking around, we bumped into @alexmbaca and @lmvaughn. We left the track very late and didn’t go to sleep until midnight. We had been up for almost 24 hours. It was a great first day!
Saturday
On Saturday, the action didn’t start until mid afternoon so we took advantage and slept in. We got to the track around 11:00 AM and did some more exploring. It was once again over 100 degrees but we were going to make the best of it. We crossed over to the Sportsman pit side using the bridge over the track near the tower. The bridge was enclosed and was very narrow. We progressed across the bridge at a very slow pace. I think it would be great if the track invested some money and built a much wider bridge / staircase that can hold a larger volume of people. When we made it across, we walked over to the PSM pits and found that most riders were not around. It was unfortunate because we really wanted to say hello to some of our friends. We made our way back to the Pro pit side and ran into NHRA track announcer Alan Reinhart. I am a big fan of his work, both as an announcer and the value he brings to WFO Radio Nitro. After a brief conversation, it was off to do more exploring. Later that morning, all of the Toyota Racing drivers would be making an appearance at their midway display to sign autographs. Steven and I were once again treated to a private meet and greet, but this time it was with Antron Brown, Cruz Pedregon, Larry Dixon, Del Worsham, Shawn Langdon and Morgan Lucas. All of the drivers signed our hats and we had good conversations with them. While I was there, I also met photographer extraordinare Mark Reblias (@rebilasphoto). Next we made our way over to the Full Throttle display where we met up with our friends Scott, @AutoAbby and David from @ FTTV. Soon it was time for the 2nd qualifying session. We made our way to the stands to watch the session in sweltering heat. The session started at 3:00 and it seemed to take forever. There were lots of oil downs in the nitro classes and it made for a very long time sitting in the stands. Between sessions 2 and 3, we ate dinner and then walked around the pits to meet more drivers. One of the drivers we always talk to is our friend Vincent Nobile. He is always outside his pit talking to his crew and his fans. While I was there, I ran into another Twitter friend @LaurenWW. Soon it was time for the evening session! The session was due to start at 5:00, but started much later due to the prior session running long. It cooled off in the evening and we saw some nice runs in the pro classes. At the end of the night, @shoeracing sent me a tweet to stop by Antron Brown’s pit area for a private tour. They did this as a thank you for being so supportive of their teams. Antron’s PR representative Ted took us around and showed us both trailers and even gave us a rod as a souvenir. We met up with Antron in the lounge of his trailer and he signed the rod for us. Once we finished there, we met up with the great folks at WFO Radio (@wfojoe, @pgdrews and Gio) along with Twitter friends @nitrojohn, @sfcski, @nhrachat and @ldcrust. It was so great to get together with everyone and talk drag racing. At the end of the night, Joe gave Steven and me a ride to our car which was much appreciated! We didn’t get to sleep until after midnight and would have an early wakeup call for Sunday.
Sunday
On Sunday, two more sessions were scheduled. This was bump day! We arrived at the track around 7:30 AM and got a nice close parking spot. It was early enough to watch the pits come alive. Crews were arriving in their tow vehicles and cars were being unloaded from their haulers. It is quite a sight to see! We walked around the pits taking photos and then made our way over to meet another Twitter friend @nitronate1320. Next, it was time to check in at DSR VIP Hospitality. As a guest of DSR hospitality, you get watch the crews work on the cars up close, interact with the drivers on a more personal level and are given a great meal. It is also your home base for the day if you need shelter from the heat / rain or if you just want to sit and relax. At 10:30, we headed over to the John Force Road Show to watch the unveiling of a 9/11 tribute car that he will be running in Charlotte. We also got John’s autograph on a special edition hero card with that car on it. Robert Hight was also signing autographs. Once we got their autographs, we headed to the stands to watch Q4. The temperature was about 30 degrees cooler from what it was the day before and we were actually wearing sweatshirts! Teams were running much better numbers and it made for a great qualifying session. Once the session was over, we headed over to DSR for lunch. Tony’s car blew an engine on his run in Q4 and we watched the crew replace the motor while we ate lunch. It was an awesome thing to watch. Between rounds, Ted welcomed everyone to DSR Hospitality and then Antron spoke for a while. He was a riot! I think he would make a great stand-up comedian. While he was speaking, he asked some trivia questions to win prizes. Steven answered his first question about how many top fuel championships Tony Schumacher has (7) and he got a Matco Tools hat. I answered a question about how long it takes a top fuel car to accelerate to 100 MPH (.8 sec) and won a piston. Once he was done speaking, he signed the hat and the piston. Next, we headed over to Terry McMillen’s pit area and met up with Twitter friends @nitrojohn, @sfcski and @nhrachat. When I got there, I also had the opportunity to meet Twitter friends @kschiewer and @Steveschiewer. Dina and Andrew Parise of @Pariseracing were also there who I had previously met in Englishtown. It was great talking with everyone, including Terry McMillen, Jim Walczak (@jimwalczak) and Cori Wickler. Next, we headed over to the Fram midway display to have our pictures taken in the top fuel dragster and to see what our reaction times would be. Let's just say our reaction times need some work! There, we met up with @miSs_aG and @dOrOtHy_EiLeEn who both work at the display. Finally it was time for Q5. This was the last opportunity for teams to make it into the show. As expected, there were lots of oil downs with the nitro cars as teams were throwing everything they had at the track to try and get in. The highlight of the day was Cruz Pedregon running a 4.026 in the final session to take the number 1 spot. At the end of Q5, we walked around one final time and said goodbye to some of our friends and then headed for dinner. We got back to the hotel around 8:00, then packed up and went to bed around 10:00 for another 2:00 AM wake-up call.
Monday
We left the hotel at 2:45 AM on Monday for the long ride home. Along the way, we reminisced about the great time we had. We listened to the audiocast through my phone and we could picture everything as if we were still there. We arrived home at 4:15 PM and got to watch the finals on ESPN2.
Overall, this was an experience Steven and I will never forget. Besides attending the most prestigious NHRA race for the first time, it was great meeting so many new people and reconnecting with friends. Through it all, Steven was such a trooper. He never complained once about the drive or the long days at the track. I don’t know many 10 year olds that would endure what he went through and not complain. All he wants to know is which race we are going to next. Fortunately, the next race is less than a month away. We’ll be attending the Uni-Select Auto Plus NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway from September 30th through October 2nd. We hope to see you there!
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