[Leica] a day at the drag races

[ricc at mindspring.com (Ric Carter)]

Hey Arche--

You are really growing into this redneck racing thing. You are  
capturing more personalities, getting more locations, moving yourself  
around. I think your eye for it is improving quickly -- the pics are  
surely getting better.

Keep up the chase. It's a cool world out there.

I've been hoping to get to the eighth-mile strip with a young friend  
this summer -- he occasionally runs his hearse. You have really  
whetted my appetite!

Ric Carter
http://gallery.leica-users.org/Passing-Fancies

On Jun 21, 2006, at 6:05 PM, Arche, Harvey wrote:

> Of all the various paid sporting events I?ve ever been to, the drag  
> races have absolutely the least separation between spectators and  
> participants, at this track anyway. There is a small parking lot  
> for fans right next to the stands, for convenience, but you can  
> park wherever you want. At the drag strip there is no ?pit? area,  
> just big parking lots on either side of the track. This is where  
> the racers line up their trucks and trailers, and unload the cars.  
> Any mechanical work takes place here, as well as warm-up driving.  
> Everyone is walking around visiting and checking out the  
> competition. The only parking rules are custom and courtesy.
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/parking_pits
> At this track there is a broad lane from the parking lots, along  
> back of the stands, leading to the bottom of the track. This is  
> where the racers queue up waiting their turns to run. The fences  
> are present only to define lanes, and there is no avoiding moving  
> in and through the mass of cars and drivers.
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/lane
> Even though the line moves fairly quickly (each race only lasts  
> seconds), there is still a lot of standing around and waiting,  
> trash talking, haranguing the officials, and running to the  
> concession stand for snacks (send the spouse or kid).  
> Interestingly, to me anyway, there is a much higher proportion of  
> black participation in drag racing, by far, than any of the other  
> motor sports I?ve witnessed.
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/car_driver1
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/car_driver2
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/car_driver3
> The concession stand sells sodas, junk food, and earplugs (but this  
> evening the sign said: ?No Earplugs tonight - Don?t even ask?). The  
> noise can be shattering. Small boys stick their fingers in their ears
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/noise
> and grown men shelter behind their spit cups.
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/burnout
> This is the ?burnout? at the bottom end of the track, when drivers  
> spin their wheels on water-slicked pavement in order to get the  
> wheels hot so that they become soft and offer better traction.  
> Immediately after this the cars come up to the starting line, and  
> usually there is no more than 10-20 seconds between the burnout and  
> the actual race.
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/downthetrack
> All the watchable action is at the starting end of the track, and  
> spectators are separated from the cars only by a chain-link and a  
> low wall. This is where most of the crowd is all evening. This  
> Toyota truck stomped that Camaro turning in a time of 6.99 seconds  
> for the quarter mile.
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/start1
> Then again, that Toyota truck is a Toyota  truck like I?m Arnold  
> Schwarzenegger. Wait - I?ve got that backwards.
> Time trials take up most of the daylight, and actual races begin in  
> the evening. One of my students, whose dad races a Chevelle here,  
> tells me they?ll run races, sometimes, until 3 in the morning. As  
> the wind dies, the pall of tire-smoke hangs at the starting line.
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/night1
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/album404/night2
> Still smelling of burnt rubber,
> Arche
>
>
>
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