[Leica] a day at the drag races

[bdcolen at comcast.net (B. D. Colen)]

Hi, Arche - 49, 51, 53, 57, and 58 are your winners. So what were you
shooting with?


On 6/21/06 6:05 PM, "Arche, Harvey" <Harvey.Arche@jp2hs.org> 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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