A NEED FOR SPEED

It's about 100 miles from Tucson to Phoenix, location of the 2nd stop on the National Hot Rod Ass'n (NHRA) Championship Drag Racing tour.  The old Firebird Raceway has been renamed Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, and along with the new title, we saw a few other changes, some good, some not so good.

 Two funny cars, after the burnout.

I picked up Marc at 8am, and if we could have made the 100 mile drive to the drag strip at the same speed as a top fueler, it would have only taken us about 16-17 minutes.  Since that wasn't possible at a speed of 75 mph, instead of  a dragster's top speed of 325 mph, we arrived at the racetrack a little before 10am.

This was my first opportunity in about 8 years, to attend the Phoenix drag race, due to a conflict with the Tucson Rodeo, which Patty and I always worked.   Even though it's been a number of years since we were a part of the NHRA traveling road show, there's still a few people that we know, and it was fun to see some of those folks.  Jim Maxie, who heads up MainGate's operation at Phoenix, and who was in charge of our gig at the Tucson Rodeo for a number of years, provided Marc and I with Sunday tickets, along with a parking pass. 

 The timing scoreboards reflect the speeds attained by 2 Fuel Funny Cars, on a typical side by side race, in just 1,000 feet of racetrack!

Erica Enders-Stevens is the first female Pro Stock Driver to win an NHRA Drag Race.

Back in 2005, while living in Lake Havasu City, we got a call from MainGate in Indianapolis, asking us to work their new merchandise trailer at the Phoenix drag race.  They hadn't hired permanent workers for this trailer yet, and we were available to help them out.  The merchandise was for one of the first female pro stock drivers, Erica Enders.  During the course of that weekend, Erica spent some time in the trailer signing autographs, and we got to know her, along with her dad Greg.  Erica started out in the Jr. Dragster program, and was the subject of a full length feature film entitled "Right on Track", released in 2003.  In 2011, she broke the national pro stock speed record, traveling over 213 mph in the quarter mile, and in 2012, Erica became the first female pro stock driver in NHRA history, to win a national event, at the Chicago race. 

She remembered Patty and I, not only because that was the first race where she had her own merchandise, but she reminded me that it was also the first race where she qualified to race on Sunday.  Erica is just one of many people involved in drag racing, that we became acquainted with, and it was fun to chat with her yesterday.

    

 Erica (red car) won her first round race, but lost in the second round.

 Marc, from our vantage point at about half track in the grandstands.

 Everybody's trying to take pictures of .....................

 this guy - Jesse James, husband of Alexis Dejoria, driver of the Tequila Patron Fuel Funny Car

During the warm up of Alexis' car, Marc and I got a good dose of Nitro, which I guarantee, will clear up any sinus congestion, in just a matter of seconds!  It's always fun to watch the newbies, who have no idea what happens to the eyes, nose, and throat, when the exhaust fumes from a nitro engine reach your body.

 

 Yep, we salivated over the new Corvette, just like most everyone else.

It was a fun day, filled with lots of noise, power, and incredible speed.  The fact that a motor vehicle can go from 0 to 325 mph, in a little over the length of 3 football fields, is almost impossible to comprehend.  Yea, I'll admit it, I'm a gear head, with a need to experience a lot of speed!  I got it in spades yesterday!