"Fire Breathing Monsters" is an aggressive and noisy -- yet surprisingly intimate -- tribute to the cars that run in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. Commissioned by Jim Jannard, founder of RED Digital Cinema, on behalf of the NHRA, this seven-minute documentary spotlights the uniquely American passion for speed.
VIDEO HERE (7:45 minutes)
An interesting video
ReplyDeleteThere is NOTHING on Earth that matches the speed power and volume of the nitro classes !
ReplyDeleteWhen they launch, everything,EVERYTHING, shakes!
The ground, the stands, your guts, even your brain rattles! And the noise.... not even a fighter on full afterburner matches it!
It is a must-experience for everyone.
I got the same 4 seats at Sears Point for 8 years, 50 yards down from the lights and at the top of the stands with a clear view of the entire track, and even up there I could feel the concussion as the nitro cars blasted past.
DeleteI really miss going to the drags, especially with those great seats.
I beg your pardon. I think you have not layed at the end of the runway with F-4s in full burner taking off in tandem. So close that you are quite on the edge of getting singed.
DeleteHowever, the top fuelers are a close 2nd.
At El Toro, brother and me would sneak out the window at night to lay at the end of the runway to catch F-4s in full burner taking off. All night long.
ReplyDeleteThen we discovered the nearby drag strip. Brother would buy a pit pass to wrench with top performers. Meanwhile, I'd sit in the stands nearest the Christmas tree to watch the show. I watched the entire top end plus blower launch then land in the stands not more than fifty feet from where I stood on the wall. Watched the snake and mongoose do battle many a time. Then in hushed tones of reverence as Big Daddy Garlits wheels out.
Every corpuscle of your body vibrates to thousands of horsepower on the verge of hydrolock.
At Pomona, aircraft are no more than 75 feet above the start line as they land at the adjacent airfield. For several months while based there, I'd try to time my short final to fly over just at the green light. Inside the cockpit I could feel (yes, feel in every sense) the vibrations of those rails or funny cars launching off the line.
I too miss the drags. I think its high time to go to the drags again. Where I'm at right now, a dirt oval is two miles away. The season is due to start in a few weeks. But it ain't nothing like the drags.
me, a young kid in Bloomfield, out past 12 Mile Road. Parents friends had a big lot, nice place. I'm about 12 or so, friend and I are doing some stupid shit. The dads come in - "hey, the guy next door has his race car out"
DeleteHaul ass next door... and there's the fucking Swamp Rat out on the neighbor's driveway. I wanted to kill my friend and his dad, and my dad... "you live next door to Don Garlits?" I still hate them.
In, I think, 1995 the company I worked for bought some equipment out of Italy. They sent a tech over to help set it up. I took him to lunch and the tv was showing highlights of the previous race at Gainesville Fl. He was astounded at the sight, so I asked if he would like to go to the Southern Nationals that coming weekend at Atlanta Dragway. We went for Sunday eliminations. Being an old hand at the strip, I showed him the best way to block out as much of the sound as possible. We started out near the start line for the effect. The first cars out on Sunday at noon time are top fuel. He blocked his ears while they did the burnout, but seemed unimpressed and uncovered his ears. Then they launched. He literally came 12" off the ground it was so loud. What he didn't know, but I did, is on the burnout they only use one magneto, one fuel pump and less than 1/4 throttle. He paid attention to my advice after that.
ReplyDeletePut the same engines in a 20ft boat then you'll get my attention.
ReplyDeleteThey do.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpy4cJzTqr8
Thanks for posting that, Ken! I started going to the big NHRA events at Pomona when I moved to Kali in 1982. One of my new friends had an "in" at the NHRA, and we always got killer seats. I've been to all kinds of auto races and air shows, but there is NOTHING like a Top Fuel car blasting off the line. NOTHING! The smell, the sound, the concussion, and the exhaust roaring out is astounding. OK, being at the end of a runway with F-4's on full AB, or watching BUFFs do a MITO beats it, but not by much. Met John Force when I went down to his Museum, and he happened to be there. Great guy, always friendly and open to his fans.
ReplyDeleteI've got a cap signed by a bunch of the big names in the early 2000s - John Force, Ron Capps and his boss Don Prudhomme, Tony Schumacher, Kenny Bernstein, Eddie Hill and a few more.
DeleteHave a friend of a friend that rode a nitro burner in the Harley class. We got to be part of his pit crew a few times, the raw power pulse would hit you at idle, when he went WOT it would almost knock me over.....
ReplyDeleteJD
I just had to revisit this, Kenny. Burning fossil fuels at a very prodigious rate, combined with nitro (or alcohol, or...) and seeing how fucking fast you can go, is what America is all about. Yes, I'm a boomer. Yes, the rest of the world can fuck right off. We fucking built the world you all live in. Don't like it? Leave.
ReplyDelete