The Best Drag Racing Podcasts
The Best Drag Racing Podcasts – I’m not sure I ever thought I’d say this, especially in a public forum, but what the hell was I missing when it wasn’t a prep race?
I had a bad taste in my mouth for years that I didn’t have any prep races. Thinking it was stupid, childish, unimportant and just about every other negative adjective you could think of to describe that slice of pie in our sport. Well, I was proven wrong, at least in certain aspects.
The Best Drag Racing Podcasts
Over the last year, many people have told me that I must not give any preparatory race a chance. They told me it would be fun and that I would actually enjoy it. I laughed a little to myself when I was told that. As someone who has been involved in class racing for over thirty years and a full-time class racing photographer for nearly 9 years, I thought I couldn’t possibly enjoy it at all. Yes, I used to race on the street, but going to a no-prep event at a racetrack, how would that really be worth my time?
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I’ve been to a few events in Tennessee over the last year or two, and while they were fine, it wasn’t important to me. Then last year my friend Andrew Wolf at Dragzina went to this event called War in the Woods in Indiana. When he got back he texted me and told me I had to go to this event at least once to check it out. The madness that he described from the point of view of a journalist and a photographer intrigued me.
With all that said, I’m not new to the no-prep world. I watch some stuff there and I have friends who also race in the world without preparation. I’ve never understood the appeal of going to an event and not taking advantage of the technology we have to create a great surface and go as fast as you can. We have the glue and the ways to make a track stick, but you want to go out and play like a grown-up skid and slide in a car that weighs thousands of pounds and makes tons of horsepower…you thought it was idiotic.
The time has finally come for me to suck it up and decide to give the real action a shot without preparation. I decided to participate in the fall version of War in the Woods on the advice of Andrew, as well as none other than prep photographer Courtney Paulshock. Before that I got on Youtube and watched some videos of previous releases of War in the Woods and my mind was blown. I watched this madness and thought to myself, what the hell am I getting myself into?
Brown County Dragway is the scene of this battle, and those from the Midwest know how sketchy the weather can be in the Midwest anytime after Labor Day. With the help of great annual brand partners like Larry Jeffers Race Cars, Menscer Motorsports, Garrett Turbo, Classic Graphix, Extreme Race Oil and event coverage partners Nitrous Outlet & Stroud Safety, it was in the cards for me to experience something I would never get to experience. to forget.
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However, for a little reference, I’m used to covering radials, pro mods, grudges and events of that nature where track preparation is of the utmost importance. That means a lot watching the tractor and sprayer go up and down the track and it gives me a headache. The walls are usually concrete and the rules for media at a class race or a grudge race are very different than they were for this event.
It takes me about six hours to get to Brown County Dragway, so a short drive. I headed there early Friday morning to make sure I didn’t wait in line forever or end up parked so far back that I was exhausted dragging my crap to the starting line. Friday around 11am and the first thing I noticed was that I was literally in the middle of nowhere. When I pulled the gate the staff was amazing. They were polite and very helpful. Too many events I go to the gate, the staff act like you’re there, it’s an inconvenience to them. That was certainly not the case at this event. They gave me my credentials and told me where to park.
When I turned down the dirt road there were people making sure people parked in order, again everyone had a smile on their face. I will park the Yukon, I will tell you now that my intention was to sleep in the Yukon for the whole weekend as the hotels are not that close and they were expensive. So once I was parked, chances are I would go out one more time over the weekend to get the supplies I need.
I started getting my gear out of the car and immediately ran into another photographer from Minnesota who was there. I think he arrived on Thursday and was staying at the campsite next door. We talked for a while and then it happened…we walked out of our parking spots, across the grass and I saw it for the first time. It was a grass track that I saw on Youtube. It’s not a big fancy well-lit area with wide grooves and concrete walls. This was about as old school as you could get. I was definitely second guessing my decision at this point.
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He headed down the hill to the pit area and actually ran into some people I know. As a photographer, especially one that no one knows in the drag racing part of the world, it’s always nice to meet up with people you know so you don’t feel like you’re all alone on the island.
They announced that the drivers’ meeting would be at 4 and racing would start at 5. I headed to the drivers’ meeting and soaked it up a bit with a few photos. It was reported that there were approximately 58 cars with small tires, 35 cars with hard tires and 7 cars with large tires. It seems to be happening at a lot of events, the big tire cars just don’t come out and play anymore. Still, I was excited to see what these cars were like and how they performed on this podium.
I won’t go into every transition or similar detail because I was too busy soaking it all in. After the meeting I went out to the track and decided where I would set up shop for Friday night. I took up a position about 20 feet behind where Bob Rice of NoPrep Felons was stationed, thinking it might be a good spot. There is certainly not much space between the guardrail and the fence.
I’m usually a big extrovert when I’m at work. It makes it easier to get through the downtime when there are people around the fence to chat with, especially when there aren’t a lot of photographers clambering over each other to get shots. So this area was great for me to be able to interact with the fans while waiting for the next class or the next couple.
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In other areas of drag racing, there is a preconception that no-prep fans are a bit, shall I say, less classy than class racing fans. You need to lose this notion quickly! They were well educated fans! Not just in his knowledge of cars, drivers, performance, etc., but also educated in real life. It’s definitely not some country bullshit that many of us outside of prep don’t believe. I made friends with all the people around me on the spectator fence and had the best laugh I’ve had in years.
But if you want to talk about how your heart is racing, stand next to my knee-high railing and take pictures of these cars with the idea that the railing won’t do anything if something goes wrong. I had a few close calls on Friday night and the same on Saturday night. The problem is, I’ve gotten so used to the concrete wall protecting me that I find I can’t even move near the guardrail.
Side by side racing…that’s the kind of crap I love and this event provided a lot of action. I’ve seen cars go over the guardrail, cars tear up the grass between the two lanes, a car do a 360 at the top end and everyone’s gone