One for the Gearheads

Mary Ann was off to the spa last weekend for a little R&R, with her friend Brenda.  I was feeling the itch to grab the camera gear and shoot something.  There is an abandoned farmhouse near Chatham that I've been meaning to shoot for a couple of years now, so I thought it was the perfect time.  More on this in a future blog entry. And I could drop by to see my mom in Windsor.  If I could only find something else to shoot on Saturday....

Google is a wonderful tool to find stuff.  Turned out that Saturday was a day for drag races in St. Thomas.  Who knew St. Thomas had a drag strip?  And what were the chances that Saturday was the CK Nationals (CK Stands for Chatham-Kent).  There were four classes of cars, all the way from street legal cars to heavily customized racing machines.  The even had a couple of funny cars.

I've always wanted to shoot drag races.  As a kid, I used to go to the Windsor Dragway, and I've been hooked on drag races ever since.  I also learned through Google, that Windsor Dragway closed in 1971.  That was a long time ago... do the math.

I arrived around 11:00 and they were in the middle of time trials.  Each class took turns taking a couple of runs, then the elimination heats started.  The track was the usual quarter mile, with lots of areas to walk around.  The crowds were minimal, so I could pretty well shoot from anywhere I wanted. There was a walkway above the back of the track which afforded a great view all the way down the track. Here is a shot from the walkway.

Another great place to watch is from the grandstands.

But the most fun was definitely at track level, the closer the better. This is a shot of the burn out area where the tires are warmed up so they stick to the track during the run.

And everyone loves to feel the acceleration when the Christmas Tree turns green.

 For those of you who have read earlier blog entries, you know I like conveying the sense of motion in my images. It is a little more difficult when the cars are speeding by you in excess of 100 miles per hour! Here are a couple that I was happy with.

The highlight of the day, without question, was the funny cars.  Three were running, two alcohol burning, and one nitro burning.  You could feel the excitement in the air, everyone paid attention when these guys took their turns.  These two are doing their "burn outs" to warm up the tires.  Notice two things: 1) very little smoke from the tires - I'm not sure why, I might have to ask some of my gearhead buddies, and 2) EVERYONE is covering their ears.

My only regret was forgetting to bring ear protection.  I have never heard, or felt, anything like it.  My ears rang for days.

Here is Solid Rock with a green light.  Notice the wheelie wheels are practically touching the ground at the back of the car.  They don't want the front tires off the ground allowing any air under the car to slow it down or damage the fibreglass body.

 At the end of the run, they use parachutes to slow down the cars.

I thought it was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  I'll keep an eye out for the date of the 2015 CK Nationals...

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Thanks for reading...

Mark