Confessions of an NHRA Newbie

Photo by Matthew Lowell Thompson

Do you smell that? If you're an NHRA fan, you know that's nitromethane in the air. Yup, the NHRA is back with two straight weekends of racing to open the season.

I'm new to NHRA, which would surprise most people. I've followed racing most of my life. My dad's shop, which was right down the road from Englishtown, was a sponsor at the drag strip. But somehow I never got into it. But Matt was kind enough to introduce me to the series. He went to New England Dragway as a kid, and he was a track photographer for Moroso Motorsports Park (now PBIR).

We started watching the NHRA on TV, and I instantly was hooked. Even though they're race cars, drag racing as a whole different language compared to other types of racing. I slowly learned the lingo (so I could at least hold my own in a conversation). And I educated myself on the history of the NHRA, which is fascinating.

Photo by Matthew Lowell Thompson

Then a couple of years ago, we went to Englishtown so I could see this for myself. My head was on a swivel the whole time trying to take in the whole thing. I was amazed how accessible it was for race fans. I was pretty surprised when Tony Schumacher sat down on his golf cart, called me over, and signed autographs for us.

But it was standing outside John Force's hauler that my mind was completely blown. We were waiting for John to start his Funny Car before qualifying. Matt explained exactly what was going to happened, but I still wasn't prepared. The noise was deafening. My chest was pounding. The smell of nitro literally took my breath away. Part of me wanted to turn away, but the other part of me kept my feet glued to the ground because I didn't want to miss a thing.

That was the exact moment that I got it. And I've been hooked ever since.

Unfortunately our schedules have kept us from returning to the drag strip, but that's going to change this year. E-Town is on the schedule. In ink. I'm not missing this. I've missed too many already.