Have you ever seen and HEARD a top fuel funny car do a burnout? It is truly an earth shaking experience as these cars have upwards of 8000 (eight thousand!!) horsepower. Not only does the ground shake, but as the sound goes thru you, one feels like their insides are being rearranged.
When I first moved to Toronto in the mid seventies, there were drag strips in Georgetown, Cayuga and Lancaster, New York. Every few weeks they would have a show featuring touring pros (like Pat Foster, approx 1973 above). I've seen Don Schumacher, Don "The Snake" Prudhome, Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney, Jungle Jim Liberman, Don "The Swamp Rat" Garlits and many others all within a couple of hours drive of TO. Sometimes there would be 3 shows a week - no wonder I have a hard time hearing!
These days the cars are quite different as you can see from the pic above. Most people have heard of John "Brute" Force (above). Force is the winningest Funny Car driver ever and has 15 championships on his resume. He's been unstoppable for the past 20 years, but at one time he was the perennial bridesmaid, just couldn't win a race, came 2nd a lot though. I was at Sanair Dragway, outside of Montreal, in 1987 when he won his very 1st national event (Grandnational Molson). It was a rain delay on Monday morning and as the cliche goes, "the rest is history".
Well, things have changed since then and one hardly ever sees these cars outside of a nation event in the US. I believe the closest might be Columbus, Ohio. Read on..........
This coming July 1st long weekend will feature a throw back to the good old days at Cayuga (oops, Toronto Motorsports Park), when there will be 4 funny cars (including Cruz Pedregon above), a couple of AA fuel dragster, some jets and a few pro-modifieds thundering down the track. This a great venue to see these monsters close up. If it weren't for a family reunion in New Brunswick, I'd be there with ears wide open.
I also like NASCAR aand F1, but believe me, nothing beats the spectacle, sound and fury of a fuel car going down the 1/4 mile. I once read that a funny car sounds like a war - quite apt. Put down the golf clubs and enjoy an afternoon at the races.
Until next...........
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