The March Meet is MY Special Race

3/8/05

Jeff Burk Photo

he March Meet is a special race for me; well, apparently for me and the 142,000 drunk guys with sunburned beer bellies who inevitably show up. But, I have to say that as special as those drunk guys think the March Meet is to them, it is more special to me. And I’m ready to argue that point with any drunk guy I meet that weekend. To spare you having to follow me around the entire three days to hear the inevitable conversation, I’ll transcribe it here:

Me: The March Meet is my special race.

Drunk guy: No, it’s my special race.

Me: No, mine.

Drunk: Mine!

Me: It’s MINE, you drunk s.o.b.!

(Hilarious Jerry Springer guest-style hair-pulling hijinks ensue. Curtain.)

The 1994 March Meet was only the second drag race I had ever been to (the first being the 1994 Winternationals). It was my first nostalgia race and the second date I ever went on with the guy who later turned out to be my husband, Jeff Utterback. And since this was waaaaay back in the olden days of nostalgia racing, I can claim that I was around when only 142 drunk guys with sunburned beer bellies used to go to the track to go see funny dragsters with motors in front.

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Little did I know back then that that second date would portend a future of nitro addiction - chasing races around the West, gigs writing for various and sundry drag racing outlets, my band playing in the pits, meeting legends, making solid friendships and being able to call myself a nitro Funny Car crewmember.

Yep, I’m a member of a nostalgia Funny Car crew. A crewmember on the Gaynor-(Your Name Here For The Right Price) team. Yep, that’s me.

Okay, all right, I’m just the back up girl. But I’ll bet you think the back up girl just sits on her butt and goes out on the track and stands there with her arm up in the air, and in-between times is filing her nails, powdering her nose and whining. Ah, how little you know of the sweat and labor that go into being a back up girl.

Believe me, it is not all glamour. The back up girl is also the one who has to make the sandwiches for the guys working on the car, after all. Yep, being a back up girl is just like being any other crewmember, except you get mayo under your fingernails instead of grease.

The March Meet was also a huge moment in my illustrious writing career too. My first writing gig for the Goodguys Gazette was a March Meet. This was a real writing job. Journalism, even. And that first race I was absolutely terrified to talk to the car owners and drivers.