9/8/03

The Way I See Things,
From a Racer's Point of View

arb and I have had a very busy last month or so. Like so many of you who read this column, we race every weekend (almost that is) and we can find an interesting event. August in the upper Midwest is a pretty special month when it comes to drag racing. This month I will take you along with us and see if you can relate to some of the experiences. I also have an opinion on the event I am sitting at right this minute while I write this column.

First, we ACTUALLY scheduled a "real vacation" for the first time in several years. Well, at least it was sort of a real (non-race event) vacation. We had entered the Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, MN so we took off the week before on a Friday. After driving through the nightmare of traffic around Minneapolis we arrived at the Crow Wing Lake Campground for a few days of fishing, relaxing and in general, not having to do anything in particular. We invited our friends, Mark and Mary Kluck, to drive from the Southside of Minneapolis to the campground and spend the weekend with us. We used to see them almost every weekend at the races but he sold his dragster and we don't see each other as much. Friendships are probably the strongest bond among racers and we know we have met some of the best people on the planet at the races.

We convinced them to come up there and had a pontoon boat rented, some fishing poles and plenty of "adult beverages" on ice and a few Iowa Chops to throw on the grill. We had a great time talking about the old days and what the future might hold in store for us and the sport. If you haven't just laid everything down for a weekend I hope you get to do that soon. It really recharged my spirit and I am so glad we did it. I am writing this and hoping I can find the disc with the pictures I took, there is one you have to see from our fishing adventures. Mark got the "big one" and will probably be taking up a new career as a fishing guide...LOL!!! It was a great day all around.

We had the trailer stored in the trees and after five days of R&R we hooked up and towed the short distance from the campground to Brainerd International Raceway. (You didn't really think I left the dragster at home did you??) Once we arrived at the NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals I ran into enough "stuff" that it could be an entire column, but I will keep it short.

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We arrived Wednesday morning and found out there were already 260 racers in line before us! It will never cease to amaze me that only drag racers will get in line for a race three days before they open the gates. Of course, after I saw the mass confusion that followed I can't say that I blame them. They would take five rigs in at a time and after about 15 to 20 minutes they would come back and get five more. Needless to say we did not roll into the pit area until about 3:30. We pulled up to the "official" doing the parking and he looked at the motor home and trailer and asked how long it was. I told him it was 71 feet and after about two minutes of gazing off into the pit area he said "Man, I just don't think we have any spots left to handle something that big". My immediate response was "you have to be kidding, this rig is medium in size compared to what is sitting out there in line". He was lost, rode off on his Moped and said he would go search for a spot. He returned in about 10 minutes and said there was just nothing left. A good friend and another racer on vacation from Florida, Larry Ericksmoen, looked around and said, "Why not back the trailer in the narrow spot I was sitting in and unhook the motor home and park next to it." It sounded good to me and the NHRA official said to "do whatever" I needed to do. It was a hassle, but at least we were parked. I couldn't help but ask myself what in the world are they going to do with the next 175 rigs...