From NASCAR To NHRA, Auto Racing Is A Sport Of The Senses.

The Labor Day holiday on Monday this week allowed for some motorsports viewing outside my usual zone. The National Hot Rod Association’s U.S. Nationals took place in Indianapolis over the weekend and I had an opportunity to take in the final eliminations.

Now I won’t pretend to have witnessed the action in person. I had a very nice trip to Indy in May and saw four great open wheel events in as many days. This time, I was under the weather, on the couch and the television was my viewpoint.

NHRA’s Labor Day weekend in Indy is the crown jewel of their schedule. Drag racing’s Daytona 500 so to speak. And on this holiday, the spectacle had the auto racing broadcast day all to itself to showcase the straight-line talent.

“I didn’t know you were a drag racing fan”, commented my wife on one of her passes through the room.

“I don’t follow it week in and week out as closely as some other racing” I replied, “But I do like it.” That exchange is what got my wheels turning for some good subject matter to write about.

I really do enjoy drag racing. I grew up around stock cars and oval track events. As I aged, I never found a particular niche of the sport that did not appeal to me. The NASCAR world and community is where I make my home and it is my favorite area but I will always take a closer look at what I do not get the chance to see everyday. Including men and women doing 300 mph in a 1,000-foot distance.

Where does this appeal come from? I pondered it for a little while and concluded that it all goes back to my indoctrination to racing. The things I loved thirty years ago, I still love today regardless of type of machine being raced.

As a young boy at my first ever event, all my senses were overloaded with information. That is what separates auto racing from other sports. At a race, every sensory ability humans have is used to process what we are witnessing. Seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, and yes, tasting are part of the experience.

We see the rainbow of colors on the cars, the speed in which they move, and the thousands of fans enthusiastic about what is happening. We hear the deafening roar of horsepower and the boisterous cheering and booing. We smell the residue of fuel and tires from the speeding machines. We feel the shock waves and vibrations through our bodies and the grandstands given off by the power of the racecars. And we taste the dirt, rubber, and polluted air when there is a mishap or crash.

I don’t believe any stick-and-ball sport can produce this kind of fan interaction. I watch racing on TV, but as anyone who attends can attest to, you must go and witness an actual race to get the experience of what this is really all about. Pictures and sound in one’s living room are nice, but nothing can take the place of being there.

And this can apply to every type of motorsport. I think that is what caught my attention of the NHRA event and caused my wife to ask her question.

I’ll give NASCAR and Sprint Cup their due as being the biggest racing entity in the country. But the basics of racing are what appeals to me no matter what is competing. Truth is told, if it has an engine in it, goes fast, and it can be raced, you have my attention.

On Labor Day Mondays gone by I remember watching sports cars from Lime Rock Park in Connecticut, NASCAR Modifieds from Stafford Springs, also in CT, ASA late models from the Minnesota State Fair, and D.I.R.T. Modifieds from Syracuse, New York. There was even this little race called the Southern 500 that used to call Monday home.

In 2009 NHRA’s premiere race grabbed my interest. I have been to but one drag race my entire life, the 1994 Englishtown, New Jersey NHRA Springnationals. Pit access is granted to all ticket holders. Try that one for a Cup race.

When pit crews fired engines in the paddock, they would don charcoal canister gas masks. The fans crowded around looking at work taking place did not move back. A roar arose when the high horsepower creation started and the crowd scattered. Not because of noise, but because of fumes that the team members were preparing for.

I have never been hit with tear gas, but I can imagine the nitromethane exhaust fumes that were shot into the air must feel like a SWAT team is on the way. The burning in the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs was indescribable. I was one of those fans that scattered upon starting the engine. A few hundred others and myself all ran away coughing, eyes watering, mouth scalding, and I believe smiling all the way.

I jumped out of my seat the entire first day of qualifying whenever a pair of top fuel dragsters left the line. The noise from just two engines launching away from the starting light is louder than forty-three Cup cars flat out at the same time.

Like I have stated this is a sport of the senses, no matter who your driver is, what kind of car you prefer, of where your track is located. I am a stock car and particularly a NASCAR guy first and foremost. But the same things that appeal to me about the Charlotte-based crowd catch my eye in other races too.

Inside I am the same little kid whose eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and nerves were filled with the fascination of cars racing each other. I can’t wait to see my next race. Wherever that might be.