The two greatest words in the history of the English language ever smashed together: Top. You know it’s coming, and it’s awesome every time.ĥ. Sure, they’re not as long as they used to be, but it never gets old. No joke: NHRA on FOX is the reason I bought a bigger, better OLED TV. It’s a colorful feast with the smoke, the flashy colors on the cars, the sponsor decals. I defy you to find a more visually pleasing sport. I’ve taken six friends to the drag races over the years, and they all expressed the sentiment: “You can describe it all day, but until you’re there and you really hear it…” They used words and phrases like, “It’s like nothing else” and “I still can’t believe how loud it is” and “Why didn’t I do this sooner?”ģ. In every category, of course, but especially Top Fuel: 0-100 in less than a second? 11,000 hp? Stop it.Ģ. These reasons came to me faster than an Erica Enders reaction time and are not in any particular order, except for the first three. Having received my latest copy of the newly revamped NHRA National Dragster and seeing the cover banner: “Celebrating 70 Years of Championship Drag Racing,” I was inspired to compile this list: “70 reasons why NHRA Drag Racing is the best sport on earth.” I can only imagine the hangdog, pouty, lower lip-protruding mug I had on when Muldowney approached me and said, “Honey, would you like to help me push my car to the track?” The look of envy of the other kids had me walking tall, and I remember barely putting the tip of my index finger on some part of the car, not really “helping” but still feeling special. I was next in line, and as the sun began to poke through, you guessed it - they called the next Top Fuel round to the staging area. Top Fuel hadn’t hit 300 mph yet, but dragsters were plenty fast and loud, as I was privileged to see “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, and Shirley Muldowney, my all-time favorite person and hero in all of sports.ĭuring a rain delay, I stood in line to get Muldowney’s autograph amongst a few dozen kids. Our first-row bleacher seats were about 50 feet from the starting line, putting us close at racers’ level. I attended my first drag races with my dad at Dragway 42 in Salem, Ohio, when I was 10 years old.
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