Last Saturday, Mr. Hot, Shortman and I went down to Norwalk for the NHRA races. We were scared about the weather - all week we’d been watching the chance of rain in northeastern Ohio increase. It started at 30% on Monday. By the morning of the race, it was up to 70%.

There’s a few problems if it rains:

1. Mr. Hot hates to get wet. (He’ll melt… snort.)
2. The cars can’t run in the rain, so there’s no actual, y’know, racing going on.
3. The drivers are usually in their trailers taking naps so there’s nothing going on exciting in the pits.
4. Mr. Hot hates to get wet.

It’s about an hour and forty-five minute drive (with gas at $4.09/gallon) - so of course, driving down there just to sit all day and then have to possibly drive back without seeing jack-shit would be no fun at all. We were not happy with The Weather Channel, but figured we had to chance it, so by 8 a.m. we were in the car headed for the Ohio Turnpike.

(Snorrrrxxxxxxx - is there anything at all exciting about the Ohio Turnpike?)

Around 10-ish (um, so I made one mistake in navigating us TO the actual, y’know, Turnpike) - we got to the track, parked, and made our way in. We took a walk through the pits first.

My camera does not do justice to the brightness of the Jegs yellow car.

The Go Army car. “The Sarge” drives this.

After we walked through the pits, we stopped for breakfast since we hadn’t really had time to eat before we left. Pepperoni pizza for the penis-bearing two, Cheese pizza for me.

Then to our seats. Close enough to the action so that at one point, Shortman said, “Mom, you’ve got rubber all over your glasses”. Uh huh. The rubber from their tires and the track was hitting me in the face.

These are Pro-Stock class. The winner on Sunday did 206 MPH in 6.704 seconds.

This is a Top Fuel car. Sunday’s winner? 311 MPH - end to end in 4.636 seconds. And when one of these babies go past you, you feel the fillings in your teeth rattle. I never know whether to put my fingers in my ears (I wear the best earplugs they make and I still add fingers) or cross my arms over my chest to cushion some of the soundwave impact. It’s an amazing, amazing thing to see.

Then there’s my favorite class - Funny Car. 306 MPH on Sunday - 4.882 seconds for that quarter-mile.

Here’s Ashley Force (far lane, the white car), headed down the track. Staging the car and waiting for the green light, takes much longer than the trip down the track.

See how much slower she looks than that other car? She went 270 in 5.27 seconds. The guy next to her? 304 in 4.91.

—- And why yes, that is Shortman’s hand that suddenly appears at the end of the video. I’m not sure what he was planning… —-