Its next weekend already!

And I never even got around to telling you about last weekend. So, since old news is really no more useful that bird cage liner and fish wrap, I'll try to just give you some highlights.

As mentioned before, there was DRAG RACING! Son Noah and I went off on our first trip to Rocky Mountain Raceway on Saturday night. We had a wonderful time, got to see some excellent racing and had our first experience with a Top Fuel Funny Car. (I've searched for a link to the car unsuccessfully. Sorry)

The announcer claimed that this supercharged, nitromethane burning racer created 6000 horsepower! I can't confirm if that is true but I can confirm that when the lights went green and the driver blasted off that it felt like the doors of hell had been cracked open! That thing blew blue flames 20 feet in the air and the the pulses coming out of the zoomie headers left imprints on my chest as the car passed by! Wow! I like to be close to race cars and such and while I take normal precautions to protect my hearing, I can tell you that this was the noisiest piece of hardware I have ever been exposed to! The driver shut it off at the 1/8 mile mark and was still going over 225 mph at the 1/4 mile mark!

I for one cannot imagine having the skills and reflexes to drive a beast like that under full power. The one we watched was not competing but making an exhibition run and we only got to see it once, though Noah wanted it to go again after he blasted past us the first time.

So the drag races were good fun and we will be going back there again in the future. On Sunday we headed back out for more racing, this time to spectate racing karts. I've been a kart racing fan for many years and when I heard about a national event being held at the local track, why we just had to go check it out.

The racing was at Black Rock Raceway and it is as fine a kart facility as I have ever visited. This place is really first class and just 75 miles from home. Anyway, we got there late after dawdling over breakfast but in time to see the final 3 races of the day. This is exciting stuff! The 125cc shifter karts actually get down the front straightaway in under 4 seconds with a top speed of just about 90 mph before turning into a sharp 180 degree turn! If you check out the track configurations on the website, they were running the "full reverse" track while we were there.

Lots of exciting racing and afterwards some pleasant conversation with several of the racers in the pits. They were happy to share info and answer our questions and one of them even handed Noah his digital video camera that he uses inconjunction with a helmet cam. Noah got lost watching the racing from the driver's view and didn't want to give back the camera!

So that was last weekend. Lots of racing and racing noises and smells and track-side burgers. Just about a perfect father's day weekend! And after I go get more coffee, I'll tell you about this weekend!