Hot Date Saturday Night

[Cliffy777]

Went to the drag races at US 131 Motor Sports park (between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo just off US 131 - hey maybe that is where the name came from).
Left work and headed to the drags via the long scenic route. A free pass is one of the benies of working for the sports page of some local papers.
Wound my way out around a couple of lakes and cut across to the dragstrip. (had to ride the last 4 miles on the slab....)
It was a nice night, but it got chilly quick. Mid-40's and you could see your breath. That must be why I only saw two other bikes ridden to the races. Not a Harley in the lot.
I was there covering a local driver Dave "Wild Man" Hedges and his top alcohol dragster.
Here is a pic of Wild Man behind the wheel:

[Cliffy777]

A lot of racing is "hurry up and wait". Here is one of Hedges crew sitting out a delay while the track was cleared of some fluids from a leaky dragster.

[Cliffy777]

Cliff learned a lesson. Don't sit behind the jet powered funny cars when they leave the line. It made a neat picture, but I paid the price with a blast of hot dusty eye-stinging crap.
If you have never seen a jet car do it's thing, I highly recommend it!

[Cliffy777]

This dude drives a modified truck powered by TWO jet engines. He does a real nice show at the starting line - popping the engines and releasing a ton of smoke and blowing big flames out of the "exhaust" stacks on his truck. Then he goes like a raped ape down the quarter mile.

[Cliffy777]

There was a foot of condensation (okay, I'm exaggerating a little bit) on the bike and my helmet when I went home at 11:30. It was chilly. Made me real glad I packed my chaps and jacket liner in my handy new saddle bag set up from the Aerostich folks.

On the way home I passed a sobering sight. Huge blood trail leading to the well mangled corpse of a deer. I was on a county road with a 55 mph limit. Whatever hit that deer must have been moving pretty damn quick or have been pretty dang big....or maybe both.

Keep yer eyes out for the deer, my dears.

One more shot of the Les Shockley jet truck before I go.

[gambrinus]

Great Pictures!.. Drag Racing is not my cup of tea, but it can be fun from time to time. As for the deer encounter... Amen! My cousin Mark hit a deer last summer in PA. 45mph or so, popped into the deer, bike went down, he went over the bars and windshield and slid down the road on his left side. Full-face helmet, leather jacket, boots and jeans. He got up, realized what had just happened.. no blood, no broken bones.. Says he nearly fainted just standing there thinking about what had just happened. Funniest thing is when the police showed up they started running around in the ditches with flashlights looking for the "victom"They couldn't believe that it was him and that his only injury was a sore wrist from the bars jerking to one side as he slammed into the deer. You can count him among the folks who won't even THINK about getting on a bike without a full face lid and a full leather jacket.

Cheers

RW

[RebeccaV]

Nice pictures, Cliffy. Hot date, indeed! Thanks for sharing.

[lorazepam]

Cliffy, just remember, a fresh deer splattered on the road is bad news. Entrails and blood will make you fall down and go boom. I almost lost a bike once on deer guts. I still say they are vermin and should be wiped from the midwest.

[BMWBeauty]

Definitely a Hot Date Cliffy......I love to go to Drag Races.......
Thanks so much for the pics......:)

[lorazepam]

Oh yeah I forgot. If you talk to those guys, you will find that most of them don't run water in the blocks of the engines. they will put stuff like concrete in them to absorb the heat. I know it sounds weird, but it is true.

[ian408]

Cliffy,

Sweet set of pictures! Sitting behind the jet car was way
worth that cool picture.

Ian

[username]

cliffy the shot of the jet car zooming away is one hell of a cool photo. and i love the expression, goes like a raped ape' and am adding it to my lexicon. great report.

[dzimbric]

There is a guy in your area, Stevenville, well it is kind of your area who runs a snowmobile on the track with a sub 9 ET. I think it is around 8.83 in the quarter.
His name is Randy Johns and he works at the Cook Nuclear Plant. Might make a good story or at least give you an excuse for a ride.
How is Dad doing on his new scoot?

[Cliffy777]

The night I was there, I did see one snowmobile go up against a motorcycle. I plan on doing a snowmobile story (prolly in July or something to maximize the potential humor). I will ask Stephanie (PR lady for the track) if she knows the dude from Stephensville.

Have not yet seen my big daddy on his scooter. I am waiting for him to show it off.........