Thu, 08 Oct 2015, 14:56 PM No Matter How You Phrase It, Drag Racing Is Extreme Motorplex

Courtesy of Gabrielle Stevenson 30th AAA Texas Fall Nationals Celebrates Meyer's Iconic Texas =

ENNIS, Texas -- It might not have been part of the Summer X Games contested last June at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, but professional drag racing as practiced in the NHRA’s Mello Yello Series is, by virtually any measure, the most extreme of all the worldwide motor sports.

No matter how you say it: extremo (Spanish), ekstreman (Croatian), extrémní (Czech), extreem (Dutch), estremo (Italian), extrem (German), 極度の (Japanese). ytterlig (Swedish) or extreme (English), drag racing is the one power sport farthest removed from the ordinary or average featuring 330 mile-an-hour speeds and an unusually high degree of physical risk.

It is to NASCAR what mixed martial arts is to boxing.

A single supercharged and fuel injected drag racing engine produces more horsepower than the combined output of the engines in the first five rows of stock cars that will qualify for November’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. That’s 10,000 horsepower from one 500 cubic inch drag racing engine compared to little more than 900 horsepower from one 358 cubic inch NASCAR motor.

Yet, that is just one small part of the sensory experience that is expected to bring thousands of hard core race fans back to the Texas Motorplex Oct. 15-18 for the 30th Anniversary AAA Texas Fall Nationals, an event that celebrates the 30-year history of the track that changed the personality and perception of an entire sport.

Built in 1986 by Waco businessman and former U.S. Nationals Funny Car champion Billy Meyer, the Texas Motorplex was the first new drag racing facility constructed in the United States in more than 15 years. It set the bar for tracks in Houston, Chicago, Las Vegas and Charlotte as well as for track makeovers at Denver, Gainesville, Fla., Bristol, Tenn., and Sonoma, Calif. Among other things, it featured a wealth of permanent restrooms, especially women’s restrooms.

“Most of the tracks we ran in the ‘70s and early ‘80s didn’t have anything but porta-johns,” Meyer recalled with some embarrassment. “I knew then that if I ever followed through and built a track of my own, I was going to have facilities that my wife and other women wouldn’t be afraid to use.”

Another Meyer innovation was the first, purpose-built all-concrete racetrack.

Until the Motorplex, most drag strips were asphalt or, at best, concrete and asphalt with a critical transition point. Meyer’s track, which was built using the latest in concrete technology, forever changed the sport’s performance dynamic, making possible zero-to-330 mph acceleration in less distance than a city block.

The numbers are mind-boggling. From a dead stop, a Top Fuel dragster can cover 1,000 feet in 3.70 seconds while reaching a finish line speed of 330-plus. Such a trip subjects drivers to more than five Gs on acceleration and to a negative five Gs once the braking parachutes are deployed to assist in deceleration.

Although there now are four all-concrete tracks on the circuit, the Motorplex was the first and still is capable of delivering the performance numbers that turn race fans euphoric especially now that the Fall Nationals has been moved from September to October. The anticipated cooler temperatures could create an environment in which someone might be the first to break the 3.70-second barrier.

“We haven’t run the race in October for a while,” Meyer said. “It’s been a little too hot in September. With a little cooler air and a little cooler racing surface, who knows?”

Of course, performance and technology are not drag racing’s only extremes. It also boasts extreme diversity.

No sport has more ethnic AND gender diversity than drag racing. Already this season, the sport has celebrated African-American, Hispanic, Swedish and Australian race winners and women have won in Pro Stock, Pro Stock Motorcycle, Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car.

It is conceivable that women could sweep the pro categories at the Fall Nationals with Karen Stoffer, Angie Smith and Angelle Sampey all contending in the motorcycle class, native Texan Erica Enders-Stevens trying to repeat as series champion in Pro Stock, Courtney Force defending her Motorplex title in Funny Car and her sister, Brittany Force, trying to get a breakthrough first win in Top Fuel.

Race tickets are available in advance at www.texasmotorplex.com and range in price from $10 to weekend VIP packages topping out at $380. Youth tickets, for fans 12 and under, start at $5. Professional qualifying sessions begin at 2:45 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. on Friday; 12:45 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. on Saturday. Single elimination, tournament-style racing begins at 11 a.m. Sunday with final rounds beginning at 3:25 p.m.

,center>www.texasmotorplex.com

NHRA: 10 Most Recent Entries [ top ]

Oct 16- DALLAS - JEGS Allstars Top Alcohol Dragster Round 1 Eliminations
Oct 16- DALLAS - Factory Stock Showdown Qualifying, Session #1 Order
Oct 16- DALLAS - JEGS Allstars Super Stock Round 1 Eliminations
Oct 16- DALLAS - JEGS Allstars Super Gas Round 1 Eliminations
Oct 16- DALLAS - JEGS Allstars Super Street Round 1 Eliminations
Oct 16- DALLAS - JEGS Allstars Super Comp Round 1 Eliminations
Oct 16- DALLAS - JEGS Allstars Stock Round 1 Eliminations
Oct 16- DALLAS - JEGS Allstars Top Alcohol Dragster Eliminations Ladder
Oct 16- DALLAS - JEGS Allstars Top Alcohol Dragster Final Qualifying, Session #2 Order
Oct 16- DALLAS - Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying, Session #2 Order