Behind The Curtain
Sometimes, it's hard to tell the story, within the story. Sometimes a story has so many plot lines, characters, points of emphasis, and interesting footnotes, that it becomes unwieldy, especially in the hands of a part time hack like me. Hot Rod Drag Week, quite honestly, deserves better. It also deserves better than the small group of journalists that are charged with covering it. Harried by deadlines, and the sheer logistics of the entire thing, working in multiple mediums, for multiple taskmasters, it's a thankless undertaking, and one that leaves them as strung out, tired, and road weary as the competitors themselves. As this is the eleventh running, and many of these journalists are veterans of the event, the production of content becomes formulaic. This is not a holier than thou type observation, as I am just as guilty in my own approach, both as a competitor and a storyteller. The thing is, every Drag Week is uniquely different, with it's own challenges, and rewards, from both the human, and automotive side.

Boone and I share another passion, and that is running, notably distance races. The parallels between competing in, preparing for, and understanding, say a marathon or ultra-marathon, compared to Hot Rod Drag Week, are numerous, and staggering. Event to Event, year to year, one of the things that raises the stature of a quality and popular race, is history. The history of the race, it's competitors, and their accomplishments must be nurtured to gain prominence whether we are talking about the U.S. Nationals, or the Boston Marathon. So, we were perplexed when we noticed that the results from each Hot Rod Drag Week would be posted on Hot Rod's website every year, then disappear in a matter of months, and no longer be accessible. We religiously track our races, and nearly all the results are on the internet, and archived. So, a couple of years ago, we began to accumulate as many of the Drag Week results that we could find, then reached out on websites to racers who might have yearly results from the specific Drag Weeks we didn't have. Eventually we were able to put together a comprehensive list, from every year, and we have enjoyed sharing tidbits from Boone's spreadsheets from time to time. This year, Hot Rod hired a new website and internet guy, and they also brought along a statistician for the event. Both contacted us early in their arrival to see if Boone's excel files would be available to share as I had posted some stats on facebook. Boone was only too happy to pass the info along, as we were just thrilled to see that someone under the magazine's umbrella saw the same value in preserving the history as we did. He also printed out some of these results in the form of a handout, which he distributed to the captive audience waiting in line for tech on Sunday.

If you've ever raced or attended a marathon, and you've been around the starting corrals before the first gun goes off, you've seen, or felt, the boundless, nervous energy that emotes from everyone about to undertake the challenge. Hot Rod Drag Week competitors put off this same vibe on Registration Day, and sometimes the decisions and conversations that happen early on, while in anticipation of the event, however casual and random they may appear, end up shaping and changing the very journey, and final outcome of said endeavor!

My case in point, presented for your consideration, is the tale of the Drag Week 2015 Odd Couple. Two men, who's lives (ok, maybe just their week) would be changed by the chance meeting of pulling their GM products onto the banked oval nose to tail, in the tech line on Sunday. Mike Grandinetti, from Nashville TN. decided to bring his 71 Firebird to DW15 after reviving it from a long slumber, dating back to the time he drove it in high school. Entered in the Street Machine Eliminator class, he had no lofty goals or low ET's in mind, he simply wanted to survive the week, and enjoy his old car. Lined up behind him was Daryl Yost's brutal pro-charged 69 Chevelle. Hailing from Bayfield CO., Daryl had suffered a DNF in Drag Week 2014, and was quite determined to finish in 2015. Their four hour wait to get teched allowed plenty of time to talk strategy, plans, and expectations for the week. Both men were running solo, and neither had buddies in the field so Daryl proposed that they run together, so that if either broke down, someone would be there to help out, and run for parts. The die was cast, the deal was struck, and these two strangers were about to embark on an adventure together that would become a staple of Drag Week campfire stories for years to come.