Drag Week 2011: The Experience

Drag Week 2012: The Preparation Begins

HOT ROD Drag Week 2012: The Experience

Drag Week 2013: The build(up)!

Drag Week 2013: The Experience

Drag Week 62 Valiant's small block is finally ready (DW14 prep)

Hot Rod Drag Week 2014: The Experience

Hot Rod Drag Week 2015: The Build(up)

Ok, I promise this will be the last time I post links to all the previous renditions of this tale...it's just that brother Boone tells me each time I do, the stats show people are still bothering to go back for a look. Maybe they are new readers, maybe it's just a long, boring winter for our northern friends.

I still have a few installments to make on the build(up) thread, but I was getting bored and wanted to at least get started on this one.

Hot Rod Drag Week 2015 really started when we headed out of Dale's back yard, with Rachael, Skippy, and I loaded up in the front seat of the trusty 1 ton, followed closely by John Hindley and his wife Opal in their Dodge dually.

I had promised Rachael a visit to Lambert's Café, Home of the throwed rolls, on our trip in 2013, but we had missed it both times through Springfield Missouri, and this year, she wouldn't take no for an answer. That meant we had to bail on the brothers, who still weren't ready to leave, and forge our own path towards St. Louis!

My buddy Mike gave us directions to cut through Claremore, and catch the Will Rogers Turnpike (Interstate 44) there. This would be another of those times I would regret taking a shortcut that people normally use with their daily drivers, not respecting the fact that I'm driving a bumper pull trailer, 32ft long, with nearly 19K GVW! We found ourselves bumping along right through Claremore's small downtown area on Main Street. The stop lights were so close together that my rig, combined with John's would fill the entire space!

We drove by a Quick Trip just as we entered the on-ramp for the Turnpike, and noticed the Ogle Family at the pumps, making their trek up from Texas. Charley was pulling his gold 72 Challenger, Jason was pulling his yellow 73 Cuda, and their parents were hauling the two Drag week trailers on a utility trailer! They would pass us about forty miles later with horns beeping and big waves...yep Drag Week 2015 was officially ON!!

Our first stop for fuel was Joplin Missouri. Where I grew up in Northeastern Oklahoma, Joplin was our closest "big city",(even though it isn't) and we went there often to shop or for entertainment. This was my first visit back since the 2011 Tornado, and it was awesome to see the new, beautiful, St. Johns Mercy Hospital that has rose from the ashes of the one that was destroyed.

As we drew closer to Springfield, I began to worry if we would make it to Lambert's before they closed at 9pm, so I had Skippy counting down the miles as we approached while I was watching the time.
"I found a shortcut that will knock off sixteen miles", he announced proudly.
For the second time that day, I found myself regretting the mention of a shortcut, as I quickly found myself on small, rough, poorly lit two lanes. We made it to the restaurant at 7:40, and were seated at about 8:20. The place has always been quite a spirited experience, but our late arrival muted that somewhat, as the jovial and rowdy staff were clearly on their last legs of the evening!
The walls are covered with old license plates, hubcaps, and tin signs of eras gone by, and John and I noticed the one at our table immediately, and took it as a good omen for the week to come!

It was nearly 10pm when I called Boone on my long walk back down to the truck from the restaurant, for an update.

"Dad, and I are ready to roll. We broke in Darren's cam about twenty minutes ago, so He's hooking everything up to leave, but he still has to go by his house and pack.
"You aren't going to wait for him are you?"
"No way, we figure my rig will be the slowest anyway, so I'm getting ready to hit the road, Dale has to clean up and get some other stuff done also, so I'm going to head that way!"
"Alright, we're leaving Lambert's now."
"Are you driving all the way to the track", Boone questioned.
"I doubt it. John has a room in Collinsville, north of the track, but I'll probably stop short of St. Louis...like Sullivan or there about."

Rachael and Skippy were asleep before we made it back to I-44, and John was following me, so I was left to my own recognizance, and I did fairly well for the first hour, then the full belly and long day began to wear on me. The first thing you notice when driving fatigued, is that speed control is the first thing to go. Anyone who has traversed Southern Missouri understands that there is precious little flat ground, and I found myself charging down hills at 70, and cresting the next at 35, and that just wasn't acceptable, so I started looking for a suitable place to bail. Finally, I came upon exit 161, Fort Leonard Wood, and pulled into a Kum & Go.

"Gotta get rid of some of those throwed rolls?" John laughed as he pulled up beside me in the parking lot.
"Naw...I'm just done! Think I'm going to grab a room here and then make it into town in the morning."
"Ok...we're going to keep going", John agreed.
I grabbed one room with two queen beds on the side of the Liberty Lodge that was facing the parking lot we parked in, and called Boone before I settled into my bed. I told him where we were, and based on his calculations they were five hours behind us, Dale was an hour behind them, and Darren hadn't left his house yet!

Good read as always.
thanks for sharing the experience.

Had to laugh at Rachael at Registration.I stopped to talk to you and the brothers.Her and Skippy were a few cars behind.She heard the laughter and immediately went into defense mode as I was walking her way."What did dad say"? Told her she should have been there. LMAO!.I got the 'Look" Told her not to worry as I didn not hear hear her name.

Spent two hours typing out the next installment, decided to switch to full reply screen...site locked up, and I lost it all. Really getting frustrated
with the process. They completely ruined Bangshift with the last upgrade, and very nearly the same thing here.

Deep,deep breath.

Deep,deep breath.

You might try typing it in a word processor and then cut and paste it over hear, that way you can save it periodically and have less chance of losing it.

I slept a good solid four hours before the sound of Skip's sleep apnea woke me up, and I knew trying to go back to sleep would be a waste of time. I called Boone, and explained where we were and gave him the room number. They were ten minutes or so out.

"Where's Dad", I asked, when I let him in.
"He just fell over in the seat of the truck and said he would sleep there", Boone shrugged. He rolled into my bed, pulled the covers over his back, the pillow over his head, and was asleep in seconds.
I took a shower, dressed, and re-packed my bag, then took it to the truck. I decided to walk up to the corner convenience store for a nice big cup of coffee as dawn was just beginning to break. I was headed back to the motel when I saw Dale's rig miss the right turn, so I hastily called him and explained where we were for the third time.

Back in the room, I rousted Rachael and Skippy, and told them we needed to get moving. They had no sooner collected all their stuff, and went to the bathroom for a shower, than Dale and James entered the room, kicked off their shoes, and rolled into the freshly vacated bed, fully clothed, and passed out.

Twenty-five minutes later, a plume of steam preceded their exit from the bathroom, as Rachael and Skippy walked out, half dressed, and still toweling off their heads. Skippy made a move to sit on the corner of the bed but froze when he bumped Dale's foot. He stood there, wide eyed and slack jawed until Rachael said, "That's Dale and James, they came in while we were in the shower."
He moved towards my bed then froze again, and pointed. "There's someone in that bed too", he gasped in a hoarse whisper.
"Yeah", Rachael giggled, "That's Boone, he sleeps like that, don't ask! He was there when we got up."
Rachael had warned me Skip wasn't a morning person, now I was beginning to believe her.

I woke Dad right before we pulled out, and gave him the second key card to the room.
"I'm putting you in charge of getting them up and moving", I explained, "They'll sleep right through registration day if someone doesn't."
He agreed, took the card, and ambled off with his bag towards the room.

We worked our way through patchy fog in every low valley for the next hundred miles, until I pointed out Six Flags over St. Louis to Rachael as we drove by.
"Oh, man...I'd love to go there!" She exclaimed, bending forward to look out the window and take it all in.
"You've been there, and as I recall you really enjoyed it!"
"When? You're lying..", she shook her head.
"We stopped for a whole day on our way to Indy for the Mopar Nationals In like '93, or '94!"
"Great! I was like four or five..."
She's an amusement park junkie. She tried to wake Skippy for a look, but he had been out since we jumped on the road. He sleeps way better upright in a moving vehicle than he does in a bed! She immediately began consulting her smart phone for information on the park.

We tooled along through St. Louis at 50 mph, as Rachael took in the sights, steadily moving towards the Arch in the light Sunday morning traffic.

I decided to stop at the Pilot truck stop across from the track, and fuel the 1 ton, while Rachael grabbed ice, and replenished the coolers.

We had been told that test and tune would be limited on registration day, because the track already had another event going on. Much like when LS fest was going on at Bowling Green in 2013. In both cases it makes for a mess because it means the facility tries to tuck us away in a corner so as not to impede with their on-going event. It's hard to squeeze 300 street cars, all the support rigs, entourage, and everything else it takes to pull off Hot Rod Drag Week, into an existing event, and the track personnel always underestimates how much room we are going to need!

As I stood there fueling the Dodge, the 301 Street Cars gang pulled into the left turn lane to enter the track. "CARLOS!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, and the driver leaned forward to look past the passenger, then they both shot their arms out of the truck in a friendly wave. Registration Sunday is just like that, nerves, anticipation, expectations, all rolled into greeting old friends and making new ones. It has that first day of summer camp as a youth feel to it.
An 85 Caprice Classic rolled up behind them, with 24" spinners, and a bass boat paint job. Rachael noticed it as she walked out with the ice, "Is that going on Drag Week?"
"No, that's a show car for the event they are having today." I had noticed the signs which pointed each direction, stating "Race cars" and "Show cars", but now I strained my eyes to read the event sign.
"Well heck", I chuckled, and rubbed my neck, "It's Black Sunday!"
"What's that?" Rachael looked me in the face, for signs I was joking.
"It's an annual event, put on by the United Black Drag Racers Association. Legendary event, actually, I just never figured I'd get the opportunity to attend one!"
"So...it's only for black people?"
"No", I laughed, "everyone's invited, and I guarantee you, there will be plenty of Mopars, so, much more fun than that LS Fest we were trapped at before!"

We drove across the street, and were directed behind the oval track. As we drove around, we noticed, as I had expected, that they had tried to pit everyone in what was basically their maintenance area at the back of the property, and had quickly over flowed that area. We were directed to park against the oval track fence, in the narrow concourse between the front stretch of the oval, and the return road of the drag strip.

A quick recap of the numbers look like this: Fueled the truck twice, another motel room, we arrived at Hot Rod Drag Week for registration day and have only spent 2062.50 so far.

We unloaded both cars, then started unloading the contents from both cars and the truck onto the trailer so we could sort them into separate piles of "staying with the truck", and "going on the trip". It helps to try and get that done on Sunday, when you have a little time, because things come at you pretty fast Monday morning.
Hot Rod Drag Week has hard deadlines that you have to make, so it's important to understand what they are, when they are, and what EXACTLY is required to meet them.

The first: You have to be in the tech line on Sunday by 1pm (or 2pm) as will be announced all day long. It's important to note, no part of this first deadline say's anything about actually having the car ready to tech, just have it in line!

The second: Get through tech, and get your numbers and class designation by the end of the day Sunday. This doesn't necessarily mean pass tech, just get through it. They will list the things you need to pass, and check back with you Monday.

The third: 30 minutes after the driver's meeting on
Monday, all the stuff you intend to take with you must be in the pits, and all the stuff you intend to leave has to be in impound. THIS IS IMPORTANT, this is the one you don't want to screw up!

To that end, Rachael and I decided it was time to present our respective rides in the tech line, which was actually on the 1.25 mile Gateway Motorsports Park paved oval track. That in itself provided it's own entertainment, and photo opportunities.

Rachael, and I thought John was going to follow us up to tech but when we pulled onto the oval, he was no where to be found. Later we would find out his Valiant made it about 15 feet from where he unloaded it, and promptly ran out of gas! Dad caught it with his camera as John made a hasty recovery. As it turned out we ended up with 15 cars between us entering turn 3!

Once out on the oval, it was pretty much hurry up and wait. Walking around and making conversation with your fellow Drag Weekers, while checking out the cars was thankfully enough entertainment for most of us. Rachael attacked me with a bottle of sun screen nearly as soon as we parked on the tarmac.

Tech was an all day affair.

The sun screen wasn't a bad idea. Between Tech day and Monday I was FRIED. I did way too much standing in the sun both days, but it was worth it.

As I sit here in my office, looking out the window into the cold Minnesota November, what I wouldn't give to be back in the heat on that oval track, ready to start Drag Week again...

Should have rolled out for Drag Weekend.

You are right about that! I should have, I just couldn't break away from work that week.

You and me both Joel. It's not even that bad yet. Honestly, all I can think about since Drag Week is next years Drag Week. For those that read Billy's great threads about it, but have never gone, DO IT. It really is one of the coolest things you can do Automotive. The sights, cars, and people are almost overwhelming.

Think I will take both Harley's next year........somebody else might need a "pit bike".............LOL!!!