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Since its politically correct to use derogatory terms on your own kind, my fellow rednecks should not take offense. I am a full 25% redneck and have the geneology to prove it. I come from a long line…Ooops, back on topic.

As I was surfing SPEED & ESPN(all of ‘em) this afternoon whilst on kid-duty, hoping for even Arenacross, I came across a sport that gets categorized under “The Things That Make You Go Hmmmmm…” This (to me) was right up there with the tractor (lawn-mowers fellas, not 18-wheelers as I had assumed upon discovery) racing on an actual dirt course. Anyway, its sand drag racing. Now I’m not talking about you and your buddy messing around at Glamis. This was a full-blown event sponsored by Lucas Oil on a hard-packed sand drag-strip. They even have an organization called American Sand Drag Association

Ugh. I saw this. I also saw Top Fuel looking dragsters with knobbies like earth-movers. Admittedly, the roost they threw was killer. Maybe this was the reason I saw no fans / bleachers. Seriously, I looked for them. You can see some in the pic, but overall it was an excellent opportunity to people watch wasted. This was like a car accident with multiple deaths right there as you drive by - you know you should just move on, but you have to keep watching.

I have to give a golf clap to the drivers though as the vehicles were getting all out of shape and a lot of steering correction was necessary for each run. The strangest part was the length of the strip. To me (the viewer), it looked like it was only 200 ft. (that’s about 61m for the international crowd). No kidding. It was so short that the camera shot looked like they clipped every race…but they didn’t. The fast guys were around 2.5 seconds. Count that out: a-thousand-one, a-thousand-two, a thous DONE! Hit the brakes! It seemed that it was a test of reaction time. Whoever got the holeshot, won the race. I have seen the NHRA (doh!) where in a 1/4 mile there is a little room for recovery, but not here.

I wasn’t around long enough to see what the winning purse was, but I’d like to know out of curiosity. Why? Cuz my Caponord has semi-knobbies, and if the payout is good I can take off the Top Box and hook my feet back there for better aerodynamics. Oh yeah, I’ll be a contender.