Making my way onto the track I took a detour and came in from a different direction, as I got closer to the track I was surprised to see 8 to 10 school buses in the parking lot. Being somewhat sure it was Friday and therefore a school day I began to wonder what was up?
As I exited my truck I was able to confirm that Royal Purple raceway had been overrun by young people. It seems that a few of the school districts had sent their automotive vocational classes on a field trip. First off, WTH! I never got asked if I wanted to go spend the day at the racetrack, which may have something to do with me not being in that class? And a second thing, cool!
They were everywhere watching the races, in the pits checking out the cars and bikes. I imagine it was difficult at times for the crews to get a lot of work done with all the questions, but they all seemed to handle it very well. However as the morning progressed I started to notice a kid here and there wandering around with tires? Had some of these youths taken up a life of crime and then there were more kids with tires! Pretty soon I discovered the culprits, as it seemed that the Goodyear folks were giving up the old tires when drivers had them changed. Some teams also turned over used tires.
I can only picture what these buses must have looked like as they loaded up to make their way back to class, as many of these kids’ tire of choice was of course a rear slick! Sometime after lunch this swarm of Tire Locusts departed, with a few knowing what career path they were going to pursue!
Add to all the confusion with the students was inclement Houston area weather. Rain smacked the track for days prior to the races. This meant track officials had fewer areas for all the teams to park! Gone were the grouping of classes. It was a first come, first served sort of event. While they did try and keep them grouped, as best they could, I am still not sure how many Top Fuel bikes were actually there? My best count is 16, plus one, as a rider was completing his required passes for his license.
As I made my way around it was good to see familiar faces and teams from last year’s event. I also found Janette Thornley, whom I had come across on Faceplace and then saw her mentioned as well on Bikernet, very nice person. I met several new TF teams as well, with a number of them coming from north of the border, no not Oklahoma, but Canada! Then I stumbled across something I had never seen before, a see-thru trailer, it was cool! The owner told me he leaves the interior lights on at night when he travels, catches people off guard.
With rain a 100 percent certainty on Sunday, the NHRA moved up eliminations to Saturday afternoon and even this plan had its issues with several hour-long rain delays. Finally on Saturday evening about 9:30 when Super Street was just beginning to line up for final round it began to pour down again! The race was finally called and all the finals were moved to different upcoming events.
Tommy Grimes took home the Top Fuel Harley Wally the following weekend at Virginia Motorsports Park running a 6.368, 233.64 and Johnny Vickers grabbed the Pro Fuel Wally with a 7.269, 180.91.
Even though we lost a day it was still a great weekend of racing!
Till Next Time,
–RFR
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