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NHRA Fans Love The Smell Of Nitro-Methane In The Morning

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I'm standing on a four-foot-high podium smack dab on the starting line of the zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, NC. On my right is an 11,000-horsepower Top Fuel Dragster belching nitro-methane into the air. In its cockpit sits Antron Brown, one of drag racing's biggest stars. On my left are three similar 11,000-horsepower machines. All four simultaneously are about to blast down the sticky asphalt at more than 300 mph.

DSR Racing

What am I doing there? I'm part of the NHRA's unique "Baptism By Nitro" program awarded occasionally to contest-winning race fans.

The weekend started with me driving some hot laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway's oval track nearby. The NASCAR Racing Experience offers tiered programs where aspiring racers can literally muscle stock cars around the 1.5-mile circle. It was a hoot. My certificate said 172 mph.

After lunch with Greg Walter, who runs the entire Charlotte race complex, it was over to the dragway nearby to embed with the Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) team and warm up Funny Car star Ron Capps’ machine. It's a relatively simple procedure where the pit crew irons out any mechanical issues and tunes the car to weather conditions.

DSR Racing

As I worked the clutch, brake and fuel pump for three to four minutes, the machine guzzled several gallons of combustible nitro-methane fuel. The noise, acrid smell and vibrations were enough to challenge my senses, despite earplugs and a gas mask. Capps was patient with me as the fans watched. I was worried I'd blow up the 11,000-horsepower engine - Capps was just smiling.

DSR Racing

I also got the chance to sit in Tony Schumacher’s Dragster, with the engine off. When the canopy was put down over me, the feeling was claustrophobic but peaceful.

Allison McCormick

Next up were meetings in the pit area with Don Schumacher and DSR's array of seven drivers. In Funny Car, that's Capps, Matt Hagan, Tommy Johnson Jr. and Jack Beckman. In top-fuel dragsters, it’s Brown, Leah Pritchett and Tony Schumacher. All were articulate and pleasant.

Johnson and Beckman drive special cars. Instead of traditional corporate sponsorship, they represent charities - Johnson the Make-A-Wish Foundation car, and Beckman the Infinite Hero Foundation car. Both are funded through the estate of the late philanthropist and drag-racing enthusiast, Terry Chandler, for the next three years.

Between the driver meetings are visits back and forth to the track for qualification, elimination and quarterfinal heats. DSR managed to put five of its cars into the semifinals.

If you are not a fan of drag racing, the goal of drivers once the green light on the "tree" flashes is to get their cars down 1,000 feet of straight track faster than the cars in the lanes next to them. The fastest times eclipse 330 mph and last less than four seconds. Drivers pull around 6 G’s (one G is equivalent to your body weight), then about the same in negative G’s when the parachutes come out of the back to slow the cars. Sometimes the machines blow up or crash, and there is a delay while the track is cleaned up.

The NHRA differs from IndyCar, NASCAR and Formula One in that it contains women and African Americans competing at the highest levels - and winning. The Force sisters Ashley, Courtney and Brittany, and Leah Pritchett are good examples of top female drivers. Brown is African American.

As opposed many other racing series, the NHRA also allows fans into the pit area. Many are children (those under 13 get in free) and some are disabled. All are friendly. The series truly is an all-access affair.

Allison McCormick

Now back to the beginning of the story and my Baptism By Nitro experience. The power of a four-abreast top-fuel drag-race launch is difficult to explain. Despite the noise-canceling headphones on my head, my hat got blown off by the intense wind created. A wall of sound rippled through my chest. The nitro-methane and burning rubber filled my nostrils and burned my eyes. It‘s a controlled explosion of 44,000 horses galloping at one time, the equivalent of more than the total horsepower of a NASCAR starting field of 43 cars.

In short, the experience was way more sensory overload than I had expected. Would I do it again? Absolutely. Bring it on DSR and NHRA!

More: An Interview With The Great Don Schumacher

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