It was a cool summer afternoon and our plans were to spend the day at the Racetrack. The bill included Funny Cars, Top Fuel Dragsters and Motorcycles. It turned out to be an awesome day filled with noise, smoke and speed. At the time it was $3.00 to get in the gate and if my memory is correct, you could splurge another $2.00 dollars and have access to the pit area. The bleachers weren't very crowded so we sat on the row nearest the track. I don't remember if there was a fence separating us from the racing but either way I do remember it was a sensory-overload type experience. As night fell the visuals became even more stark. Cars racing into the darkness, flames and smoke illustrating the speed and danger, and the Rocky mountains absorbing the roar of the engines before releasing it back into the valley at an even louder volume. I do remember watching a funny car explode at the starting line and the burst of heat that quickly became uncomfortable, even from the safe distance of the stands. The green light and the emerging parachutes on the race cars seemed to be separated by the blink of an eye, and the excitement of watching these mechanical duels never got old.
My parents took us to a dirt track race when we were younger and I also vaguely remember watching time trials at Daytona Speedway but nothing comes close to the experience of watching Top Fuel dragsters go from 0 - 225+ MPH in a quarter of a mile. I also remember one of the coolest cars racing that day was Don Prudhomme (The Snake). I had raced my yellow "Snake" Plymouth "Cuda Hot Wheel car in thousands of pretend drag races against his arch nemesis Tom McEwen, (The Mongoose), who drove the red Plymouth Duster. (Check out this classic showdown of the two racers in 1979) Seeing him race in person was an incredible thrill.
Anyway, what prompted this blog was seeing in the news that the Rocky Mountain Racetrack was closing after 54 years of racing. The Bonneville Raceway had sold the track to a local Automotive Club who promptly remodeled and updated the facility to a state-of-the-art race track and had been racing up until September of last year. So, if you get a chance to see a drag race with these now 325+ mph Funny Cars and Top Fuel Dragsters I highly recommend it. You just might want to sit a little further away from the fence . . .
