Each year around the latter part of January and into mid-February, racers and race fans of every genre all across the nation begin to develop a little extra hop in their steps. And that isn’t just because the snow that simultaneously inhabited every state but Hawaii last February and covered 41 percent of the United States at one point this February finally began to recede for good. No, it was because in the few tropical environments where racing could take place, racing was taking place; signaling the beginning to a new racing season that seemed as though it would never arrive. Which after several grueling months of bone chilling temperatures, snow, ice, and the hibernation of the sun, feels like more like a complete rebirth than just a changing of the season.
NHRA preseason testing historically kicks off before the calendar turns to February, and the IHRA’s Nitro Jam tour has been well underway by that point the last couple of seasons, as well. But around this time of year, the only racing you’re really going to see or hear much about involves left and right turns. And as gearheads at heart craving anything that involves a combustion engine in any way, shape or form, we’re on it like stink on poop.
Possessing ample knowledge of the ins and outs, the stories and the characters of NASCAR, I still don’t consider myself a fan of the three-ring circus act they’ve got going on down in Charlotte. But every winter, like clockwork, I find myself enamored by Daytona 500 coverage on television. If there’s a tire test or a practice session being televised – which is less exciting than paint drying any other time of the year – I’m tuned in. And then I browse some of the popular drag racing forums and find that I’m not alone. We’re all just clamoring for some racing at any cost after a winter that felt as though it began years ago.
First, there’s the Barrett Jackson Classic Car Auction, which has nothing to do with drag racing other than the presence of Joe Amato, Darrell Gwynn, and Linda Vaughn. And then there’s the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona – which I’m a big fan and WILL find a way to attend one of these days – followed by all of the NASCAR festivities. And then it’s over and we all denounce that we ever watched any of it until next year.
Those lucky enough to reside in regions that have racing opportunities year-round don’t realize just how good they’ve got it.
A couple of years back, I had the opportunity in late-February to travel down to Orlando for a couple of weeks to shoot what would be the final Fun Ford Weekend/Battle of the Brands race and the NHRA Division 2 meet at Orlando Speed World. I got on a plane frozen to the core and headed up into the ever-present gloomy sky and landed in the sunshine and 80 degree weather. And there was racing. And women in bikinis. And I felt like a fish out of water. After enduring then-25 years of cold weather until sometime in April, it was as if my own internal clock was buzzing to inform me that tolerable temperatures and racing were still two months away, but through some ‘Back To The Future” time continuum occurrence, I had altered the process. Elsewhere in the country they’re shoveling their way out to shop, and I’m getting sunburnt. This I could get used to, I thought.
Trevor Bayne has won the Daytona 500, the Winternationals are in the books with Gainesville approaching, our jaws have met the desk thanks to David Wolfe and Kevin Fiscus, and the Division 2 Lucas Oil Series is halfway through it’s season; say what?! Here in the midwest, some tracks are a couple weeks out from opening the gates and those in the northeast and elsewhere will be soon to follow. And before you know it, we’ll be complaining that it’s too hot to go racing. And we’ll wish it were cold. And then it’ll be cold and we’ll wish it were hot. Discontented creatures, we are.