NHRA

So this post has been a while coming. Last Feburary (Feb 09) I was lucky enough to be invited to the NHRA National event at Firebird Raceway by SuperComp Dragster driver Roy Stickler and his wife Kerry. It was amazing, the first dragster I've been to, where had it been all my life? The loud roaring engines, grease, gasoline, alcohol, top that off with an RV stocked full of soda and smoked meats and what could be better?

These first could shots are of Roy heading down the track in a qualifying run in the gray car:
Vroom :-D!
Back in the pits I snuck into the car for a quick shot. It was a pretty tight squeeze figuring out how to get situated into the car, but sweet.
Here's Roy and the car he was racing. Those are wicked headers, pretty fun when they belch some flames!
And here are Roy and Kerry, I had to fight to get this shot ;-). Anyway, I got to help out and be the light/wrench boy while Roy adjusted things on the car.
At the time Roy was racing his uncle's car while his was waiting for repairs.

Jump forward 8 months or so and Roy is taking his freshly repaired car out for its return to racing, mostly just getting things dialed in and reacquainted with it. Note the sweet graphics. This is a Tom Yancer frame that I got to have a good look at while helping (watching) Roy paint.
Here he is getting ready to go. That's me in the picture, holding a bottle of alcohol to get the engine going. During this race it was running a fuel injection setup on it that wasn't getting enough fuel to get the engine going, but has since been replaced with a carb'd setup. And it's awesome, I've been drooling over that engine in his garage for some time and it was super cool to see it set up and going.
Here is Roy and I with his car. We're sporting National Guard shirts from a prior season when his family was sponsoring a race team for them, but now sponsoring Army Say Thank You. That's right, it usually works the other way around with the team getting sponsors, but what can I say, his family loves racing and loves the armed forces and so are doing it the other way around. I'm sure some room could be found if someone wanted to help out though :-D. Anyway, the wrap on the car looks amazing and gets lots of comments and pictures. If you spot it be sure to stop by and say hi, Kerry and Roy are always happy to show it off and talk about it. Update: Apparently the Army Say Thank You is no longer active, want to sponsor?


I now consider myself completely spoiled. I get to hang out with good friends, sweet cars, lots of noise and get dirty, how do I top that?

Roy and Kerry are due with their first son so Roy is going to miss the February event as Kerry is due right around that time. Should be back soon for some more awesome racing!