So, diesel drag racing has become on e of my favorite pastimes over recent years. I started getting into it pretty seriously a few months before I landed this job at Diesel Tech. After competing and racing at the weekend on the edge three summers back, I was hooked. I started doing anything and everything possible to my truck to pick up a few tenths at the track.
Now that I'm in this position with the magazine, I have the opportunity to attend even more events, wether big national diesel events or just little hometwon Dyno, sled pull and racing get togethers. As a diehard Diesel jumky with a pretty strong competitive nature, it kills me to be just another spectator watching all these guys lined up at the staging tree for another quick pass at the trac. My right foot gets twitch and I find it really hard fighting back the desire to be sitting there on the line, spooling up my truck's charger for another 13 seconds of pure hardcore adrenaline rush.
With that being said, I'd like to know something. Why is it that at all these big events I run around the nation to cover I see so many diesel trucks parked in the parking lots? I'd bet there are twice as many diesel pickups in the lot of the drag strip and sled pullk track than there are competing in the event. So what's the deal? All these guys show up to watch, but won't compete? It's awesome that all these people show up and attend the event, but it would be even better if they'd buck up and enter to be part of it.
Women worry about breaking a bail. Are these guys worried about breaking a truck? Or are they afriad they might get beat? I don't know what's holding them back, but I can almost guarantee that if you sign up to compete just once, you'll enjoy it. The thrill and the rush of running down that track is simply awesome. For me personally, there aren't many things in life that get my blood pumpling like a good old-fashioned drag race will.
Maybe these guys are afraid they aren't fast enough or that their trucks don't have enough mods done to them? If that's the case, it's a terrible excuse. I bought a 1999 Ford F250 last summer with 222,000 miles on it and completely bone stock. Two weeks after the purchase I was driving it down the track competing in the first DHRA Utah Nationals. I was the slowest truck to compete that day. I think my best pass was a 17.80 at 77 MPH. Pretty slow, I'll agree, but I had a blast and through the beauty of E/T bracket racing, my truck running that slow didn't matter. I made it clear down to the quarter finals and ended up taking sixth out of more than 30 trucks.
So it doesn't matter how fast you are or how much money you've spent on your truck modding it. If you've got enough interest in diesel motor sports to attend a drag race or sled pull, quit worrying about breaking a nail; get out there and compete.