Blink of an Eye

That's about how fast the drag races last at Pittsburgh Raceway Park. M and I found ourselves there on Sunday morning, courtesy of M's dad, who gave us some tickets to the Pittsburgh Thunder Nationals. The storm clouds were gathering as we drove out there, but the rain held off for the morning. RVs and trailers were scattered across the Park, and shortly after we arrived, cars started lining up for the elimination rounds. Each race starts with the dramatic "burnout", where each car revs its engines and lays down some rubber. Then they both back up to the starting line, and wait for the light to turn green (known as a "Christmas tree" in the biz). I really wish I had read this wikipedia article before I went on Sunday, because I would have understood the specifics of the different races. Nonetheless, I was able to appreciate the awe-inspiring mechanical feats achieved by these drivers and their teams. There is nothing like seeing two cars barrel down a straight-away at 170 mph. We didn't take the big video camera, but did manage to capture the essence of this event with the regular camera, which has some small video recording abilities.