Las Vegas, NV- Good Morning from ‘The Strip’ at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It is Saturday morning and today is an absolutely beautiful day. I have a very busy day in store as Tim has arranged for me to make my first run down a National Hot Rod Association drag strip in one of the fastest cars on the planet. I will be riding with Tim’s long time friend, Fast Jack Beckman.
Jack is the driver of a car called a Funny Car. They called them Funny Cars back in the late 1960’s because the bodies of the cars stretched out longer than the wheels of the cars. The cars were fixed to look normal, but the name was cool- so they kept calling them Funny Cars. These cars will accelerate from a standing start to over 300 miles per hour in less than 4.10 seconds. The engine in one of these cars has more engine horse power than 400 mini-vans, 250 police cars and eight NASCAR race cars. It should be a fun ride!
Before the ride of a lifetime (I am only about two weeks old) Tim is going to take me to his work. While at this race, Tim is working as a news reporter. His job is to report on the stories happening here at the racetrack and write reports for a drag racing web-magazine called competitionplus.com. Tim has been coming to these drag races since he was a four-year-old boy. He has worked on these race cars, driven these race cars and even been a member of the track safety team, called the NHRA Safety Safari. This is the first time Tim is reporting and writing stories. He is very excited.
We are getting ready to head down and see Fast Jack in a place they call- the pits. The pit area is a place where fans can actually watch the race car teams work on the cars and actually meet the drivers. We walked up to the Valvoline/ Mail Terminal Services Don Schumacher Racing pit area and there was Jack.
“Fast Jack”, as they call him is a really nice man. He is married to a very nice lady named Jenna and they have a two-year-old son named Jason. We also met his crew chief, Johnny West and the rest of his team. They work very hard making sure this car is safe for Jack to race. Now…..it’s Magic time! TIME TO GO RACING!
Jack decided the best and safest place for me to ride with him was inside his three-layer fire suit. The fire suit is used by the drivers to make sure they stay protected in case the cars engine breaks. Jack put me in his fire suit and the crew strapped us into his 8,000 horsepower race car using six seat belts.
When they started the car, I felt like I was in an earthquake. The car was rattling and shaking, it was louder than anything I had ever heard. We rolled forward about ten feet and drove through a puddle of water, ready to do something called a ‘burnout’. Jack eased his foot on the accelerator pedal and the tires started to spin, creating friction between the tires and race track, heating up tires until they started smoking. It was AWESOME!
As we stopped about 300 feet down the race track and prepared to back up to the starting line, I noticed the thousands of race fans sitting in the grandstands, though the little windows on the side of Jack’s Dodge Charger Funny Car. These fans really love drag racing and everybody was watching Jack and me!
We backed up the Valvoline sponsored race car to the starting-line. There was a crew member in front of the car and one behind, who made sure Jack was in the exact center of the race track. Once we stopped, a crew member lifted up the body of the Funny Car as the crew checked the engine, making sure the car was safe to head down the 1000 foot track. Once crew chief Johnny West looked at Jack and gave him the thumbs up, we approached the starting line.
Jack slowly guided his race car to the starting lines staging beams. He lit the first stage bulb with his front tires. He then pulled on the hand brake, took his foot off the foot clutch pedal, pulled another fuel pump on and rolled six inches forward until the second stage bulb was lit. Four tenths of a second later Jack slammed his foot on the accelerator pedal and I was instantly slammed back at a 4 times my body weight. I now weighed 8 ounces, and not the standard 2 ounces the mail man said I weighed. They call this G-Force!
We accelerated from 0 to 100 mph in less than a second. The car rattled shook and shimmied all the way down the 1000 foot race track until we reached the finish-line. In what seemed like a life time, we finally crossed the finish line 4.20 seconds after we left the starting line at over 302 miles per hour!
I WAS NOW, THE ARTIST KNOWN AS FAST STANLEY!…but… the ride was not quite over yet.
Once Jack reached the finish line, he pulled the parachute lever and we now lunged forward at 4 times our body weight. Since I was sitting on Jack’s lap, I felt his 200 pound body pushing me against the six Impact Racing seat belts. We slowed down from 300 miles per hour down to 170 in less than a second. When the car slowed down a little more, Jack pulled on the brake and we stopped in the shut down area. The cameras from ESPN 2 were waiting for us and Jack told them all about our run.
About 15 min’s later, Tim met us back at Jack’s pit. I didn’t want to leave. I had experienced what less than 1 percent of the population of the state of Michigan has ever experienced. I RODE IN A TOP FUEL FUNNY CAR! I went 302 miles per hour in less than 4.2 seconds. IT WAS AN AMAZING RIDE…AND I WANT MORE! Maybe Tim can set me up for some more fun tomorrow?
- FAST STANLEY…. OUT…for now!
Photo courtesy of Roger Richards at CompetitionPlus.com
Jack is the driver of a car called a Funny Car. They called them Funny Cars back in the late 1960’s because the bodies of the cars stretched out longer than the wheels of the cars. The cars were fixed to look normal, but the name was cool- so they kept calling them Funny Cars. These cars will accelerate from a standing start to over 300 miles per hour in less than 4.10 seconds. The engine in one of these cars has more engine horse power than 400 mini-vans, 250 police cars and eight NASCAR race cars. It should be a fun ride!
Before the ride of a lifetime (I am only about two weeks old) Tim is going to take me to his work. While at this race, Tim is working as a news reporter. His job is to report on the stories happening here at the racetrack and write reports for a drag racing web-magazine called competitionplus.com. Tim has been coming to these drag races since he was a four-year-old boy. He has worked on these race cars, driven these race cars and even been a member of the track safety team, called the NHRA Safety Safari. This is the first time Tim is reporting and writing stories. He is very excited.
We are getting ready to head down and see Fast Jack in a place they call- the pits. The pit area is a place where fans can actually watch the race car teams work on the cars and actually meet the drivers. We walked up to the Valvoline/ Mail Terminal Services Don Schumacher Racing pit area and there was Jack.
“Fast Jack”, as they call him is a really nice man. He is married to a very nice lady named Jenna and they have a two-year-old son named Jason. We also met his crew chief, Johnny West and the rest of his team. They work very hard making sure this car is safe for Jack to race. Now…..it’s Magic time! TIME TO GO RACING!
Jack decided the best and safest place for me to ride with him was inside his three-layer fire suit. The fire suit is used by the drivers to make sure they stay protected in case the cars engine breaks. Jack put me in his fire suit and the crew strapped us into his 8,000 horsepower race car using six seat belts.
When they started the car, I felt like I was in an earthquake. The car was rattling and shaking, it was louder than anything I had ever heard. We rolled forward about ten feet and drove through a puddle of water, ready to do something called a ‘burnout’. Jack eased his foot on the accelerator pedal and the tires started to spin, creating friction between the tires and race track, heating up tires until they started smoking. It was AWESOME!
As we stopped about 300 feet down the race track and prepared to back up to the starting line, I noticed the thousands of race fans sitting in the grandstands, though the little windows on the side of Jack’s Dodge Charger Funny Car. These fans really love drag racing and everybody was watching Jack and me!
We backed up the Valvoline sponsored race car to the starting-line. There was a crew member in front of the car and one behind, who made sure Jack was in the exact center of the race track. Once we stopped, a crew member lifted up the body of the Funny Car as the crew checked the engine, making sure the car was safe to head down the 1000 foot track. Once crew chief Johnny West looked at Jack and gave him the thumbs up, we approached the starting line.
Jack slowly guided his race car to the starting lines staging beams. He lit the first stage bulb with his front tires. He then pulled on the hand brake, took his foot off the foot clutch pedal, pulled another fuel pump on and rolled six inches forward until the second stage bulb was lit. Four tenths of a second later Jack slammed his foot on the accelerator pedal and I was instantly slammed back at a 4 times my body weight. I now weighed 8 ounces, and not the standard 2 ounces the mail man said I weighed. They call this G-Force!
We accelerated from 0 to 100 mph in less than a second. The car rattled shook and shimmied all the way down the 1000 foot race track until we reached the finish-line. In what seemed like a life time, we finally crossed the finish line 4.20 seconds after we left the starting line at over 302 miles per hour!
I WAS NOW, THE ARTIST KNOWN AS FAST STANLEY!…but… the ride was not quite over yet.
Once Jack reached the finish line, he pulled the parachute lever and we now lunged forward at 4 times our body weight. Since I was sitting on Jack’s lap, I felt his 200 pound body pushing me against the six Impact Racing seat belts. We slowed down from 300 miles per hour down to 170 in less than a second. When the car slowed down a little more, Jack pulled on the brake and we stopped in the shut down area. The cameras from ESPN 2 were waiting for us and Jack told them all about our run.
About 15 min’s later, Tim met us back at Jack’s pit. I didn’t want to leave. I had experienced what less than 1 percent of the population of the state of Michigan has ever experienced. I RODE IN A TOP FUEL FUNNY CAR! I went 302 miles per hour in less than 4.2 seconds. IT WAS AN AMAZING RIDE…AND I WANT MORE! Maybe Tim can set me up for some more fun tomorrow?
- FAST STANLEY…. OUT…for now!
Photo courtesy of Roger Richards at CompetitionPlus.com
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