Before this past weekend, I had only seen NHRA drag racing on TV as I was flipping past one of the ESPN channels at night. I never thought much of it. Well I do now! This past weekend I was invited to go to the NHRA Midwest finals in Madison, Illinois. It was incredible! TV doesn't do drag racing justice, sure it's nice to see who wins, but you have to be there to experience what it's like in person. Where you see them, smell them, and most definitely FEEL THEM! The sport bombards all of your senses as soon as you get to the track. I will warn you, if you have never heard a 7,000 HP! Top Fuel dragster, it will literally scare the hell out of you. There is no word to describe how loud it is. I was in the pits (more on that later) I heard one of the Top Fuel dragsters at idle, it sounded sweet! I thought to myself this is awesome…then the mechanic stabbed the throttle and let it rev up. HOLY SH**!!! I damn near jumped out of my skin, and couldn't reach my ear plugs fast enough. After that I thought ok, I can handle it. So we went and stood next to the track to watch them race. The burnout sounded a lot like when the mechanic stabbed the throttle in the pits, I was used to that. Then they launched as the starting light lit green…and it shook every inch of my body, I thought I was going to lose my breath, and my heart might stop. Like I said you feel it as much as you see it. It would be like going to a football game, and getting nailed by an angry linebacker on steroids while watching the game.

There were all sorts of classes of racing; the next step down was Funny car, which has some very popular drivers, namely John Force, and his daughter Ashley Force. That was fun to see names I knew. Those cars were almost just as loud as the Top Fuel guys. The classes went all the way down to fairly stock looking muscle cars and they even had motorcycles, which went 200 MPH in the ¼ mile. I decided those people are nuts.

The most impressive thing about the whole day was how fan friendly the entire sport is. The access was incredible; you could basically walk anywhere but on the track. Like I mentioned we were in the pits! When do you think you'll ever be allowed in the pits of a NASCAR race or a locker room of your favorite team? That would be NEVER. I got within a foot of the dragsters as the mechanics were working on them. One couple even got their picture taken right next to it, and one of the crew took the picture. We walked through the staging lanes as they were lining up to do their pass, took pictures of everything. John Force rode right by me on a motor cycle going back to the pit area. The announcer before the races even told the crowd to hang around after it was done, and meet the drivers! The NHRA truly is a fans sport, and they obviously know where there money comes from, and don't take the fans for granted, and in turn the fans all were very respectful, and let the drivers and crew do their jobs and did not get in the way.

It was a great day of racing, and fun, but most importantly it was great to see that you can still be appreciated as a fan in the world of sports today. The other sports and their stars could learn a lot from the NHRA, and its stars.

Oh and all of this was for a ticket price of $50! And it was the championship round!