With the 2016 NHRA season in the books, and the 2017 season about to get underway, there is just one question...who will be the front runners to start the season off “undefeated” with a win at Winternationals? For those who may be new to the sport, a second question you may be asking is “what the heck is NHRA?” NHRA stands for National Hot Rod Association. Without frying your brain with too many specifics (I'll save the brain frying for another article) the basic concept is to make it from the start line to the finish line 1) as fast as possible, and 2) faster than your opponent in the lane next to you. If you're thinking, “hey, that sounds a lot like drag racing”, that's because it is! But there's much, MUCH more to it than that. We are talking about cars (more like missiles) with 10,000 horsepower engines burning around 15 gallons of nitromethane fuel in just 1000 ft. Imagine trying to get groceries with your car averaging just over 65 ft/gallon. All that fuel for a race that, for Top Fuel Dragsters, lasts only 3.80 seconds while reaching a speed of around 325 mph!
Image by dragzine.com
The mechanical engineering, precise tolerances, and sheer force and power behind every vehicle in every racing class is truly remarkable. The season kicks off each year with the Winternationals in Pamona, CA. For 2017, Winternationals race day will be televised on Sunday February 9th. We will see if the teams of the 2016 champs, Antron Brown for Top Fuel, Ron Capps for Funny Car, and Jason Line for Pro Stock, have done enough during the off season to start this year off with a win.
