This wasn’t my first time seeing jet-powered drag racing, but the first since this blog started, so I feel compelled to share. High-end drag racing (jet, top-fuel) is a spectacle I think everyone should witness. It has the veneer of a competitive sport, but most people don’t really care who wins. It’s the violent, brutal, temper-tantrum throwing little brother of the bigger racing sports like F1 (the refined elder sibling), Rally (the insane middle child) and NASCAR (the challenged stepchild), and it needs to be seen in person, no television or movie screen or stereo system can do it justice.
New England Dragway in Epping, NH has a few jet events per year, my preference being “Jet Cars Under the Stars” because as my pictures hopefully show, the jets are much more entertaining in the dark. This years event was marred by poor weather, and a poorly managed delay, but at about 9:30pm, the festivities began. I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking here, and you can see more of them here.