...and a good time was had.

Yesterday, Kim and I went to the Checker, Shucks and Kragen Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceway and had a good time. It was a bit cool but not too bad. The track temperature was colder than usual which usually means that there's going to be some fast runs down the strip. During the Top Alcohol Funny Cars, Top Alcohol Dragsters and the Pro Stock Cars sessions, it seemed like the track record was broken each time a car went down the track. It was great to watch the cars screaming past at 200 & 300 MPH.

We got a chance to hang out at the CSK Funny Car pit for a while and we talked with Bob Wilber for a bit. Bob is the team manager and also runs the CSK Team Blog on NHRA.com.

We spent the rest of the time eating "track food" and just milling about. It's interesting to see the people that show up to the races. I'm hoping to possibly get to another race this season, maybe Vegas or Pomona?

A weekend for racing...

You may remember that I initially had planned on having this year's Burris Drags on July 19th, which is 2 days away. The reason for wanting to have it this weekend is because this is the weekend that the "real" racers come to town. The NHRA Powerade drag racing series is currently in the middle of what they call the "western swing", and Pacific Raceways in Kent, WA is the middle stop on "the swing". The "swing" starts in Denver and stops in Seattle, then next weekend they'll be in Sonoma, CA.

In 2002, Tony took me to my first NHRA drag race and it was awesome. I've always been interested in cars and racing, but had never seen drag racing in person. If you have even a passing interest in racing of any kind, you absolutely MUST attend an NHRA event at some point in your life. It's impossible to describe the power these cars generate and the feeling of the earth moving when the Nitro cars make a pass down the track. It's something you just have to experience in person.

Kim and I are heading out to the drag strip tomorrow for the first 2 qualifying sessions. We enjoy watching the racing and also cruising through the pit areas where all the teams are working on the cars, etc... During my first involuntary vacation from United Airlines, I spent a year flying a Learjet out of San Diego. One of the guys who used to fly with us a bunch was Jerry Toliver. He is the driver of the Rockstar Funny Car so sometimes we hang out in their hospitality tent and shoot the breeze. Last year it was nice to have that option as it was absolutely pouring rain the entire day. This year promises to be a perfect weekend for racing. The weather looks fantastic and it shouldn't be too hot.

REMINDER: The Burris Drags are one month away! It's time to actually stop thinking about going to the hobby store, and actually GO to the hobby store. Pick yourself up a pinewood derby car kit and drive back home and put it together. It's very easy to do and is fun as well. It doesn't need to be anything fancy, just slap the wheels on, spray some paint on it it and you've got yourself a race car. Now if you want to compete with the likes of Ainardi or Taylor, you may want to put a little more effort into it.

Now, if you're a serious racer, you can build a car for the Unlimited Class, (which is what I'm going to do), and really show what you can do.

Hope to see you all there!

Where to stay on race day...

I was asked the question, "Do you have a list of places to stay in Gig Harbor?". The answer was "no, I didn't". But I then took a few minutes and compiled a short list of local Hotels and Bed & Breakfasts in the local area and uploaded it to the Burris Drags web site.

So if you need a place to stay nearby during the event, check out this page for a few ideas.

Hello Racers-

Bill Laird here; Year after year, Scott and Kim have hosted this event with generosity and have never asked a dime in return. I don't think it's a secret that there is a lot of time, money, and effort that they have put into this wonderful event. I thought it might be a nice idea to start a little 'cash kitty' for this years' event.

Donations are OPTIONAL and certainly NOT expected- I'm taking it upon myself to help them offset the costs of the event. It is a great family tradition that Scott and Kim have worked hard to uphold.

I'm sure ANY contributions will be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!
Bill

(Just so you know, the button below will take you to a PayPal site that will allow you to donate if you so desire. The correct email address associated with the Burris Drags donations is trailmoto@gmail.com)

3 month warning

If you gaze to the upper right hand side of your computer screen you might notice a timer that is counting down the time. If so, you also might notice that it says that the races are just around the corner! We're sitting at just over 3 months to go and it really is time to start heading out to the hobby store and picking up a kit to put together for this year's event. It's not hard to do, just do it! Please email me if you have any questions!

Put a big circle around August 16th, 2008!

After the "thousands of votes" have been tallied, we have a winner in the preferred date election! August 16th will be the date of this year's Burris Drags! Please mark your calendar and start thinking about your car's design. There are a few changes this year so be sure to check out www.burrisdrags.com to see all the new stuff.

Please email or call if you have any questions.

The "Unlimited" Class gets a little less limited.

A couple evenings ago I sat down on a cold bench near the door at McMenamin's brew pub in Mill Creek with my brother and Mike Brown. It was at the last Burris Drags in August where I had seen Mike last so it was nice to be able to talk to him again. While we were eating our dinners and I was enjoying my "Rubinator" we eventually started talking about the new unlimited class for the Burris Drags.





One of the ideas that was tossed around was to actually make the unlimited class more unlimited, (or less limited if you prefer). My initial thought was to keep it as I had it but as the conversation continued and I thought more about it, I had decided internally that it needed to be done. The reason I didn't want to change it at first was that I was interested in keeping the rules as they were from last year to allow some of us to directly compete against the Taylor's super fast cars from the last 2 years. But then I came to the conclusion that in order to really see some great ideas and creativity, the unlimited class needs to be more wide open and less restricted.





So I have made an executive decision and have modified the rules of the unimited class. You now have up to 16oz (1lb) of weight to work with! This should allow for all sorts of ideas to crop up. You don't have to use 4 wheels (or any wheels for that matter) but remember that there is a "straddle strip" down the length of each lane and the timing sensors are located in that strip so if your car doesn't go down the middle it might not register a time. The wheel diameter limit has been increased to 2.5".





I hope that this might generate more ideas and get more people to participate in the unlimited class.





If anyone has any comments or ideas they want to share, please do.