Man, I Love Me Some Drag Racing.

For real.  I love drag racing. I know it's simplistic, primal, and perhaps a bit stupid.  "Real racers turn, too!"  Yeah, I know.  Still, it's one of those sports that's not hard to get into.  You don't have to have a long attention span.  If you don't like the car on the tree, it's gonna be done racing in a few seconds.  And something else is coming up behind it.  Hell, it's a sport that not only condones but encourages burnouts, which is the automotive equivalent of a testosterone storm.

So there's not really "news" to report from a local drag strip.  But it's loud, smells great, tons of fun to watch or participate in, and talk about.  Plus, I just picked up a new camera a week ago, and I'm trying to get better at taking pictures above a 10th-grade level.  Bear with me.

Well when it's this awesome, I do too.

Anyway, I'm not going to pretend there's anything really newsworthy in here.  Just posting some of the better pictures I took and the cooler cars I saw, hope you enjoy it.  This '72 Dart 340 was mirror-perfect, sounded like God playing a trumpet, and fast as hell.  I approve mightily.

Novas will never go out of style in the drag racing community.  And flat black won't either.  So this one's a safe bet, for sure.  Also love the classic Corvette drag car.

No matter what the fashion industry tells you, black is the new black.  Always will be.

You know, if GM never intended to sell the S10 Blazer with a 350ci Corvette engine, I'm not sure why they made it so easy to fit one under the hood.

One of the cool things about DSLR cameras is how fast the shutters are.  I mean, a normal camera can't really capture the sidewall of a drag slick wrinkling up as a car shoots off the line.  Very cool stuff.

I shot a series of pictures (3.4fps maximum on my camera) as this one took off the line, and was lucky to snap him burning some rubber midway through first gear when he was on the gas too hard.  This stuff is just gorgeous.

This is too funny not to post.  This is my friend Teddy's Malibu LTZ V6.  Not the usual car you'd see running down the dragstrip on any given Sunday, but with a custom tune and exhaust work he's been running 14.8 second quarter miles.  Not that fast, but it's really funny to see a V6 Chevy family sedan running down Civic Si's and RSX Type S's with their wings and huge mufflers at the drag strip.  Family sedan pride!

Spotted on the back of a Lancer Evo 8.  Always with the petty rivalries!  Can't we just get along?

Mine does too, man!  My friend Andrew has this same sticker on the back of his 5G Prelude, makes me laugh every time.  This is on the back of an EG-chassis Civic hatch.

The business end of a Chrysler Crossfire SRT-6 Roadster, which is one of less than 1,000 produced worldwide (LHD and RHD.)  This one was low-mileage, bone stock, and in the low 13's thanks to an AMG-sourced 330bhp supercharged V6.  The owner was shocked I knew what it was.  I think few people do.

One seriously low, seriously stanced-out 1st generation Lexus IS300 show car.  I mean this car was gorgeous.  Not the type of car you see going down the dragstrip.  Or, err...

Maybe you do.

Dude, I think you can let off the gas now.

Or it's cool, you can just burn rubber halfway down the track and get smoked by a Mk2 GTI.  I'm only kidding; both of these guys (Lexus and GTI) were just running down the track for fun.  the IS300 had 4 people in it, was mostly stock underhood, and has no traction.  It was quite a spectacle!  Of course not everyone was slow getting off the line.

B5-chassis Audi S4 with basic performance upgrades, most likely slamming into the rear-suspension bump stops as he smokes the Dodge SRT-4 in the other lane.  I love watching turbo AWD cars launch.

When you've got a monstrously boosted B-series twin-cam VTEC motor in your 1,600-odd pound CRX drag car, you need a lot of rubber to hook up off the line.

I may not think much of the Challenger compared to the Camaro or Mustang, but they sure are good looking, especially in "Plum Crazy" purple.

Another turbo/AWD launch, this time a 2.0L WRX.  They sound like turbocharged tractors, but he did smoke the Infiniti G35 Coupe in the other lane.

Another gratuitous burnout picture.  You can never have too many, right?  By the way, for reference the black RSX in the far lane had a hybrid K-series under the hood: K24 block, K20A2 head, 13.0:1 pistons, around 250whp and 190wtq all motor - no nitrous, no boost, just 12's in the quarter and 9,000+ rpm with a full interior.  And Honda loyalists said nothing could replace the B-series; OK.

You can't call it a car show with only 4 cars, but they sure looked good.  Not in frame: Scion xB on pink wheels.

Another friend's drag-car project.  This Civic VX originally sported a D-series with no power, but for now it's got an Integra LS engine (B18 non-vtec, 145bhp) and some drag slicks.  Soon to be powered by a B20/VTEC combo (that's a CR-V 2.0L block, and a B16A or B18C VTEC head).

I'll finish off my post with this.  "I <3 My Honda" in the shape of an EF hatch - on the back of an EF hatch.  The point is, no matter what you drive, if you love it you're part of the crowd.  Hope everyone enjoyed the pictorial drag-strip run through.  If you want super high-res versions of any of these photos (they're all resized to 1600x), shoot me an email - I'd be happy to hook you up.  And if you've got any comments on the photography, I'm all ears - it's something I'm still learning.