I love this.

Not bad, but I think the track record for dragsters at Pacific (I still have to keep myself from calling it SIR, which is how it was known for decades) is well over 300 mph.

And yeah, the smell of nitro fuel, bleach, and burnt rubber takes me back to many childhood summers...

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That looks like a ton of fun. So envious but happy for you.

My understanding is that Fiorito needs to put on all the PR days he can - he's super unpopular not only with neighbors, who for years have complained he ignores the noise regulations willy-nilly when scheduling his races, but also with drivers, many of whom have switched their events to the Shetlon Racetrack. A vintage-clunker-racing friend of mine tells me the Shelton one was started largely as a reaction to the Fiorito bullshit treatment of ordinary drivers.

I love the whiney homeowners who bought a house near a fucking drag racing tack and then whine about the noise.

I used to live near there off 124th St and I loved hearing the dragsters off in the distance. I'm sure when this place was built it was in the middle of nowhere and 12 years ago when I loved in Kent it still kind of was, but now when I go over there I see hundreds of new cookie cutter homes slapped up all over the place...

I think those are the alcohol dragsters. The only time I went to the nationals a few years back the nitro-methane big boys made my taint vibrate for about 12 hours after the event. It was like my body was tellling me to get as far away from that noise as possible. and they do clock over 300 miles an hour. In under 4 seconds for a 1/4 mile.

Ohhhhhh Seattle needs a really good annual demolition derby!!!! If Hansen's arena will promise me that...I'm for the third arena!!!!

@6 - Sunday, Sept 2nd at Evergreen Speedway. BE THERE.

http://www.evergreenspeedway.com/schedul…

I suspect the redhead was the Mayor of Kent.

Oh, and the local Alfa Romeo club hosts track days on the road course, should you want to drive like a real race-car driver.

The reason Gregoire's run was fastest is because hers was done on fresh tires.

In competition a high-budget team will often use several new sets a day, so every launch that counts gets the best part of the tire.

I don't know whether to like or dislike this piece. I feel like the demographic that writes and consumes The Stranger is so judgmental about people who have fun in ways that they don't approve of (basically anything that a redneck does for fun). Then occasionally one will go to a gun range or car race on some sort of self-satisfied giggly ironic "adventure". Then they find out, hey, things that people do for fun: pretty darn fun! Meanwhile they are still dismissive of the whole universe of other redneck shit they have yet to try. But of all the writers at The Stranger, I think Kelly O gets a pass, she seems like she is cool enough to just like what she likes.


Hey Kelly, give autocross a shot! Cheap, fun, and you can do it in any old car. Friendly rednecks too.

Also, drunk people are so meta!

Nice, not a bad day huh?

I feel compelled to add that on Tuesdays during the summer Pac Raceway hosts cycling events. Great for beginning racers and fun to watch.

The good folks at BuDu run the races - http://www.buduracing.com

Poor Papa Vel-DuRay. He really did try to get me to enjoy both auto-racing and air shows. I spent years squinting up at the sky trying to see whatever it was we were supposed to be looking at, and watching cars speed around, but it just wasn't my thing. The same goes for golf, but at least there the clothes were tackier, and the course we went to had an amazing googie-style clubhouse.

But I'm glad you had a nice time, Kelly dear.