Finally We've come Back to Seattle day 3 (Race Day)

Well after an interesting night in the bar and even more interesting one in the hotel being well sick I guess you could call it I am really hungover this morning. And it is raining hard outside and the forecast looks grim and we are late getting out of bed. But we are die hard hard core race fans and part time "weather man" during race weekends and my expertise tells me the clouds are light and high in the sky and could clear and racing will resume..........hopefully. So off to the track and when we get there looks like alot of people decide to stay home as getting into the track was a breeze. whne we got to our seats we see that the track is almost dry as the Safety safari has been working all morning to clear the track. They also adjusted the schedule for pro teams with a 65 minute turn around time to get back to the staging lanes for the next round. And the sportsman categories keep getting pushed back. So a little delay before some the track is ready so we wander through the pits to watch the teams get ready and inhale some Nitro fumes. I am never really at home unless I'm at the track so this little haze in the picture of Nitro Methane fumes is a bit of heaven to me! Unless you've ever experienced it you never know what its really like. Nitro fumes will make the biggest and strongest men "cry like a baby!" (quote from Friday night's action in the bar). And plus the hair that stands up on your head when they "burp" the throttle during warmups. I tell you I love the Smell of Nitro in the morning!


11:45 am Race time!
We got wicked seats behind the starting line and awesome vantage point for taking some more pics. Check out Kenny Bernstein's new Monster Energy drink Funny Car ride.


















What a show the opening rounds were Tony Shumacher sets both ends of the track record and the Pro Stockers are flying at over 205 mph!












In round two of Funny car eliminations Kenny Bernstein is up against Ashley Force. The race is on until Ashley lost control of her car as it turned sideways and she pedaled it and it straight into the wall exploding in a fireball and turning her car out towards the center of the track again where it came to rest. her body was flung open but did not come off the chasis as the car spun around on it at the point where the body was still attached.
These pics are from the accident and the last one is from the Seattle Times front page of the sports.
















It was pretty scary to watch but she got out OK with just a sprained thumb. Her dad John had just run his race and came back up the track to his daughter's aid to see if she was OK.

The Funny Car final had John Force against Jack Eckman after rain delays and when it finally got under way John had his share of problems as well. John's car blew up near the end of the track and caught on fire in a losing effort to Eckman but he still made a big jump in the points.

The winners were after a long frustrating weekend of rain delays and a missed day of qaulifying ( which we get back next year) were:
Top Fuel Dragster----Tony Shumacher
Funny Car--------------Jack eckman
Pro Stock--------------Dave Connolly
We are planning a trip to Pomona maybe this fall to watch the last race of the Season and I can't wait. you Know it won't rain there hopefully. I feel sorry for the people in our hotel who didn't make it to Sunday's race cause they were afraid of the rain! Fans are like racers.never give up, plus I paid for Sunday's race so I was going.glad I did!
Here are some more pics: