2010 Northwest Nationals Seattle Wa.
So here we were again at our home away from home in Seattle at Pacific Raceways where the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing series is running the Northwest Nationals. This is the greatest thing since sliced bread watching 300+ top fuel cars race down a track with 8000+ horsepower each!.
We flew in Friday morning got our rental car, checked into the hotel and then off to the track (with a quick pit stop at am pm mini mart to grab some beer for the cooler for the after race festivities in the parking lot!) and we were there by noon. Just in time to for Top Fuel qualifying. There is a certai
n sound top fuel cars make and i tis music to my ears to hear 8000 horsepower fire up and take on a hot greasy track. we watched the days events and wandered around , bought some t-shirts and then headed off to the car at the end of the day. Back to hotel for a well needed rest. Oh well first we have to go to dinner at out favorite watering hole in the area.
Saturday morning comes quickly and yea maybe were a little older and been doing this for 12 years so getting out of bed is harder early in the morning, or maybe it was the hangover from the awesome drinks they pour at the neighborhood pub. But for whatever reason the plan was to be at the track before 9:00 am, but my wife moves slower than me in the morning so the more I pushed the later she was., hahah. I wonder if she was doing it on purpose, nahhhhhh. Anyway when we get to the track we got shoved way in the back of the parking lot and was a hell of a walk to the track. we ended up catching a ride with somoene with a golf cart to the car after the day was over. All in all the day was good and hot as it was on friday.
Anyway after another night in the bar we decided to get to the track early (like 7:30am) so we could be on ESPN NHRA today show.
Then as we were walking around in the morning after the showing of NHRA today we decide to go our own ways to do our thing, me to get more nitro fumes as they warm up the cars and the wife was going to go back to her seat. I was to meet her there before the opening ceremonies. Well as I am heading to my seat behind the burnout box I noticed that the wife is not there but can hear the announcers on stage with the prerace festivities asking a woman what her name was. Guess what I hear? My name is Pink Chick! I go what the hell has my wife got into now! So I walk around to the front of the stage where the Geco powersports team are doing some dance contest with two ladies and teh announcers and my wife is one of them!
It was kind of funny to watch but still she had fun and we got a couple shirt out of the deal.
The morning was cool and perfect conditions for racing. I htink the first 3 or 4 pairs of cars that went down the track all had 300+mph speeds and quick times. No oil downs everything was going great, then the sun strted coming out and warming the track. Speeds were going down a bit but racing was still good.
There was even a cacklefest there with some of the old cars that use to race up there in the Pacific Northwest years ago. And a little Pro Stock controversy with the way the track was prepped forced the Pro Stock 1st round to go to the pits and return later in the day to run their rounds.
But as fun as the weekend was I am sure any race fan has heard by now, there was a tragic accident during the semi finals of the Top Alcohol dragster class. Mark Niver on his round and when he pulled the chutes they came right off the car and he had to press on the brakes hard to slow down, but unfortunately he crashed into the catch nets at the end of the track and succumbed to his injuries. Ending the weekend on a sad note was very emotional for all who were there (it was birthday as well and I will always have this tragic memory with me) and we our all very sorry for the loss of this long time racer. Story here.
We had been in Seattle when he won a couple years ago at that track in 2008.
He did what he loved and now is racing with the angels and we wish the Niver family our deepest sympathies.
Here's to Mark Niver
Will have pics posted on Flickr site soon
