Strap up tight kids. It is that time of the year again.
Time to polish everything you own up and head to Phoenix for the last drag boat race of the year.
Yeah, we are no respecter of persons here. We even let the circle boats play.
So, come one and come all to join with us in a tour of what is to be seen at the 2009 World Finals.
Even though our hearts go out to the flatbottoms, we even let hydro guys play in this forum.
New drivers in new boats, or in come cases, new driver in old boats.
Joey shoed the old pig like a pro. Throwing the thing heavy into the 7's in his first weekend in a capsuled boat.
Now lets throw some quick paint on that cowl so my pictures don't look like garbage.
(Darn these guys that spend all their time making horsepower and not enough time painting.)
Some boats just never change. I have this same exact picture from years ago, and I can't tell them apart.
Hey, guys. Don't make me start this already. Bolt the injector down to the blower.
Then bolt the blower down to the manifold. Then the manifold down to the heads.
(It will go faster that way. Trust me. But this way does make for good photos.)
Again with throwing the blower off of it.
Musical drivers in this boat this weekend. In black and white I can barely tell who is driving.
Lots of cool boats that I have not seen at the World Finals before.
Here is what it looked like at 1000 ft. (For the guy who was asking.)
Lots of new boats, new stuff and untested platforms.
And unfortunately, some that won't be back next year. (At least in this same trim.)
Two What A Tomato boats entered the race, and only one left in tact.
The driver walked out of the capsule into the ambulance to be checked out by medical professionals.
I just hate it when I find a really cool picture, then when looking through my brothers shots,
he got one the day before that was just better than mine in every way. (Ticks me off!)
For the love of Pete, you can almost read the name of the boat in the reflection!
The paint on the boat in the far lane was really cool. Very photogenic.
Is that a small block???
This guy was just friggin' nuts! Does he drive a AA/FA in his spare time.
The boat would get out of shape, but he would pedal the thing and finish the run under power!!!
The circle guys put on a great show as always.
However, Ty found a new nic-name this weekend. "Pac Man"
Just like Pac Man eats the little tablets around the maze, Ty either pushes other boats into the bouys, or attacks them himself.
So Rankin has been trying out newer, (and lighter), drivers for the ss80.
This guy took a heck of a tumble, when his hydro rocked back and forth,then caught a chine and submarined.
He came out banged up, bruised, scratched, but not really injured.
Unfortunately, in the tumble, he lost both gloves, one shoe and a sock.
All of the really good photographers were showing off their sequence shots of these unfortunate happenings.
This guy was no difference. And throwing around some really nice new digital equipment too.
Don't know this guy, or this boat. But someone told me they would pay me if I put a photo of it on the web.
Really, when is the last time you have seen a SuperStock heat this close 600 feet into the race?
Well, I will put a few more up later, but this is it for now.
And if you are really missing the sarcastic banter, that will be on the coverage of the Thanksgiving races.
Till next time . . .
Keep your stick on the ice.