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GURSS: A New Straight Line Palace
Written by: Jade Gurss   
09/16/2008
Mooresville, NC
 
Faster. Louder. The weekly column on SPEEDtv.com by Jade Gurss. (Harold Hinson Photo) ยป More Photos

For the opening of the new megadragstrip (four lanes wide!) at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (officially named ZMax Dragway at Concord - ZMax being the snake-oil product also owned by Bruton Smith - and Concord, NC being the suburban Charlotte town which annexed the Speedway property many years ago.), I was lucky enough to attend Friday’s opening-day action at the NHRA Carolina Nationals.

There is nothing in motorsports to match the guttural, electric jolt of sensory overload of a pair of Top Fuel dragsters or Funny Cars blasting down the strip at full song, violently careening past the 300 mph barrier in the blink of an eye. Even the wailing standing start of 20 Formula One cars can’t replicate the very literal Top Fuel ground-shaking that sends the entire facility into a Richter-scale trembling frenzy. Unfortunately for the growth potential of the sport, it is a mix of sight, sound and in-your-gut-and-in-your-loins pounding which absolutely cannot be adequately replicated by mere words nor on television. Like the loudest in-your-face heavy metal concert, you just have to be there.

From now on, if you’re going to be there, Charlotte’s drag strip is clearly the new jewel everyone will want to see. Despite Bruton Smith’s bullying of the nearby neighborhoods and politicians to get his palace built, it is a sparkling piece of work – and was a complete sell-out both Saturday and Sunday.

One of the things the National Hot Rod Association does better than any
other motorsport is to integrate their sponsor midway displays with the actual pit area, allowing sponsors unequalled access to the fans during the event and inviting each fan the chance to watch the teams work on their machines between rounds. You say you have reserved seats on the opposite side of the track? No problem here: two large pedestrian tunnels run underneath the strip, which makes access easy for every fan in the facility.

The massive John Force Grandstands, topped by a lengthy row of corporate suites, is an impressive structure despite a lack of adequate volume on the public address system and a strange line-of-sight that makes most of the strip beyond the finish line close to invisible. Overall, those are small complaints for a facility that was a parking lot less than nine months ago.

So, what about the NHRA? Little about ‘the show’ has changed in the past 15 years and needs a makeover to match a typical NASCAR race, but the sport has a growing list of personalities to promote. John Force, mouth in perpetual motion, is in the twilight of his driving career, but the series has an admirably diverse line-up of drivers: women, Hispanic drivers, African-Americans and even husband and wife competitors (Tommy Johnson Jr. and Melanie Troxel, who each race in the Funny Car division). The sport as a whole needs to do a better job promoting their personalities to a wider audience, and a major facility like this can be a springboard to propel the NHRA into this century.


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