Back in the Early 90's when I started going as much as I do I couldn't get enough of the "Wiff"! If my Eyes or Nose weren't burning I felt cheated, anymore I just like to catch the scent. Like Jim Young said that stuff's NOT good for the Lungs.

Yeah, I wear the 'ear muffs' now, not much of the hearing left, and the ears ring 24/7. Still think the cars smell different today, 15% alky in the mix I guess, not as sweet.

Still, I love the smell of nitro in the morning, it smells like victory

I've never understood the whole "shirtless, whooping and hollering afterwards, like they just got lucky with the hottest chick in the world, gonna tell my buddies about it" thing Come on rednecks, put your shirts on..nobody wants to see your "beer gut and love handles"...and also put a shirt on your "sun cooked lady freind with her spaghetti strap shirt with t!t$ sagging down to her waist, who thinks she's hot"
Did I say that out loud?!? I love the nitro smell, but these days a take it in moderation due to my 7 year old being with me! He always begs to stand close, but he got me in trouble when he told mommy about it when we got home that night, so...NO MORE NITRO FOR YOU!!! (ala Seinfeld)

LOL, that's classic. And they're at every race. There was this crazy dude last year in Denver, strung out on who knows what...looked and smelled like he hadn't shaved or bathed in 15 years... sunburned like a lobster, beer in hand, standing right behind Doug's car. He'd strain to reach over to get his hand up in the header discharge at each throttle hit. When the car shut off, he was jumping up & down screaming, you'd think the guy just won the lottery. Even the crew was laughing at him.

Ahhh, the many sights & sounds of NHRA

...with her cheap jailhouse tattoos...

Man that's funny! You forgot thier 3 dirty-face kids, who are running around top speed to every race card handout stand, bumping into people, making them stop in thier tracks, then grabbing a 1-inch stack from each driver then dropping half of them ... and never stopping.

When I'm at a Race I can always tell the Newbies. They run Not walk to any Warm-up! I was at Houston this past year, it was Sunday morning and you could hear this Fuel car start up like 6 trailers down from where I was standing. This guy was with his wife and kids, he's looking all geeked like "Who's That"! She looks at him and Goes "We're not going to run down there are we?" I just about Died laughing!!!!!

I beg your pardon! I've NEVER been drunk while doing that! I love my once a year fix, exchanging knowing, face full of tears smiles with complete strangers. You don't even have to talk for both to know that you're saying "Oh yeah!" which is a good thing, because you wouldn't hear anything if you tried, anyways.

This is one of my favorites. Watch the smiling kid halfway through, then they switch over to the good stuff, then listen to the same kid when they shut it off!

YouTube - Front motor Nitro warm up

I remember one year in Nick Boninfante's pit at Bristol. Everyone was watching what was apparently a new and very young crewmember after they started the car, and he pretty well fogged his pit in. The guy tried, but finally gave up and ran around a corner. After they shut it off Nick was laughing and said "I wish I could still smell it."

Sweet Vid... Thanks for the link Ron

Ever been there when they spin it & realize (too late, mind you) that someone was careless and didn't quite get all the fuel out of the chamber?? Fuel + spark = BOOM. That'll get your attention! Not to mention piss off your fellow teammates.

You just said out loud what 98% of us were thinking.

That can be very dangerous to both the crew and fans in the near area.

About 10 years Gary Densham got injured from shrapnel when his engine hydrauliced during an engine start up in the pits at Sears Point. Other neighboring teams had metal fragments end up in their areas from the blast. Lucky no fans were hurt beyond ringing ears.

Like what's halfway down this page?

The Timo Aartomaa Galleries, page 4

Yep - that would be it. And I take back what I said... being "careless" isn't the right thing to say. Maybe gets overlooked during thrashing, or just being rushed, distracted - or maybe even being inexperienced. It can happen to anyone. But it sure must be humiliating, after everyone works so hard to get it back together. It's a real testamate to these pros we have on these teams - for as little as it DOES happen.

If you really want a great look at the yellow cloud, try looking at it with Oakley Titanium Iridium lenses; It's like having Superman's vision!