The Day Of The Drags – 2011

Posted by Ryan on October 3, 2011 and filed under: Event Coverage

Early Saturday morning, Joyo and I hopped in the ’39 and headed north to Little River and the 10th annual Day Of The Drags. After what can only be described as a picturesque drive, we arrived at the track at around 9:30 am. It’s a schedule that I’ve followed for many years and typically our arrival is met with many open parking spots. This year, however, was quite a bit different. Even at that early hour, the track was packed with race cars and hot rods. We knew then, this was gonna be a big one.

After getting the old car parked, I loaded up with my trusty Leica and hit the pits with the idea of taking photos all day long. I learned long ago that I didn’t have the talent to take Drag Racing Action shots, so I figured I would focus on the personal side of drag racing – broken cars, pissed off hot rodders, drunken hookers, and all of the other successes and failures found in the dirt of Little River.

As I walked around and shot away, I stumbled upon scene after scene of absolute debauchery. It’s been a couple of days, so the shock of it all has somewhat numbed. But, I do clearly remember a group of greasers throwing half empty beer cans in my direction after I inadvertently knocked over one of the gang’s daintily painted choppers. It was my bad.

Once clear of the threat, I continued shooting. Later in the afternoon, a lone man showed up in his work truck pulling a modified ‘T’ Roadster. The man claimed to own some 7-second time slips, so I jumped for a closer look. As I stared at his blown and injected Big Block Chevrolet, I became inspired to shoot a really artsy shot down the injector stacks. If Ansel Adams had any balls at all, this is the shot he would take… So, I went at it. In my excitement, I fumbled my lens cap right down one of the stacks. I’m afraid that man wasn’t destined to add to his 7-second time slip collection on this day. Once again, my bad…

There were plenty of more mis-steps on this day – some of my own, some of others. I’ve managed to erase most. I can’t, however, forget to report on the big Flathead race. Jim Jard brought out his trailer find – an injected flathead powered FED. He had eyes on Skot (the resident flathead king) and his proven and blown FED. I heard it was an incredible race – wheelies, smoke, lane changing… The whole bit. At the end of the quarter though, it was Skot ahead by an axle width. The flathead king had won again.

It wasn’t all roses and daisies though. The real drive behind winning the Collin Casey Cup (appropriately given to the fastest flathead of the day) is the opportunity to kiss the trophy girl. Unfortunately for Skot, she was passed out under the bleachers. Maybe next year…

By now, I would imagine you guys are all foaming at the mouth ready to see the pictorial evidence of all this. I am too. See, by late in the day I had already filled one memory card with all kinds of disgusting misdeeds. That card, however, was somehow lost in the shuffle. I suspicion those greasers were more on top of it than they looked. Whatever the case may be, I came home with only one memory card. And on that card I found only four shots taken of one of my favorite cars at the drags – Kisam’s “Tuffy” ’32 coupe.

Enjoy my comprehensive coverage of the 2011 Day Of The Drags: