The 2018 H.A.M.B. Drag Nationals

It was probably around 2pm or so. We were all huddled into the event booth hiding from the sun when it happened. I think Kevin Lee was the first to notice. This guy from Iowa, whom we had met thirty minutes or so prior, was sprinting through the pits. And it wasn’t one of those fun loving jaunts to get somewhere in a hurry – it was an intense sprint of urgency. His face was clenched, his eyes were narrowed, and he was giving it everything he had. He looked like a running back countering through spectators, juking people taking instagram photos, and doing whatever he had to do to get from point A to point B in the absolute fastest way possible. To us, it was obvious something was either wrong or something was about to go real wrong.

“Oh shit. What’s going on?” Kevin asked.

We were all following him with our eyes – expecting to see a fight at the end of this 100 yard dash… or maybe a fallen kid or something along those terrible lines. But he stopped when he got to this ’57 chevy, flung open the door, jumped in, and waited just long enough for the engine to fire before he hit the gas and headed to the staging lanes with a shit eating grin on his face.

About that time, Carl came over the PA and announced, “Gas Coupe/Sedan, this is your final call for the third qualification round. If you aren’t in the staging lanes, you aren’t staged.”

***

About six months ago, I was pondering whether or not the H.A.M.B. Drags were still a relevant thing. The last few years have probably been the most fun for me, but only because of the things we’ve done to make it smaller and little more intimate. We capped the event, we stopped really promoting it in any meaningful way, and we’ve kind of let it naturally die off. From the outside I feared it looked lazy and in a way, it was/is.

It stopped being about building the best traditional drag race in the country and started being a little more selfish. To put it frank, I just wanted to do less and have more fun while doing it – thinking the end of the road was in sight and that I’d rather comfortably coast to a finish rather than die fighting until the bitter end.

For a long time, the goal was to make it to 20. But I gave up on that goal a few years back and started taking it one year at a time looking for a threshold between pain and profit.

***

After the drags were over, I was up in the timing tower paying up and my pal, Jeff Beck, came up to shake Carl’s hand and say thanks. “Hey man, it looked like you were a little light on cars this year. If you need any help promoting please let me know – we’ve gotta a really popular social media presence we could use. I would just hate to see this event go away.”

It was humbling. Ego crushing. Depressing. Mostly because it made me think that maybe I was killing something people enjoyed simply out of laziness and selfishness. It’s never been about the money to me. I’ve tried to use it as motivation, but honestly and in all reality, it’s always been about the legacy of it all. It’s always been about creating something that leaves it’s own history and lives past me and into my kid’s lives as adults.

The thing is, I forget about that at times.

***

Marcie and I had 11 hours in the car to talk about it yesterday. Was this year our last? Is it time to do something different?

After a pro/con list and lots of talking between Buc-ee’s stops, we decided on a couple of things. First, I can’t continue looking at this like a college football coach and taking each event “one game at a time.” If we are gonna do this, we gotta do this and be all in again – not for ourselves, but for the legacy of it all. The Drags shouldn’t be a crowd funded party for me and my buddies. It should be an event aimed at carrying a torch of sorts and aimed at keeping this tradition alive.

And secondly, I really just want to get back to work again. I wanna be creative again and get back to myself. I’ve sort of lost that in the last couple of years due to health issues, complacency, and just general laziness. And if there’s one thing I am not, it’s lazy.

So fuck it – Let’s do this thing. Again.

***

There’s a group of 50 or so of us, and we all know who we are, that have been meeting in Joplin for sixteen years now. This year might have been the most fun we’ve ever had. That’s the truth. And my promise to this group is that I’m not gonna forget who you are and I’m not gonna lose sight on the fact that this event is yours.

But also, I’m gonna start building and creating again. I think we had somewhere around 150 cars this year which leaves us room for 50 more. I’m gonna try to fill that 50 with not only cars that deserve to be there, but with people that get it and want to keep this thing alive for the right reasons.

It’s time to grow again. Typing that would typically bog me down with thoughts of selling out and financials and… But not this time. I’m excited. You should be too.

There’s gonna be more sprinting through the pits next year. That much, I guarantee.

***

As always, I’ve got a long list of people to thank:

1. Carl and the folks at the track. I don’t think many realize this, but we’ve had the same core group for the past 16 years… and it’s this core that makes this event so laid back. This is where the personality of the drags comes from.
2. Ryno. The man just does his thing with no consideration for himself. I love him.
3. “Flt-Blk”. You know why. I’m still amazed by your generosity and look up to you more than I can type.
4. Kevin and Casey. Two pals that take me under their wing in Joplin and make damn sure I have a good time.
5. The girls… Marcie, Jill, Katie… for literally running the logistics of the show and the booth… for 16 damn years.
6. My brother in Law Dan for putting up with their shit for an entire weekend AND making it happen at the booth and at the pit gate.
7. The Rodder’s Journal for showing up and supporting… Too cool of Joey and Steve to make this happen, give away an award, and cover the thing. So appreciated.
8. Every single one of you that came. Seriously, the only moment of drama that I’m aware of this year was some guy that didn’t want to park on the spec side. That’s it. And even he apologized at the end of the day. There were over 2,000 people there… and that’s it? Incredible.

Editor’s Note: I’m just off the road from the event and am dog tired. But, I’ll put together some photo coverage later this week to awe you with. I believe this was the fastest H.A.M.B. Drags ever. Some real heavy hitters showed up and the photography should be pretty good as a result.