There is no doubt that drag racing is an adrenaline junkie’s dream: 3G’s of Breathtaking, neck-breaking power and speed catapulting you across a 1/4 mile in just mere seconds. Its the ultimate adrenaline high… doing the burnout, staging the car, letting it loose at the drop of the tree, rowing through the gears and pulling the parachutes at the end…. but what gets you fired up the most for the run?
For some its listening to an ipod in the staging lanes to get amped up~ songs like Kid Rock’s Bawitdaba or the Pro Mod anthem, Thunderstruck. I, personally, am a techno fan, and the break in DJ Tiesto’s Silence gives me chills as I’m looking down the groove getting ready to run. Its like the quiet before the storm….
For others, it may be the act of suiting up and strapping into the car… the rumble of the engine when you fire it up…. or the deep breath you take as you pull into the lights.
Last night, I laughed a little as I realized a strange trigger for me as I was driving home from the gym. It was cold out, and I had just exited my Body Pump weights class, still wearing my little weight gloves. As I started up the car and put it in gear, I had a small, familiar feeling wash over me.
Maybe its withdrawals from not racing in so long…. but having that more desensitized feeling of the steering wheel and shifter through gloves definitely sparked that gut feeling you get when racing. My grip of the wheel and shifter changes, my posture in the seat is more erect. Even my sight becomes more laser-focused. Its odd how small triggers can subconsciously change the way your body reacts and behaves, as if it is pre-programmed to do what it does best.
I smiled…. and for a brief second, I could close my eyes and be inside the seat of my racecar, ready to stage. I revved my little street GT up a little and laughed, about 300 cubic inches of displacement and 176mm of turbo-whistle short.
What gets YOU fired up?
