Drag Racing goes Prime Time: Blow It Up!

OK, I know drag racing has been on prime time TV for quite a while--but when you think about what they show on TV it is basically JUST the NHRA professionals (heck they don't even show the winners of super comp, super gas, etc. on TV). I understand that the pros are what bring in the fans and thus bring in the money, and I love watching the pros too. But it is interesting that thanks to channels such as the SPEED channel there are suddenly lots of other racing shows on TV right now. Flip through your hundreds of cable channels and there is a pretty good chance you can see an IHRA race, some sort of show where they are rebuilding a race car (don't you love it how they can make everything fit together and complete a project in about 1 hour!), and lately there have been a couple of interesting shows on the SPEED channel. The first one is called "Name that Test and Tune" and if you haven't watched it, well it is kind of fun in a game show kind of way. They have a car come up and 3 contestants ask questions and then have to guess the E.T. of the car. Then the car goes down the track and the closest guess wins $100. Mike and I found ourselves yelling out the dial ins, we couldn't help ourselves. But the other new show is called, "Blow It Up!" This show has engine builders come on and try and run their cars down the track anywhere between 10 and 20 runs without turning off the engine and only allowing refueling! Pretty funny premise. One of the first shows had our friends and fellow drag racers and engine builders Big Block Shawn Anderson versus Anthony Layne. Both of their cars were pretty impressive and kept going round after round after round (even with a few burnout competitions thrown in). Well, it got me thinking about a driving secret. If your car can't go at least 7 rounds in a pretty short amount of time, well then you might have a problem. Sure, everyone has plenty of time between first, second, and third rounds; but once you start going four or five rounds it speeds up and some cars start to warm up. You want to make sure that you have the cooling system to handle the heat and the electrical system that can go many rounds without needing the battery charger. The best mental game in the world isn't going to matter if your car is overheating or low on battery power! In addition, the driver needs to keep their cool in the final rounds and doesn't need to worry about car issues. If you know your car can't go 7-8 rounds, well fix it. The piece of mind knowing that your car won't BLOW IT UP will certainly help you be in the right mental state to get to those final rounds.