Dancers
Saturday afternoon was spent strolling around the pit area at Great Lakes Drag-a-way at Union Grove, Wisconsin. For many years I’ve come here to renew my interest, to delight in the wild, marginally controllable experience of drag racing. Is it a sport, the competition between two purpose-built race cars, to “see” which accelerates to reach a finish first, a quarter mile distant from the starting line? Or is it a dynamic art-form, not unlike ballet?
Perhaps it is not strange to compare ballet to the American tradition of discovering which car will achieve the apex of performance? Both entail a life-time’s worth of preparation, skill building, mental acuity, as well as muscle memory… What does it take to stand “on point”, a weightless illusion for a ballet dancer? The years of practice? Then consider the materials-knowledge, mechanical engineering, taste in graphic design – requisite to building a race car.
A more obvious point, – what it takes to drive a 2,000 horsepower Pro Modified car, launch as a start light flashes green, hold focus as the Hoosier slicks bite, car and driver becoming one; the car dances becoming one with the track, keeping to lane-center, the finish line flashes by. Six seconds seems the blink of an eye.
I’ve not experienced ballet or a starting line launch. But I’ve seen both. I can imagine “what it takes” since both art-forms have common denominators.
These are a few photos that I captured while at the track. The concluding four images are of Jeff and Dave Lumbert preparing their River Rat II, 1967 Chevy Nova for another pass.
