Vacations Blog

A dragster at Firebird International Raceway.

My husband is a huge fan of the drags. I’d never attended a drag race myself, before I met him. As a matter of fact, on one of our first dates we attended a “Jets vs. Funny Cars” event at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, AZ.

Jet dragsters, which are drag cars propelled by a jet engine, undergo a kind of warm-up phase where the driver lines up on the track, then kind of rev’s the engine. The jet “booms” in a succession of five or six hits, and it’s like your breastbone is a bass drum. You can FEEL the percussion in your body. It’s really cool.

(I don’t pretend to have a working knowledge of all of the technical details, here, so bear with me as I muddle through the definitions.)

A dragster doing a burnout at FIR.

Funny Car is a drag racing class in which the vehicles have forward-mounted engines and carbon fiber bodies fitted over the chassis (making them look vaguely like the showroom model versions of the car). Then we have the Top Fuel racing class, which uses a combination of nitro-methanol fuel. The cars themselves are open wheel, rear-engine, with large tires in the back and small, skinny tires in the front. Fire burn-outs are performed at the line, and as they race past the audience it sucks the wind right out of the lungs.

The Pro Stock drag racing class races stock (unmodified) cars against one another. Similarly, the Pro Stock Motorcycle class uses frames built specifically for drag racing, but otherwise adheres to strict stock engine rules.

Well, look at me go. My husband has turned me into a fan! Certainly whenever NHRA is hosting an event, we will typically find a way to attend. FIR even hosts boat drag races, monster truck rallies, VW Bug derbies, classic car shows, and just about every other automotive-oriented event you can think of.

Funny Cars racing at FIR.

We always have a great time when we go, especially in the fall and winter months when we’re not getting fried by the sun. The pits are well laid out so you can peruse the pit area of your favorite driver and maybe get an autograph. Souvenirs and merchandise are all too readily available. Food and beverage stalls abound, so you can get a dog and an ice-cold beer before you settle in the stadium to watch the action.

Ticket prices vary by event – visit the FIR website for the full schedule. To get to the track, from the Phoenix Metro area, take I-10 to exit 162 (Wild Horse Pass) and follow the signs for Firebird International Raceway. From the Tucson area, go north on I-10 to exit 163 (Queen Creek Rd.) take Queen Creek Rd. west 1/2 mile and make right hand turn onto Wild Horse Pass (Maricopa Rd.)

Be sure to wear a hat, slather on the sun block, and bring ear protection (especially for the little ones).

See ya at the drags!

Photo credits (all): Laura Charon.