Hot August Night is the largest jet car drag racing event in Canada, this year bringing together 150 racers and 9,000 fans for an evening of smoke, fire and fast cars.
I felt a little apprehensive when operations manager Denny Miller took me over to the staging area and pointed out some areas where I could shoot but left me with a word of caution: "Some people don't like getting that close to the cars, so you might want to shoot from the stands." After the first race, I understood why — I was standing on the barrier without earplugs in, and the sonic boom gave me a pretty accurate insight into what it feels and sounds like to be hit by a train.
Once I got used to the sensation and realized my bones weren't going to turn to dust every time a jet car went by, I really started to enjoy myself and at one point even found myself screaming with delight at a jet car's smoke show:
I spoke to several of the drivers, including Chuck Haynes, the North American record holder for fastest speed on the quarter mile — 313 miles per hour — which he set at last year's Hot August Night:
I also met Brad and Heather Janishewski from Drayton Valley, the only married couple in the world who race jet cars against each other. According to Brad, Heather usually wins:
It was also interesting to see the statements some of the racers liked to make with their cars ... or should I say, tanks:
All in all, I left feeling pretty enthused about drag racing — enough to spend about half an hour designing the perfect page to showcase the photos during layout today. I created this hot graphic in Photoshop:
Just don't ask me how — I think my brains are still rattled.
No comments:
Post a Comment
The Leduc Representative encourages and welcomes comments on any content posted on this blog. Please note that comments will be reviewed by Rep staff before appearing on the site. Comments containing personal attacks or discriminatory or inappropriate language will be deleted.