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The engines roar, the tires slip, the smoke escapes. You have to make as much noise as possible at the start! The dragster rider – car or motorcycle – must then travel 400 meters in a straight line as quickly as possible while respecting a precise time. Motorsport very popular in the USA and Canada, but still little known in Europe and France, where speed enthusiasts and big engines meet.
“There is a lot of time to prepare for the race, it is not enough to accelerate”
Six categories of vehicles compete, including motorcycles, passenger vehicles, race cars, but also junior dragsters. The competition is open to children and teenagers aged 8 to 18 and a dozen of them are taking part this weekend. The one who came out on top in the qualifying events is Samantha. She is 16 years old and has been playing the sport for five years.
A passion that she takes very seriously: “You might think that you just have to accelerate with the pedal and then you leave and it’s over but in fact there is a lot of preparation for the race, a calculation of the time we’re going to do on the race “It’s really very important,” explains the young rider, “and precision is really important in this kind of race.”
The 24th edition of the Mickey Thompson fires Drag Race will take place on October 23-27 in Montgomery, Alabama. This race, launched in 1996 by the famous promoter Jim Howard, is at the top of the bucket list of all runners as the most prestigious race to win.
The activities that will take place this year from Wednesday to Sunday include a$ 15,000 race to the winner at the beginning of Saturday, three races where the winners will win$ 30,000 and the famous Million race on Saturday. The guaranteed minimum grant is $ 250,000 to the winner with a grid prorated for entries of up to 1M$ to the winner if the number of registered runners exceeds 625.
In 24 years of existence, only two riders have been able to win this race on more than one occasion: Gary Williams in 2004 and 2007 and Kenny Underwood in 2013 and 2019. The biggest names in bracket racing in the United States are included on this prestigious list such as Johnny Labbous, Johnny Ezell Troy Williams and Jr. Shane Car rand also Jeff Verdi.
Every year, a few Canadians travel to Alabama to compete with the best in the field. The Anger twins, Richard Arnold, Kevin Poitras, Jamie Bridge, Joel Lapierre, Jamie Tupper, and Jay Beaulieu will be from the Canadian contingent.