I joined a few of my coworkers from Machens Ford on a trip to the now defunct Mid-America Raceway in Wentzville, Missouri back in 2004 for an afternoon of drag racing. I hadn't been drag racing in several years.

My ride at the time was a 280 hp 1996 Lincoln Mark VIII. Contemporary road tests seemed to indicate it would run a low-15 second quarter mile.

The burnout box and staging area.

A walkway over the track provided access to the grandstands.

The drag racing "Christmas Tree."

The pit area at Mid-America Raceway.

Our group's area in the pits. I thought there was only going to be the few of us who worked at Machens. But we actually ended up with a large group as people brought friends along for the day.

We did the same and brought friends Tia and Greg along. Greg was racing his low-14 second stock Mustang GT.

My first time trial. Our group was racing in the Trophy Street class. I hadn't been drag racing in several years, and never at this facility. Even so, I didn't redlight, (.713 RT), and the Lincoln did well with a 15.50 @ 92.42 mph. The Honda Accord next to me was part of our group and went a surprising 16.05 @ 85.86 mph ! In other words, this sensible economical car would have outrun my 1985 Olds 442, (good for 16.2). It's amazing what a difference 20 years makes.

Two more from our group, Joe (L) and Greg (R), making their first time trial.

Greg's second time trial where he went 14.45.

I'm in the burnout box for my second time trial. It isn't necessary for a car running street tires to do a big smokey burnout. Stay out of the water and spin the tires briefly to "clean them off."

The picture above tells the whole story. That big red light at the bottom of the tree on my side (near lane) is never a good thing. A .467 reaction time (RT) will do that every time. And my opponent in the Trans Am must have been taking a nap, (1.076 RT). In other words, I was already off and running before my opponent moved. But I was too early and lost. I went 15.52 @ 92.38 mph, or extremely consistent with my first run.

My opponent ran a 13.93 @ 100.85, which means he blew by me mid-way down the track. Mid-America Raceway had a notoriously short shut-down area. Unfortunately, he didn't slow down in time and crashed through the cones at the end of the pavement and went into the sand pit. The track safety crew had to drag him out.

My Mark VIII and Greg's Mustang GT in our pit area.

Our group in the pit area.

This is what you do while drag racing with friends. After each run, you gather around someone's car, stare under the hood, and discuss what you need to do during the next run. In this case, everyone was huddled around Shawn's Ford F150 Lightning truck.

Shawn's F150 Lightning was powered by a supercharged 5.4L V8. This truck was capable of mid-13s.

Joe's ride was a modified Chevrolet S10 Blazer.

And by "modified," I mean the 2.8L V6 had been yanked in favor of a small block V8.

Two of my coworkers, Shawn (L) and Shannon (R).

Shannon's ride was a modified 1980 Ford Mustang, a solid high-13 second car.

Tia (L) and Tanja (R) in the pits. They were in charge of picture and video taking, and captured some great shots.

The Junior Dragster class was quite popular at Mid-America Raceway.

The Junior Dragster class is designed for kids up to age 20. The vehicles are scaled-down versions of rail dragsters and are powered by small engines, (i.e. Briggs & Stratton or similar).

I believe these dragsters made an eighth-mile pass, and some of them reached speeds of 70 mph. This is awesome ! Where was this when I was a kid ?

The Trophy Street class in the staging lanes for the third time trial.

Greg's third time trial.

Greg improved by going 14.30 on this run.

Greg's third time trial vs a Saleen Focus.

Joe's third time trial vs a red 2002 Chevrolet Camaro SS Anniversary edition.

Joe is alone in the photo above because the Camaro SS in the far lane broke something in his driveline during a launch and had to be pushed off of the track.

Shannon (L) and Shawn (R) have been friends for many years. The rivalry between them was always quite pronounced. They got to face each other during the third time trial.

In a rather anti-climatic finish, Shannon red-lighted and then instinctively stopped, while Shawn took off.

I'm in the burnout box for my third time trial. There was a bit of a lag between the second and third time trials, meaning everyone's car had a chance to cool down. The Mark VIII responded by running a 15.39 @ 93.22 mph. And I responded by red-lighting AGAIN !

After the third time trial, everyone headed back to the pits to have some lunch.

Shannon and his 1980 Mustang.

Tanja and my 1996 Lincoln Mark VIII.

After lunch, we spent some time just hanging out in the pits waiting for eliminations to begin.

The Trophy Street class is a bracket class that consists of several time trials, followed by eliminations. The series of time trials allows drivers to see how his/her car is performing. For eliminations, participants must write a "dial-in" time on his/her windows. The object is to come as close as possible to the dial-in time without going under (or "breaking out"). Now add to this the fact that the cars have all had a chance to cool down for a while, and the temperatures are dropping slightly. Taking all of this into account can get very tricky. Shawn dialed-in at 13.49.

Shawn dialed in at 13.49.

Shannon dialed in at 13.80.

Joe dialed in at 14.51.

The Trophy Street class was eventually called to the staging lanes for the first round of eliminations.

The Trophy Street class in the staging lanes for the first round of eliminations.

So I looked at my three time trial passes: 15.50, 15.52, and 15.39. This is, for the most part, consistent. But now the car had some time to cool down. I figured since I was my times were relatively consistent, I would be safe with a 15.38 dial-in.

Tanja had a great spot in the stands to watch my elimination run. I lined up against Shannon and his 1980 Mustang. His lower dial-in meant I got a 1.58 second head start. I didn't red-light this time ! My reaction was a little slower than Shannon's, (.748 vs .705). But it didn't matter. I ran 15.15 @ 88.23 mph, a very significant 0.23 seconds quicker than my dial-in. I remember wondering why Shannon wasn't catching me down the track. Thinking I was about to "breakout," I hit the brakes going across the finish line, which is reflected in my slower trap speed of 88 mph. Shannon ran 13.81, which was right on the money with his 13.80 dial-in. The Lincoln picked the wrong time to bring on the power !

I spent some time wandering around the pits after eliminations where I saw several awesome modified golf carts.