For many of my National DRAGSTER co-workers, the annual six-day road trip to Indianapolis qualifies as “just enough” in terms of time away from the home front, but this year, I opted for the extended tour as I willingly and happily signed up for more than 10 adventure-filled days in the great state of Indiana.

My reasons for the extended trip, which began last Saturday, were twofold. Being a fan of all types of racing and motorcycle in particular, I wanted to check out the Indy Mile AMA Flat Track event held Saturday at the Indiana State Fairgrounds and then head to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Moto GP race. I also wanted to catch Wednesday’s Sportsman action, which includes the first qualifying round of the Mopar Hemi Challenge and the much-anticipated return of “Big Daddy” Don Garlits in his Dodge Challenger Stock eliminator entry.

I’ve yet to find anything in motorsports that I enjoy as much as drag racing, but both of this weekend’s Indy motorcycle events scored high marks. I was joined at the Indy Mile by most of the Screamin’ Eagle Harley team, including riders Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec and crew chief Matt Hines. Apparently, other NHRA folks feel the same way as it didn’t take long before we ran into some familiar faces, including Top Fuel racers Brandon Bernstein and J.R. Todd and fellow Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Craig Treble. Since this is a drag racing blog, I’ll spare the details of each event other than to note that both were extremely entertaining (although I’d like to think that for a reported $35 million a season salary, Moto GP star Valentino Rossi could stay on his bike for more than five laps). After much debate, we’re still trying to decide which style of racing is more intimidating, but even experienced riders like Hines and Krawiec admitted that neither is contemplating a career change. 
 
On Monday, a full 48 hours before the first Stock eliminator cars were scheduled to turn a tire on the O’Reilly Raceway Park quarter-mile, the track was already a beehive of activity. While the NHRA safety crew got to work prepping the track surface for what promises to be several thousand passes over the next seven days, a maintenance crew was hanging banners and putting the finishing touches on the big Mac Tools U.S. Nationals sign that hangs behind the starting line.

The real action, however, is taking place just inside the front gate of O’Reilly Raceway Park, where several hundred Sportsman competitors were stacked and eagerly waiting to be parked. Motorhomes, toter homes, 18-wheelers, crew cabs, and trailers of almost any size and description imaginable are arranged nearly in columns as they waited patiently for NHRA pit-control workers to escort them to the spot that will be home for the next week. The Indy pit area is vast, but for all of the racers, manufacturers, and other support vehicles to fit, the pieces must be arranged carefully, and it’s the responsibility of the pit-control crew to assemble what amounts to a 900-piece jigsaw puzzle.

At an event like Indy, there are so many Sportsman competitors that it will take more than a full day to park them all. On Monday, parking began shortly after noon, and by the time the weary event staff called it a day more than eight hours later, approximately 400 rigs were tucked safely inside the gate with maybe 100 sitting in the staging area. 

For many Sportsman racers, the road to Indy began immediately following the conclusion of last weekend’s Lucas Oil Series races in Bowling Green, Ky., Rising Sun, Md., and Topeka. Knowing that a long line is beginning to form Sunday night, many racers load up and hit the highway as soon as they are eliminated. Once they arrive in the staging area just inside the gates of O’Reilly Raceway Park, each Sportsman competitor is assigned a number, and rigs are parked on a first-come, first-served basis. That usually means that without looking at results, it’s fairly easy to tell that any racer who occupies one of the first 100 or so spots in the staging area probably didn’t win many rounds at the previous day’s Lucas event while those who reached the final rounds are likely to be buried deeper in the long line and probably won’t land a prime parking spot.

By Tuesday, the rest of the Sportsman entries have nearly all been parked, and now the line has formed at the head of the staging lanes as competitors in Comp, Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp, and Super Gas go through the technical-inspection process. Throughout the pit area, oil changes, tire swaps, valve adjustments, and other routine maintenance issues are being addressed in anticipation of Wednesday’s first qualifying and time-trial runs. Meanwhile, the Pro pits are beginning to take shape as several nitro and Pro Stock rigs are beginning to dot the landscape. Many nitro teams are based in nearby Brownsburg, which means the crews not only have the luxury of sleeping in their own beds, but they can also service their cars and equipment in the comfort of their team headquarters. Regardless, by Thursday afternoon, it is likely that nearly 1,000 race rigs will be neatly arranged within the confines of O’Reilly Raceway Park.