I’m heading over this year, hiring a car & going to all of the tracks. Should be a blast :+1: 
That will be one amazing experience. Wish I was going with you. Hopefully I’ll get to lake gairdner next year with ltp.
Hot Rod drag week, isn’t that when the BLF members get together with their most powerful custom flashlights, dressed in fish-net stockings and stilettos?
I’m in!
Never been to a land-speed event before. Lake Gairdner sounds like a good time, & about 20-odd hours closer travel time in the air…
No - you’re thinking of the other drag week! :person_facepalming:
As promised to MRsDNF, here's a link to some still pics from my Drag Week vacation. Sorry - the videos would have taken too long to upload. I should have done it from over there from the hotel free wifi, which was eons faster than my connection back home...
I happened to be on the same flight as the "Roadkill" Editor & some of her staff, & introduced myself by asking her "if they knew of decent muscle car racing around here". They seemed like a great bunch, & we chatted briefly prior to the next flight into the Quad Cities.
Upon arriving at Moline airport, my "Dodge Avenger or similar" rental car turned into a choice between a Chevy (Holden) Cruze, or a Mitsubishi Lancer. As I didn't feel like breaking down repeatedly in a foreign country miles from anywhere, I chose the Lancer... I then took a deep breath, & blundered down the wrong side of the road until I found a shopping mall, & got myself sorted out with a 'phone sim, so I could find out where the hell I was going via Google maps. By then, I'd been awake & traveling for over 30 hours, so by the time I got to the hotel in Davenport, I crashed hard.
The next morning was the Tech day at Cordova raceway, which was about 30 mins from the hotel. I got there early, & walked the vast pit area a few times, prior to the track opening. The very first run was a pairing of very average looking street cars, one of which was a tan colored wagon - something like Clark Griswald would drive. Well, this thing staged, & then picked it's front wheels up for a good 30 meters, & put down an 8.4 second pass.... At the end of the day, I went back to the hotel via the town of Le Clair, which Google told me had a very nice brew-pub. & it did...
The next day was the start of racing at Cordova, & after that saw a 4.5 hour drive down to St. Louis for the following day's racing at Gateway Motorsports Park. All of the competing cars have to drive between tracks, without the aid of support vehicles, which is the idea behind the whole event; to find the fastest street car.
There's a lot of corn between Davenport & St Louis. A lot... There's even more on the 5 hour drive between St Louis & Rockford, where we had to drive to that evening. The next day's racing was at Byron Dragway, which had a lovely backdrop of the local nuclear power plant at the end of the strip. That afternoon, it was back on the road, up to Racine. Had a really good night in the parking lot, having beers with a bunch of other racers & followers. Met some guys that had come from Finland to support their hometown-hero, & ran into a couple of guys that lived about 45 mins from me back in Aus.... small world.
Late start the following morning, eventually made it to Great Lakes Dragway, via Lake Geneva, for the second last day of racing, followed by another 3 hour drive back over to Davenport. Finals day was back at Cordova, with the competing cars now having driven about 1200 Miles through a combination of motorways, townships, & back-roads. It was a big day, with everyone pushing for the best e.t., knowing that they didn't have to drive any further than a 1/4 mile more. The Griswald wagon was still running strong, having consistently run in the mid-eights the entire week, & pulling some amazing launches. It ended up winning it's class with an average of 8.5 secs @ 160 Mph.
The winner of the "unlimited" class was a Corvette bodied car from Canada, with an average time of 6.8 sec @ 207 Mph. Not what I would consider a "street car", as it's a purpose-built race car, but nevertheless, It drove the same ~1200 miles without support vehicles, just like all of the other competitors.
Between each track, all of the competitors had to follow a series of checkpoints along the way, some of which led us through interesting places, & local, & historical landmarks.
Overall, it was a great week, & I had just as much fun checking out the local watering holes & scenery, as I did at the tracks. All of the people I came into contact with were very nice, & even more so when they heard the Aussie accent.
:beer:
What an orsm trip and story to boot. It sounds like the whole week was pretty hectic. You know this would never happen here as the cops would be all over it and the news storys in the media, just imagine it.
I was at Heathcote drags years ago when they tried to run what must of been the last harley drags. I was breathalysed twice in ten minutes and the cops were putting canarys on pretty much every bike. A guy was riding a monkey bike well of the road alongside the fencing and yes they pinged him to. Needless to say we left. Shame.
Another lifetime ago lostheplot and I used to regularly compete in the street drags on our bikes.
I digress. The pictures you showed just made me want to be there. Thanks heaps for posting them up. Who knows. Maybe we could catch up at Lake Gairdner for the land speed record attempts next year. 
Still cant get my head around all these 6 second plus cars cruising along the roads travalling from one strip to the next. The noise must of been intoxicating. :heart_eyes:
Oh - forgot to mention - the interstate roads I traveled on did not have speed cameras. In fact, the only camera I saw was a red-light camera going through a town.
The cops didn’t hassle anyone that I saw, but everyone was well behaved as well.
Yep, it was hectic, & I was exhausted by the end of it. Doing it all by myself didn’t help. The guys racing would have been more exhausted, no doubt. That being said, it was well worth the journey.You’ll have to put up a reminder post about Lake Gairdner closer to the time.
The noise, for me, was great atmosphere. For the guys driving the cars, the earmuffs told the real story…
And travelling down the wrong side of the road. People pay good money to have thrills like that at theme parks.
When I was in the states a few years ago the biggest thing I noticed on the roads was how different truck drivers behaved. I get scared here when you have a B Double 2 meters from the tailgate at 100 + KPH and if there is multiple lanes you will have a truck in every lane. Enough whinging.
see you at the salt.
Somehow missed this thread. Dream week, not drag week. That would be an awesome trip to follow along. Crazy to think about participating in something like it but something I would love to do.
Some Long vids on it from Motor Trend channel. Have not had the chance to watch any. Big fan of the Roadkill. and kinda did my own episode in 2000 when I brought my 1968 VW bus home. Synopsis: Flew in, PA to NM. Had shipped 7 boxes of parts and tools including a built short block. Built engine on site and did all the brakes etc. Drove it home 2000 Miles to PA, did it all in 9 days with one other person along. Yeah I was younger then 
On the last night I fell asleep on the floor under the bus while changing the oil after the first run. Woke up looking at the fins of the engine case. Anyway it was cooled off and ready for a valve adjustment… left that afternoon.
Yeah, Roadkill appeals to me a lot, as I used to do that kind of stuff when I was younger & keener. I took a re-useable zip-tie over for a small gift, in case I bumped into Frieburger
Same appeal with Drag Week; My first car that I drove to the track several hours away & raced, was the car I had to drive to work in on the following Monday.
I’d love to take my current car over there & do it, but it would take a few dedicated people, & a lot of logistics, not to mention $$, to get a car over there & back from Aus.
My first thought from the OP you ran a car. “hired a car”… leter read on and figured it was a Rental, LOL.
I think last year there was an Aussie running a car he brought over, I was thinking it was you.
Still an awesome trip to do. Kudos to ya. I am jealous.
Lol - I’m pretty sure there was something in the rental policy about racing…
There were seven Aussie teams I think this year; Valiant Charger, plus another earlier Valiant, Torana, Falcon ute, Chevelle, Buick Regal, & a ’57 Chev wagon.
Link to Street Machine article.
Looks like I even made it into the photo next to the ute…
IIRC the chevelle was 396 BB. Bought here in US, minimal prep, and it survived last year. Forgot that one.
Thanks for linking to some more nice pictures on the Street Machine site.
I’ve not heard of Road Kill as such before.
You can check out Roadkill episodes on youtube.
There is other stuff you may be interested in by the same crowd; Engine Masters, Roadkill Garage, Hotrod Garage.
Of course, you may get hooked, & start watching all of them from the first episode, & never get anything more done on your DIY build…. :person_facepalming:
I am going to post up this weeks update before I go anywhere near Youtube. :person_facepalming:
I am subscribed to the Motor Trend channel which covers that same “crowd”.
Also to the MCM and MCM2, Mighty Car Mods, from your Island. They do some neat stuff on occasion.
Yep, the MCM guys are very funny.
I first came across the 1st two seasons of Roadkill on Netflix, & soon after canned the Netflix subscription in favour of Motor trend.