R.B.D. Photography: A sunny Sunday at Texas Motorplex

Today is my 22nd birthday! Man 22 feels SO MUCH different than 21 lemme tell ya...... hah.

I celebrated by going to the NHRA Fall nationals yesterday at Texas Motorplex. A day full of insane amounts of speed, the wonderful smell of fumes and burnt rubber, and too much money spent on expensive drinks!!! ($4 for a bottle of water!)

They allowed anyone who was tired of sitting on those hard metal benches to walk the track. This enabled them to experience the sticky wonder of VHT.

Here is a brief description:

VHT, is a custom formulated resin, typically black in color, used in drag racing to either increase the traction of a car's tires or as a sealer for newly ground and/or resurfaced race tracks. It stays sticky for weeks, has fire-retardant properties and is hydrophobic.

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Quite a few people actually had their shoes stay on the track, as they took a step.

STICKY STUFF!

Being a Sunday, the races ended around 4-5 PM. Which didn't allow me to get the amazing night shots I got last year with my Nikon P90. This trip with my D7000 would have been nice to be there at night, but there's always NEXT YEAR!!!

THIS SHOT is pretty intense. Those back tires are beyond distorted. I can't wrap my brain around how so much can be going on during a fraction of those <4 seconds of race time.
Less than 4 seconds and these monstrous machines reach speeds nearing 330 MPH!