Thunder Valley Dragway

After baseball, what could be more American than car racing? After our outing with the Sioux City Explorers, we drove north to catch the IHRA drag racing at Thunder Valley Dragway in Parker, South Dakota. The drag strip sits amidst corns fields and is a bit off the beaten path in a town of about 1,000 people southwest of Sioux Falls. We arrived to find dozens of racers and enthusiasts in RVs, trucks, campers, four-wheelers, and trailers of all sorts camped on site for a weekend of motorized competition.

The drag strip is one-quarter mile asphalt with an incline that slows the cars after they reach the finish. This is a view from behind the starting line. The races featured stock cars, super stock, top fuel and motorcycles. The best performers cover the quarter-mile in under 10 seconds and at speeds of upwards of 150 mph.

A young driver gets ready.

There's a lot of excitement in the line-up lanes as drivers ready their cars.

And they're off...

Check out the black car doing a wheelie at the start.

I walked the back lot incognito.

While John pondered this "greased lightening"oldie.