sports events ever. We had tried and talked about Indy, Sports Cars, etc. But this late in
the season this seemed to be the best event to break his cherry on.
Norwalk Raceway, was closed and run down when Bill Bader bought it in 1974, since then
Bill with his family and spectacular crew have built now "Summit Motorsports Park" into one of
the finest drag racing venues in the country. Each year as a thank you to fans, they put on
"Night Under Fire" which is a potpourri of drag racing vehicles, to give the fans something
to scream about, and jet cars to create havoc.
Let's be honest, boys love fire, cars, explosions, girls, fire, fireworks, fire and fire. And
Summit Motorsports Park delivers it in spades. The naming rights for the park comes from
a leader in automotive accessories and speed equipment Summit Racing, which is based in
Northern Ohio. Here are a couple images, and links to both of our photo galleries.
This is the small grandstand, the one behind me is huge!
Alex gets up close and personal.
photo by Alex Belisle.
photo by Alex Belisle.
Here you can see it all at work. The tire wrinkles at the green light as the axles start
to turn, but the tire and the launch pad are sticky enough to keep them stuck.
Introducing "Shockwave" if you have been to the air show, you have probably
seen this truck race jet fighters in the air.
It uses 3 jet engines to produce 36,000 horsepower, and uses 180 gallons of fuel for each
run down the track, which works out to 720 gallons to the mile!
And it can also do this...
Blew the surface right off the track. Throwing pieces weighing hundreds of pounds around
like paper in a windstorm.
As the sun set the fires got brighter and brighter.
The Bader family to show their appreciation to everyone, puts on an amazing $100,000
fireworks show, and it was nearly as impressive as the trucks, maybe even more so.
Hundreds lining the streets around the track to see one of the biggest fireworks shows in
the state! It was amazing. Thank you to the Bader Family, and everyone at Summit
Motorsports Park especially Mary, for a great day. If you have not been, get there.
You can see my 208 photos at:
http://www.lakewoodobserver.com/photoblogs/jim-obryan/night-under-fire-2015
You can see Alex Belisle's photos at:
http://www.lakewoodobserver.com/photoblogs/alexander-belisle/night-under-fire
Thank you to everyone at Summit Motorsports Park for the amazing day!
.