74 CHEVY HIGH PERFORMANCE II NOVEMBER 2019
What’s your 300?
JUST SAYIN
BY: Brian LohnesCHEVY HIGH PERFORMANCE (ISSN:1062-192X), November 2019; Vol. 34, No. 11. Copyright 2019 by TEN: Publishing Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Published monthly by TEN:
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NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: send address corrections to Chevy High Performance, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235.★The world of drag racing has been obsessed with the number 300 since the early 1990s. It was during that time
frame when Top Fuel dragsters began to flirt with 300-mph quarter-mile runs, and it captured the imagination and
attention of gearheads the world over. It was 1992 when the barrier was officially broken by Kenny Bernstein, and a
couple years later it was commonplace to have a load of cars at any national event running over 300 mph on a given
Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. The number went from being an anticipation of fans to an expectation of fans that follow
nitro-powered drag racing these days. Somewhere along the way the perception of 300-mph runs changed and it all
just seemed to get easier, right? Guess what guys and germs?Brian Lohnes is the Lead Announcer for NHRA on Fox,
host of MotorTrend’s Put Up or Shut Up, and co-owner of
Bangshift.com.It’s still a really damned hard thing to do.
When Don Garlits was putting a wrap on his
improbably prolific and incredible career he had one
last goal. Know what it was? To go 300 mph. And this
was about 10 years after the barrier had been broken.
Currently, loads of talented young drag racers are
working their way up the ranks with the idea of holding
a 300-mph timeslip in their hand right at the forefront of
their brain. Know why?
It’s still a really damned hard thing to do.
The point of this is not to talk about going 300 mph,
but rather it’s to take a second and think about the things
that you want to accomplish, the things that you want to
do. Many people have climbed Mount Everest, but that
snow-covered crag is still as steep and as tall as it was
when the first guys scaled it. You may be working toward
your first 13-, 12-, 11-, or 10-second pass at the strip,
maybe working for a horsepower goal you have never
achieved in an engine build, maybe simply looking to do
something in your life or career to emulate a person you
have admired or continue to. That’s your 300 and it’s
as big to you as it is to anyone strapped into a Top Fuel
dragster or nitro Funny Car.
Audrey Worm is a part-time NHRA Top Fuel racer.
She’s the type of person that salty old people claim
no longer exists in the world of drag racing. A woman
with an all-volunteer crew, with parts that are the best
they can afford to have, and with the budget that some
professional teams have for French fries on a given
weekend. She has one round win to her credit, and when
they won, they had help from every team in the pits to get
their car back for Round Two, where they lost. Coming
into the 2019 Virginia NHRA Nationals the car had never
made it into the 3-second zone on the 1,000-foot course
Top Fuel dragsters run on at NHRA national events. An
improving program had brought her to a car that made
five runs in a row in the 4.00 range.
Then it went 3.96. The crew, the crowd, and anyone
that had even a fleeting amount of soul in their body
went nuts. It is joy in its purest form. It is seeing others
succeed after struggle, it is humanity, and those crew
guys were feeling the same, literally the same emotions
you feel when accomplishing your own goals, no matter
what they are.It’s too easy to be a negative jerk in the world we live
in, isn’t it? Too easy to lean back in your chair and fire off
some words into the internet vapors that are designed to
either project your own anger or rile that of someone else.
People that do that lack a 300. People that do that have
no direction in which to channel that energy and those
feelings.
Have a 300. It may be getting the lawn mower running.
It may be trudging a couple of miles on a treadmill to get
your fitness squared away. It may be turning that forlorn
car that’s become a shelf in your garage into a runner
again. Heck, it might be traveling to an event like LS Fest
or Drag Week. Just have something because when you
have something, as big or as small as it may be, you’ll
have a direction to march in and something to chase.
You’ll also have a steppingstone to the next goal you
want to reach.
So ... a challenge. Find your 300. Chase it, own it, and
then go even faster.
Just Sayin’- The parachutes are blossomed to slow Audrey Worm after a career best run
of 3.96 seconds in her Top Fuel dragster at the 2019 Virginia NHRA Nationals.
A triumphant moment for an all-volunteer, low-buck team. As of press time,
Audrey is knocking on the 300-mph door with a fastest run of 297 mph.
Phot
o:^Ron^
Lewis