Last night while I was walking around at the Autodrome St. Eustache, looking at the cars, watching the people, listening to the radial tires do insanely overdone burnouts…I began to wonder…why is it, that this little unprepared, makeshift drag track attracts so many people? Is it the crowd? The cheap $8 entrance fee? The girls? (Yes, there are plenty of short shorts) Or what?
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Well, I decided to ask…
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I met up with a couple Mustang guys, Jimmy and Mike…well…they were the ones racing, Mike was actually driving Patrice’s car. These 3 guys, all cousins, came out to play around with the Mustangs and have a good time.
Mike, who was driving Patrice’s black Saleen clone, has been racing for 10 years. This GT is outfitted with a Methanol cooled Vortech supercharger, exhaust, some slicks and other go fast goodies.
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Jimmy, who has been racing for about 1 year, is driving the silver GT outfitted with a BBK CAI, BBK–>Flowmaster exhaust, some slicks and a race clutch.
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I caught up with them just before they were to do a pass…
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I asked them why they came all the way from the South Shore, about 45 minutes, to indulge in this great art we call drag racing.
Since it’s a lower scale track, I learned that it’s not always about that..of course, there is more to racing than racing…Jimmy continued to tell me that they come for the ambiance, lot’s of things to see and do while Patrice comes because he likes the layout of the Autodrome..Mike likes the fact that it’s not too serious like other drag tracks around…they can all come, have fun, see some cool cars and race a little bit.
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I can understand that…if you look at the big venues, there is tons of stuff to see, the spectator and crowd is 50% of the racing…it’s not always about the cars.
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So merci beacoup to Jimmy, Mike and Patrice for giving me a few minutes of their time and good luck in the future!
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Oh..and if you’re wondering…Mike beat Jimmy in that race…naturally since Patrice has the blower on the car…but don’t count Jimmy out..I bet he’s got all kinds of go fast plans to give em a run for their money!
Jul 23rd by Bannon