Berkeley Springs, WV @ Potomac Airport – I figured it was high time I give my impressions of the Street Racing going on at the airport. I’d been wanting to go all year, and my schedule finally worked out to show up. What follows is my honest account of the day.

The road entrance is not only unassuming, it’s really easy to miss if you don’t know it’s there. Only the small, yellow sign pointing the way to Street Racing was the only clue there was anything even giving you a reason to turn onto this road. If you haven’t been back here before, you’d start to think you made a wrong turn, or you were somewhere you weren’t supposed to be and you’d soon think you might be met by an angry landowner or fierce guard dogs. But suddenly, your mind would be set to rest as you find yourself amongst farm fields with an airfield in between. If you’ve only experienced drag racing at the usual drag strips, you’d look around and wonder where the racing was going to take place. There’s none of the fancy timing lights, towers, or equipment usually associated with race tracks here. Instead, you’ll soon learn this is racing much like it started out way back when, right out in the streets. I don’t know if you’d call it a common theme, a motto, a battle cry, or what, but this whole operation revolves around “No BS.” And this simple method is how a small handful of staff members keep the whole thing flowing smoothly and safely. No BS, just a lot of fun and a lot of racing. The race cars themselves are a sight to behold, ranging from high-tech rocket ships to cars obviously built in the backyard garage. The common factor? Just hot rodding, No BS. And fun. No one here is fretting how well they’ll do and how it will affect their sponsorships. They’re just here to race and enjoy themselves. The goal is to go as many rounds as they can because the more rounds they go, the more fun they have. Are you starting to feel the common theme of fun here? On this night, the fun started early. In a sport where so many places are filled with mostly old timers, it was beyond refreshing to see the competition start with Power Wheel races for the kids. This is a surefire way to get the kids started early!

Spectators kept flowing in as the evening wore on. You could tell the ones who came often, because they were there early to claim their favorite spots. By the time the real racing started, there was a crowd there that reminded me of the enthusiasm at a rock concert. And every car that came to the line was Led Zeppelin. A whole lot of friendly people who knew what they were there to see and excited because they were getting to see it. It got harder to see (at least for my old eyes) when it got darker, but that didn’t make the racing any less intense, nor did it keep the crowd from cheering their favorite cars/drivers. Low light is tricky in photography, especially when racing is involved, and I chose to go with raw images to capture the mood of the night and show some motion instead of going for textbook perfection. I felt this was fitting as I heard it said earlier, “If you want perfection, go to a drag strip.” Indeed, this was no clinical, corporate environment, but real street racing at its’ finest. I don’t know how many times I saw someone’s rear tires break loose at mid track only to have the driver keep the pedal down and drive right through it. Some of the most entertaining passes I’ve seen in a long time!

When it got dark enough to turn on the portable lights, the starting line was engulfed by bugs from the nearby river, but while they were annoying, no one seemed to mind as the action far outweighed the minor annoyance of the bugs. Look close at some of the pictures and you’ll see it kind of looks like it was snowing due to all the bugs who wanted to get in on the action. This is another area where I wanted to keep it real in the pics and show the full experience. I wish I could’ve stayed to the finish to see the winners, but the dual threat of exhaustion plus late-night driving had me pulling the plug early. All in all, this event was a lot of fun and extremely entertaining. I had attended one of these years ago and enjoyed it, and it was obvious the fan base has only grown since then. These guys are definitely doing something right. Once the action starts, it really flows. Ronnie Silcott told me earlier in the evening, “You’ll be back.” You know, he’s probably right about that. If you’ve never been to one of these, you should probably make it a point of going to one. You’ll be glad you did!

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