Nitro-powered dragsters hit mind-boggling speeds at Alaska Raceway Park

July 6, 2007

By MATT TUNSETH/ Frontiersman

BUTTE - Things weren't looking good at

Alaska Raceway Park Wednesday afternoon.

Throughout the morning and into the afternoon, a persistent drizzle kept the quarter-mile asphalt drag strip covered in water - not exactly ideal conditions for sending high-powered automobiles screaming down the track. And with some of the planet's most powerful automobiles in town for the track's biggest show of the year, the Fourth of July was shaping up to be a major disappointment for the hundreds of fans who patiently waited at the Butte raceway.

It would also be a big disappointment for the four nitro-car drivers who were expected to be the day's main attraction.

“We started putting this thing together the weekend after last Fourth of July,” nitro funny car driver Jamie Bodenstadt, of Fairbanks, said Wednesday morning.

Bodenstadt was one of four drivers - himself, New Zealand transplant Grant Downing of California, Nevada's Ricky Ruiz and Hawaiian James Generalao - brought in for a one-of-its kind exhibition of horsepower overkill planned for the

holiday.

Bodenstadt and Downing would run funny cars, while Ruiz and Generalao were supposed to roar down the track in their fuel-altered hot rods.

Faster than a jet

Nitro-powered drag racers aren't toys. Rocketing down the track at as much as 300 mph, the cars are a crowd favorite both for their speed and bone-rattling sound, which must be felt to be understood.

“We go from zero to 100 mph in less than one second,” Downing said Wednesday morning.

Downing said the feel of being strapped to a 7,500-horsepower rocket isn't easy to explain.

“It's like sitting in an office chair and having a semi truck run into the back of you at 60 miles per hour,” he said of the experience, which puts a force of five times that of gravity (5 g's) on a driver's body.

“We accelerate faster than a jet accelerates taking off an aircraft carrier,” Downing said.

The cars run on $40-per gallon fuel and can go through entire engines in a single run. Downing pointed to a box of spent rods and pistons as if they were throwaways.

“Just the car uses $5,000 to do one run down the track,” he said. “That's if you don't blow it up.”

Talking about nitro cars is different than experiencing it first hand, and the fans who showed up definitely weren't in a talking mood by the early afternoon. As Downing and a crew member took a brief walk down the asphalt for an inspection, one fan took the opportunity to vent some frustration.

“Footrace!” the fan called out sarcastically.

By 1 p.m., the rain had petered out, and AK Raceway employees and volunteers sprang into action. First, a street sweeper took several passes up and down the length of the track, sweeping aside any standing water. Then, thanks to a call from the public address announcer, two dozen volunteers hopped into passenger cars and began zooming up and down the course. For nearly two hours, the quarter-mile track was the busiest road in the Valley.

Finally, a special mix of chemicals was sprayed on the track to make it sticky enough for drivers to get traction.

By 5 p.m., the crowd began to stir. The nitro cars, which had sat silently beneath their tent-covered pits, began to rumble to life.

Scheduled to go first would be Ruiz and Generalao in their fuel altered hot rods, followed by the funny cars of Downing and Bodenstadt.

The Rattler

A 46-year veteran of the sport, Ruiz - aka “The Nevada Rattler” - said that in the past few years his focus has gradually changed from racing to working with kids and young adults facing challenging circumstances. About five years ago, Ruiz said he was approached by the Make-A-Wish Foundation to help fulfill the wishes of a young child with a terminal disease.

“It changed my life at that point,” he said.

Ruiz said his racing career had taken him across the nation and even to foreign countries at the highest levels of the sport.

“I don't know how much a person could ask out of a career,” he said.

So now, Ruiz said he spends his time and money giving back to the young fans who've helped him earn a living in the sport. Along with his family - including four children and 10 grandchildren - Ruiz now tours the country giving inspirational speeches and nitro car demonstrations to disabled and disadvantaged children.

His message is simple.

“We have to change to make our lives better,” he said. “We talk about staying away from the detours in life, and focus on living your dream.”

Racing, he said, is simply his way of connecting with kids and getting his message across. And after more than four decades in the sport, he said he can't imagine doing

anything else.

“It's not my living, it's my loving,” he said.

By the seat of your pants

Hawaii native James Generalao - who now races out of Las Vegas - has been racing since he was 14, and still isn't tired of the rush he gets from driving at more than 200 miles per hour.

“The car is just vibrating and shaking,” he said.

At those speeds, Generalao said a racer has to have all senses working full throttle - and then some.

“You're not driving with your eyes, you're driving with your butt,” he said.

The fury unleashed by a nitro car is unlike anything in the racing world. The cars spew fire and smoke as they tear down the track, unleashing a deafening roar. It's an experience like none other, and Generalao said the looks he sees on people's faces after a run is what keeps him excited about the sport.

“I'm just glad they enjoy the show,” he said. “If it wasn't for the fans, there'd be no reason to do it.”

The opportunity to bring his show to Alaska for the first time, he said, was one he couldn't pass up. And after taking a test run Tuesday evening at the scenic raceway, Generalao said the trip was well worth it even if the showers didn't let up Wednesday.

“It's definitely in my tops of places to be,” he said.

A family affair

Lifelong Alaskan Jamie “The Alaskan Grizzly” Bodenstadt, of Fairbanks, grew up with racing in his blood. Bodenstadt's father, Gary, started racing in the 1960s, and Jamie simply followed in his old man's footsteps. Now a father of three himself, the younger Bodenstadt said his nitro funny car wouldn't be running if it weren't for Gary.

“It's 80 percent him, 15 percent me,” Bodenstadt said. “And 5 percent mom.”

The Bodenstadts don't have the time or resources to maintain a full-time racing car. Indeed, the Fourth of July event was scheduled to be Jamie's only run of the season. The rest of the year, the family spends working as mechanics at the family business in Fairbanks.

When he first began his career, Jamie had success on the national circuit, but with limited sponsorship deals available - and a growing family - he said racing had to take a back seat.

“If we can't buy it, we build it,” he said.

Instead of racing competitively, Bodenstadt said he tries to concentrate on exhibitions like that planned for Wednesday. Rather than try to win races, he said he prefers to make attempts at one or two great runs a year.

“We try to break state records,” he said.

As of Wednesday morning, Bodenstadt held the track record at AK Raceway Park, when he completed the course in 5.44 seconds last year during the Independence Day show. But scheduled to go up against Downing later in the afternoon, Bodenstadt said someone was likely to break the mark.

“He's going to be tough,” he said.

Gone in 5.32 seconds

With the track finally dry, the four nitro racers donned protective fire gear and slowly inched their way toward the starting line.

First up were Ruiz and Generalao. First, the two took a quick run a quarter way down the track, screeching tires and laying down a thick mat of rubber on the concrete starting chute. The engine noise was loud - but nothing dramatic. Slowly, the cars reversed and again sat still at the starting line.

Between the cars sat a series of lights. First the top lights went on. Then, in quick succession, three more sets of lights; ready, set...go.

Fans who'd sat calmly for much of the afternoon were suddenly slapped into life. In a blur of smoke and fire, Ruiz and Generalao exploded off the line.

Ruiz pulled away, setting the time to beat - 6.4 seconds, 225.19 mph.

The race was followed immediately by the funny cars of Downing and Bodenstadt. Again, the burnouts and anticipation. Then, the thunder. As the cars rumbled past, the shockwave rattled motor homes, made babies cry, set off car alarms in the parking lot. For good measure, local racer Jim “Top Jimmy” Lackey also took a pass in his blown alcohol funny car, ripping off a teeth-rattling run that more than represented the Valley's racing community.

An hour afterward, the still crowd buzzed with what they'd seen, despite the fact that both Downing and Bodenstadt had rather pedestrian runs. With the damp track, neither was willing to open things up too much.

“It's a little slick out there,” Bodenstadt said afterward.

For a couple hours, the locals had their turn on the track, running modified street cars and a couple high-end dragsters down the track. Meanwhile, the pros stripped down their cars in anticipation of another run.

Downing said his crew can take apart and put together an engine in 75 minutes. Three hours after their initial run, all four cars were ready to go.

This time, Downing and Bodenstadt were first up. And this time, with a warm, dry track, they were ready.

The tree lit up. Time stood still. Hands went to ears as an apocalyptic boom shook the Valley. Bodenstadt had to shut down early after heading toward the wall - “I'd have been fine if they made the lanes 40 or 50 feet wider,” he said later - but Downing stayed on course.

The result - 270.54 miles per hour. 5.32 seconds, and a new course record.

Standing near the end of the track, a woman stood in shock at the sheer power of the car's fury, at the devastating sight and feel of watching the controlled explosion wrought by the ground-based rocket ship.

She wasn't speechless - but close.

“Holy...”

Contact Matt Tunseth at matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com