Smokin' 'Em at Bradenton

On Saturday, March 7, 2015, Kathy's cousin Bobby Cochran was drag racing his Ford truck at Bradenton Motorsports not too far from Clearwater, so we decided to make a day of watching the National Mustang Racing Association's (NMRA) Spring Break Shootout - an all-Ford event.   Bobby has been racing his Pony Parts sponsored truck for years.  We spent a day some years ago watching Bobby race his truck at Atco Raceway in New Jersey, and this was a chance to have the fun again!

The gates opened at 8:00 a.m., with racing starting by 8:30, so we were up bright and early, crossing the Sundial Bridge from St. Petersburg down toward Bradenton:

It wasn't hard to find the event:  just look for all the Mustangs:

Bradenton's facility is much nicer than Atco's.  Here is a view of the starting area and judge's stands:

No big event is complete without the dealers' tents and tables:

We hunted down the schedules and standings, and found that Bobby would be racing early in the morning, and then around 4:00 pm.

We didn't want to bother him before he completed the morning's qualifying race, so we spent a little time walking through the Car Show, which featured hundreds of Mustangs and other Ford cars and trucks.  Many people kept their engines so pristine you could almost eat off of them:

There were the light-hearted displays, such as this Cobra Jet with an appropriate decoration:

We even got to watch someone prepping their antique stock car for racing:

Despite our hope not to bother him, Bobby spotted us and ran over and wrapped us both in a big bear hug.  We wished him good luck for his first qualifier and continued our tour around the race track, then found our places for the first bracket rounds.

Contrary to popular belief, modern legal drag racing pits each driver and car against him/herself - not directly against other drivers or their vehicles.  Those who do the best against their averages are the ones who pile up the points, and the annual champion is determined by overall points.  There are various brackets, including a bracket for trucks, and one for unmodified stock cars.  Even the oldies get in on the act, including this not-so-speedy-looking Ford station wagon, which gave us a "You Don't Know What I've Got" moment:

The 2014 Champion in Bobby's "Truck and Lightning" class was Nina Gussler, who was racing her Ford F-150 Coyote Truck, here seen coming off the starting line in one of her qualifying races:

Bobby's truck is a sweet little 1941 F100 Ford Truck that he bought nearly 45 years ago and has been racing it for years.  It has a shiny new engine in it.  This year, Bobby brought his mechanic with him - the guy who built the engine.  They had it in good condition, so they didn't have to spend too much time under the hood:

Here's a photo of Bobby's truck doing a pre-race burnout in the burnout box before moving up to the starting line for his first qualifier race Saturday morning:

Bobby's girlfriend Dianne was with him at the race, and we spent an enjoyable mid-day sharing lunch, chats and laughs with Dianne and Bobby, while Bobby popped in an out for various race-related chores.  For the afternoon qualifier, Dianne drove Kathy over to the track in her golf cart:

After the races, we all drove down to a great little seafood restaurant and enjoyed a scrumptious dinner and conversation, catching up on family and our lives before Bobby and Dianne dropped us off at our truck in the parking lot, waving us goodbye for our trip back to our RV campground.

Thanks for hosting us for a wonderful Race Day, Bobby and Dianne!

We'll see you on our next pass through Florida!