One of the most crowd-pleasing divisions at O’Reilly Auto Parts Friday Night Drags is the Truck Advanced Division. These trucks aren’t your typical pick-ups.
Danny Mason, whose family races two trucks in the division, knows what sets them apart from the regular truck division.
“Well it’s totally different … these right here,” he said. “Any truck in this class, there’s no way they could run on the street without problems. It’s a whole lot more maintenance and a whole lot more money to put these trucks out on the track than the other division.”
Mason and his son, Jacob, drive two of the more uniquely nicknamed trucks that race each Friday night on the pit lane drag strip – the “Nuclear Banana” and the “Mean Tangerine.”
When asked how they came up with these names, Mason replied, “We were just sitting around thinking of stuff. We were sitting in the stands back when we first started, and one friend of mine said ‘Here comes the Nuclear Banana’ and I said that’s the name right there.”
For Jacob Mason, being at the track with his family each week means a lot.
“It’s fun to be with the family and everything and racing my dad with a new truck. It’s just a good challenge,” he said.
Jacob explained how this family affair’s competition is sized up between the two.
“There is (competition), but there really ain’t. It don’t matter who wins.”
The Mason matchup is one of several friendly family duels that will play out on the pit lane drag strip in Week 8 this Friday night in the 9th season of O’Reilly Auto Parts Friday Night Drags at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
O’Reilly Auto Parts Friday Night Drags is a street-style drag racing series featuring grassroots competition in 18 different divisions, with a massive array of cars, trucks and motorcycles. Competing vehicles range from supercharged cars to stock vehicles and daily drivers. Contenders battle in a nightly, single-elimination tournament for trophies, bragging rights and season championship points.
Drag racing is open to any driver and nearly any vehicle. Entry fees are just $20, and drivers are required to have a working seat belt and a DOT-approved helmet to race.
Spectator admission is just $8, with children 5 and under admitted free. Exterior parking is free, and infield parking is $20.
O’Reilly Auto Parts Friday Night Drags revs up each Friday night through Aug. 28. Gates open at 6:30 p.m., prior to the Show-N-Shine competition, and racing gets underway just after 9 p.m.
For more information, contact the Atlanta Motor Speedway ticket office at (770) 946-4211, (877) 9-AMS-TIX or visit www.atlantamotorspeedway.com.
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