view archived features The Need for Speed: The Real Fast & Furious Side of Drag Racing Robert Downes
In the new *2 Fast 2 Furious* film, a Miami drug kingpin hires two muscle car racers to deliver bags of cash to the Florida Keys at speeds of 120 mph or so. Mayhem ensues with cop cars piled up all over South Florida. The real world of high-velocity auto racing, however, bears little resemblance to the film. At the Northern Michigan Dragway outside the small town of Kaleva in Manistee County, the emphasis is on law-abiding fun, and the track is just 1/8th of a mile long. But, like the film, the emphasis for real-life racers is on speed at the Dragway. A custom made rail dragster driven by Wayne Ledford of Bear Lake, for instance, can hit a speed of 140 mph in just 4.9 seconds on the 660-foot track, and audiences thrill to similar displays of wheelies, smokin' tires and powered-up cars of every description ripping down the pavement of this former potato farm almost every weekend from June 21-Oct. 5. "Basically, it's a fully-legal street race," says Brian Ledford, manager of the track, who also does some occasional racing and is Wayne's brother. What drives people to race? "It's like putting yourself in a position of pulling up at a stoplight and the other guy is revving his engine and you want to take him, but there's a cop there, so you can't," Brian says. "But at a drag race, you can go for it."
MAKING A DIFFERENCE Ledford, 32, says the *Fast & Furious* films may have done a little to bring new fans to the sport of auto racing, but he frowns on the kind of street racing glorified in the movies. "Generally, the drivers are into the legal stuff," he says. "Some of the guys used to do that (street racing), 'til they got into the legal aspect of it. We frown on street racing very much. I always frown on it when I hear on the radio that someone died street drag racing. The words 'street' and 'drag racing' don't belong in the same sentence as far as I'm concerned." Ledford says that legal drag racing is thrill enough for the majority of drivers and has experienced the rush himself. Last year, he won a championship in his street-class Eagle Talon at 70 mph. "The kind of racing we do is based on your time," he notes. "You predict what time you'll finish in for handicapped bracket racing that evens out the playing field. You might predict that you'll finish the course in 19 seconds and your competitor predicts he'll finish in 10. Whoever is closest wins. That way, you can't just buy a $40,000 motor and win every week. Bracket racing allows a guy working at a tire shop for $10 an hour to compete with the richest driver on the track."
FARM ROOTS The Northern Michigan Dragway got its start back in 1969, built by Tom and James Ledford, the father and uncle of Brian. "They were a couple of loggers who liked racing and had a family farm," Brian recalls. "They started going to races down in Brohman, south of Baldwin, and got the fever and decided to build a race track right on their potato farm. You can still see potato plants from way back then creeping through the cracks in the parking lot pavement." He notes that his father Tom is still owner of the track. Unlike stock car racing, which runs on a circular track, a drag strip is a straight 1/8th mile shot. Stock car racers mix with the drag racing crowd like oil and water. "It's kind of like comparing golf to tennis," Ledford says. "They're two different breeds of people. The only thing we both have in common is steering wheels, engines and we try to win -- that's about it." Drag racers also defy stereotyping. "We don't have any typical type of person who gets involved in the sport," Ledford says. He knows of dentists, realtors, car salesmen and loggers who race. "And a high percentage of auto mechanics race -- about half of all auto mechanics are drag racers." There are women drag racers too. Chauntel Lorenz, a student from Traverse City, races in the super pro class. Pauline Schwedt of Cheboygan comes to race with her husband Fred. Kelly Acha is a surgical tech at Munson Medical Center. They are the Dragway's top three women racers. "They never miss an event," Ledford says. "They're just as competitive as the guys."
A CLASS ACT Drag racers compete on two levels. The "street" class is for "basically anybody driving a street-legal car -- Tauruses, Luminas, Chevys, Corsicas, Jeep Cherokees. Just about anything you can imagine -- Mustangs, Chevelles, Camaros..." Then there's the super pro class. "That's generally for your faster cars that are more modified for speed with more advanced drivers." The pro class includes custom-made rail dragsters that are fabricated from pipes and sheet metal with light, wind resistant designs and parachutes for stopping power. On a typical weekend, the Dragway attracts 80-100 drivers competing for a purse of $1.000 or more, with 150-200 coming to big events and prize money of up to $5,000. On August 16, the dragway will host its biggest race ever with a purse of $7,500. Ledford hopes to attract more than 200 drivers to the race from all over the midwest. Spectators at a race can range from 250 on a slow day to crowds of 1,200-1,500 at a big event. Of note, the track also hosts motorcycle drag races, and bikers even compete against auto racers. Last year, Fred Schwedt of Cheboygan won a $5,000 prize in a Chevy Vega at the course, but a Kawasaki motorcycle ridden by Larry Zelke of Roseville finished second after nine rounds of competition, covering the 660-foot track in 6.20 seconds. Safety is a big concern at the track. Although the cars can fishtail a bit or pull wheelstands when the pedal hits the metal, no one has been hurt at the course for years. "Back in '84 a guy put his motorcycle on its side and had a lot of road rash to recover from, but we require a lot of safety equipment," Ledford says.
DRIVEN The cost of a custom-built drag racer starts in the $16,000-$25,000 range and heads up from there. Even with prize money available, the sport is a labor of love, rather than a paying proposition. "It's a hobby like anything else, like if you were building a big mudding truck or getting into boating or golf," Ledford says. "But there's not many hobbies where you can also win money." Speaking of which, the Aug. 16 race with its $7,500 prize offers some intangible incentives that go beyond the lure of cash. The race is the Sixth Annual Mopars Against the World Weekend, where drivers come to take on Chrysler's line of Mopar machines for bragging rights as well as a chance to win the biggest prize of the year. The race features four staging lanes in which two lanes of Mopar cars take on all comers. "It's the most popular event of the year because the people who come here from Detroit are so into Mopar. It attracts all the drivers with Chevys and Fords and generates some big rivalries." Those rivalries are intense. In the past four years, the Mopar faction has won the race once -- but there's always this year, and the next, so... So, if you're itchin' to get your motor runnin' and enjoy the feel of wind in your hair and the pressure of G-forces on your body as you launch a squealing rocket of a bad machine on a wheelstand down a short track to glory, then drag racing could be for you. For more information, check out www.ublydragway.com/northernhome.htm, or visit the track itself. Admission is $8 adults and $3 for kids with races held through Oct. 5.
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Summer Schedule of Events 2003
Northern Michigan Dragway: Located 3 miles North of Kaleva in Northeast Manistee County Sun. July 20 - Full Race + High School/Junior races - Open 10 am/ Race 2 pm Sun. Aug. 3 - Full Race + High School/Junior races - Open 10 am/Race 2 pm Sat. Aug. 16 - 6th Annual Mopars Against the World Weekend. Open 10 am/ Race 3 pm Sun. Aug. 17 - $2,500 to win. Open 9 am/ Race 1 pm Sat. Sept. 6 - Full Race w/ $1,000 Win - Open Noon/ Race 3 pm Sun. Sept. 7 - Full Race w/ $1,000 Win - Open 10 am/ Race 1 pm. Sun. Sept. 21 - Full Race - Open 10 am/ Race 2 pm Sun. Oct. 5 - Full Race - Open 10 am/ Race 2 pm.
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