One more check on the bucket list

We all have our bucket lists and there are already quite a few checkmarks on mine, including a flight in a P-51 Mustang and owning several cool hobby cars.

I got the chance to mark another one off last weekend, and it was one that I didn’t even know was on my list.

I got to sit in the cockpit of a real, live, nitro-burning front-engined dragster while it was running.

My brother and his son got to have that experience at the California Hot Rod Reunion last year.

A little closer to home, it has become somewhat of a tradition to have a fueler at the annual Geezer Gathering and to put some unsuspecting soul in it and fire it up for the entertainment of the assembled geezers. It started with Roy Merritt, the original geezer. Last year, it was Troy Pate, if I remember right.

This year, thanks to a suggestion from Jerry Atkinson, it was my turn. Mega-thanks for that, Jerry.

The car was Jim Anderson’s tribute to the late Steve Carbone, who my brother and I saw race at Great Bend many years ago. He coached me on how to get into the cockpit and where to put my feet and hands. The throttle and driveshaft were disconnected so I couldn’t do anything too stupid.

Then John Belford attached the starter to the blower drive and the next thing I knew, that big 426 Hemi thundered to life and I was sitting in the world’s most fantastic massage chair. The whole car vibrated with each thump of the engine, then Jim stepped up and winged the throttle and I caught a faceful of nitro exhaust.

It was exhilarating, to say the least.

As I was bodily hauled out of the roll cage by two people, I was wearing a grin that lasted me the rest of the weekend. I have a renewed respect for the guys like Carbone and Kansas John Wiebe, who actually piloted these things down the drag strip at well over 200 mph.

This is going to be a tough one to top on my bucket list.

This story was originally published October 17, 2014 at 2:50 PM with the headline "One more check on the bucket list."