VULOCITY: Chasing Pavements: Thoughts including pictures from MAP's Proven Ground

I came from street racing. That’s where I started my craft and still trying to perfect it. From racing in back roads and public streets to running all over the city (hwy 94 runs) until the sun pops back up. This was a good portion of my life when I didn’t have much on my mind. Those were the days I called “the learning process”. Some folks would call me stupid to ever participate in such things but to them folks, I say to make room for whatever that is coming fast behind you. I still remember the first day I got my license and took my mom’s Volvo and raced my nephew’s mom’s Accord. We took it on this road, which was alongside the highway but right in front of houses and it was probably one of the dumbest thing we did behind the wheel. This road wasn’t long enough, maybe shy of a quarter of a mile in its entirety and it was right in front of houses. We took both cars and ran it like we were race car drivers along this street and almost ruin my mom’s car and actually ended up blowing a tire. That was the death of a life and the birth of a new one. Back then...we would race anywhere and any time. Each street was a track and other drivers were just obstacles. There were streets that we would run cars around the city that wasn’t long enough but just enough to get to the end of second gear into third, so we were pretty much learning how to launch and get into the crucial first two gears. Like I said these were “the learning process”.

Midway…I learned about Midway from my brother and cousins. Hearing stories of them attending these late night weekend gathering had me wanting to participate. I had my first taste of Midway with a good friend Chad Byron when we were juniors in high school. Chad had already gotten his license and car so I thought it was my duty to show him the ropes(we were both noobs) and attend Midway for our first time. It was an experience I couldn’t forget if I tried to. It was almost like someone took a chunk from a movie and played it out on the streets of university ave. That night I remembered seeing cars towed, being harassed by the police and just tons and tons of cars parking in lots. What we called Midway was actually Foodsmart because the actual Midway center that was a couple miles down on university ave had gotten too overwhelmed by the police and had a squad car waiting in the lot. The actual Midway parking lot was where the original guys hung out at and this would include my brother and cousins. So, if you ever wonder why some people call it Midway instead of “Foodsmart” that’s the reason why. Also you can often tell the people who know where it originally started from in Minnesota by their usage of Midway instead of most of these kids calling it “uni”

So, street racing might be frown upon and having my fair share of run in with the law, I have slowed down a bit from those days. I think back on all the stupid things I did behind the wheel and all the fun I had, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. There were weekends when I had a bad feeling about going and having my brother’s car break down or getting tickets. It was them days that I remember the most. These days…it no longer seem that way. Maybe because I have gotten a little older and wiser or jus scared of the police…I find those things I did crazy. Sometimes I would have to check myself if I can still be able to go 150 on Dupont Ave or weaving through traffic on 94 like some crack fiend. Sometimes though…just sometimes…I wonder if I could still be that reckless. But I know that was a learning process and these days we’re aiming somewhere beyond those streets.

As the years passed from those reckless times, it seem as though what was beyond the streets were about a two hour drive north to Brainerd International Raceway (BIR). Even though Rockfalls has been a stomping ground for sport compacts cars for years, I have always felt that people seem to shy away from the stage of BIR. That was true until Modern Automotive Performance started an event call Proven Grounds where some of Minnesota’s top drag racers came to throw down and see what eachother had. It ranges from local shops like MAP and DBperformance to your normal guy working a 9 to 5’er. I believe this event changed the sport compact drag scene in Minnesota for the good as the real fast guys didn’t seem to want to spend time at “Midway” and just saving it up where they can prove themselves on the track. Even though the underground scene will forever be intact due to the help of younger people (and deprived muthafuckers lol), but I believe that is where a bridge started to form that separates from fast cars to your regular swapped Honda. It’s good to have a place like Midway where that’s where most people started and good to go back sometime and see where you came from. Where you use to be that person going back and forth on University Ave or that group of people standing along cars. It’s where the root (underground racing scene) of this adventure started for most…atleast that’s what I believe.

How the trend looks here in Minnesota, it doesn’t seem anyone is slowing down for any reason and each year everyone seems to be faster and faster. So, if anyone hasn’t experience the underground scene or attend a track event, I suggest you do…atleast once.

_vulocity

Pictures from MAP's Proven Ground 2011