to the NHRA drag races this weekend in St. Louis. I've been to several auto races (Nascar and Indy Car races) and I've been to tractor pulls, but this is the first drag race that I've been to. I was warned to take ear protection, but I wasn't prepared for how loud the top fuel rail dragsters and the nitro funny cars are. It's like shake-the-fillings loose-in-your-teeth loud. Even wearing foam eaplugs, it was so loud that it hurt your ears - it was physically painful at times.--

I'm probably going deaf about 17 years sooner than I otherwise would have now. I've never experienced anything that even comes remotely close to how loud the top end nitro cars were.

I'd probably go again if given free tickets, but I don't think I'd pay the face value for tickets ($85 each). It is impressive, though, to watch cars go from a standing start to 300+ MPH in under 4 seconds. It's probably worth doing once in your life if you get the chance, but once is probably enough (at least it was for me).