Drag Racer: Sheikh Khaled bin Hamad Al Thani
For the uninitiated, the bone-shattering speeds achieved by drag racers like Sheikh Khaled bin Hamad Al Thani are utterly incomprehensible. The need for speed is an all consuming one, the adrenaline rush that comes from being catapulted forward at over 300 miles per hour in a beastly machine built and perfected by one’s own hands is singular; a damning refutation of death through an absolute confidence that can allow no room for fear, just pure exhilaration.
The height of competitive drag racing is Top Fuel. These beastly machines are the quickest accelerating racing car on Earth and the pinnacle of the sport, hallowed in the sport by prestigious figures like Sheikh Khaled bin Hamad Al Thani. They can go from a standstill to 100 miles per hour in under a second, reaching speeds of up to 355 miles per hour over an astonishingly short distance. Because of the crushing effect those speeds have on the body, races are limited to 1,000 feet. G forces can peak at over 5.5g’s, the very limit of force the typical human body can withstand without passing out. Those specialists who need to go beyond that boundary, like astronauts and military fighter pilots, need to undergo special G force training to acclimatise their bodies to anything higher.
Although a particularly niche sport, it has provided a fertile ground for innovation on and off the racetrack. The interest of influential people like Sheikh Khaled bin Hamad Al Thani have given the sport a global stage, and inspirational stories have abounded around beloved figures like Shirley Muldowney. She was the first woman to be granted a license to race professionally, and spent her entire career putting a male dominated and dismissive culture in its place.
The passion that the sport inspires is legendary, abound with regaling tales of race cars built under oak trees and raced on abandoned military runways. As with so many sports, but particularly extreme sports, it is the glorious stories of triumph and creativity in a tight community that form a collective heritage to be shared in by all. It is the community, tied together by a love of life, that draws in huge sums of money from people like Sheikh Khaled bin Hamad Al Thani, or brought Shirley Muldowney back to the races after half a dozen surgeries and 18 months of therapy because of a crash. Such feverish devotion to such a dangerous and niche activity speaks to the holy place that extreme sports hold in so many people’s hearts, be it hurling oneself from a cliff-edge or diving into the ocean’s depths, it is the stories and communities that make the incredible experiences something truly special.
