EXTREME BEDLAM

Here's where we get down to the brass tacks of it all. With souped up beds in hand and sprinters behind the push bars and a very skilled driver (hopefully) behind the wheel....the mayhem begins. The start is most important because you want to get that momentum going as soon as possible. You want all of your pushers in rhythm with each other. You want everybody thinking along the same lines. It helps if you can get some practice rounds in first so everybody knows what the other is doing.

Another important reason for a good start is because you have a cross over at about the 50 meter mark. Just like in a NASCAR race you have two beds going for the same piece of real estate at the same time. Needless to say things can get bent way out of shape at this point. The right lane is trying to get the the left lane and and left lane is trying to get to the right lane. It's definitely an accident ready top happen when both beds hit the 'X' at the same time. The bright orange cones usually take a beating when that happens.

Bed racers love to go fast...the faster the better. It doesn't matter if the driver seems to be in a bit of a precarious position as he's flying around a turn so fast he could thrown off the bed and into the wall. It's just like any other racing rush. The whole point of the matter is beating the bed next to you and putting the fastest time of the night up on the board. The guys pushing are the engines behind the bed. They want to get to the finish line first as well and will use up everything in their bodies to get there first.

Like you saw at the crossover, sometimes beds get together and a few parts sometimes get broken up. The bed with the bent right wheel in the earlier picture ended up having the be carried when it bent a few more parts after it got into the cones. But some beds do find themselves into the wall as well like this one here. I think maybe the steering design may have had something to do with this crash and maybe the bed makers might go with more of a steering wheel design next time. There was, however, one major crash that I didn't get in the camera. One bed going at full speed missed turn four and hit the concrete wall head on. The impact was hard enough it shook the entire building. The good thing to come out of it was despite being shaken up a little bit but not one got hurt. Both beds however, ended up wearing the dreaded Broadbent Stripe.

One thing is for certain. These guys definitely know how to put on a show. Oh...and if you don't think the ladies go in for this it was mostly the women doing the driving...and they can scream through the turns with the best of them. These are the Danica Patricks of bed racing and feel the need for speed just like the guys do. And if you're in the way......well....we know the rest of that story.