Topeka was a blast, one of the best drag races I've been to in years. There was hardly any down time and some close exciting races in all classes except for the finals in both Funny car and Top Fuel. Both Dixon (T/F) and Wilkerson (AA/FA) made to about half track before experiencing problems.
There is a new track owner at Topeka and the parking sucks but overall it's one of the best maintained tracks I've seen.
In past years I've been able to get off the premises very quickly after the final round, but not so this year and I'm glad I didn't. My grandson, son-in-law, and I were just milling around at the bottom of bleachers after the finals when John Force came riding up on his little motor bike. There were probably 3 or 4 hundred people left in the stands and everybody was cheering and applauding him as he driving by. All of a sudden he stopped and parked the bike and came up to the fence high fiving everyone within reach. Then he decided to hell with it and with the help of some of the fans, I had hold of his left arm, we helped him over the fence which created an instant mob scene. In all of my years attending drag races I've never seen anything like it. he was in the stands shaking hands and signing everything in sight and the fans were going crazy. His security people and track security about s**t a brick. After what seemed like a very long time, but was probably 5 minutes or so, he climbed back over the fence with the help of the fans and this time I had his left arm. He fell getting over and I was worried that he had hurt himself although it didn't seem to bother him. He was in rare form and talked at length at the award ceremony.
Actions like that are what bring fans to drag races and I'm glad I and my grandson and son-in-law were there to be a part of it.