MOON SPACE AGENCY Osanai's USA Trip Report
MQQNEYES USA XMAS PARTY Show & Drag 2015
at Irwindale Speedway, Irwindale, CA

The original full report by MOONEYES Staff Osanai (Ren) is in Japanese located here. The following is portion of the report features the XMAS Party Show & Drag held on December 12, 2015 (Sat) at Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale, California.

Before we begin, here are some images are from the day before the show, during setup.
SATURDAY DECEMBER 12, 2015 (0430HRS)
(from Osanai's Report)
Despite the gate being scheduled for a early morning opening at 4:30AM, when we arrived at Irwindale Speedway, there was a long line of cars already waiting. I couldn't believe my eyes. I heard from many people about this but seeing it first was was insane. I proceeded to walk around in the pitch black to see all the cars. There were so many, I could tell the day was going to be mind blowing.

The cars steadily flowed in one by one. As the sun began to brighten the morning sky, the parking lot seemed to be completely filled up. I would need to make a full lap of the parking area later. First thing this morning on my agenda was to check out the drag cars. Not only were there a group of AF/X drag cars and some other wild dragsters but also a ton of "Run What You Brung" machines.
They were setting up early and the crowd was already beginning to form in the stands and along the fence line. Cars were being inspected, making sure they could run safely and track officials were preparing the strip. Irwindale Speedway's Irwindale Dragstrip is a 1/8th Mile course. Dale Snoke dressed in all white made an announcement that the 1st session was about to being.


It was my first time being this close to cars in the staging lane, literally in front of me. The sounds, the smoke, the smell was amazing. Everything was new to me and was just exciting to be there to witness all the action in person from the Christmas tree lights, the pre-stage area, the launching off the line and just everything!

By the time the first session was complete, I was making my way to the huge parking lot area. Show car or not, every single vehicle parking inside this place was a "show car" to me. It felt like it would take days to walk around and see it all! As I made my way, one-by-one, viewing each car, I also checked out the vendor booths, the motorcycles on display and much more. It was such an amazing thing to be able to see it all. There was so much to see and everyone seemed to have a good time. The sun was shining. It was a perfect Southern California day.


During the day there was live music and a pin-up contest. When the pin-up contest was announced, I tried to make my way to the front but the crowd of people made it impossible for me but I managed to get a few great shots of the lovely ladies on stage. Congratulations to the winners.


Before you knew it, the event was finishing up. After the pin-up contest, the awards were given at 3PM for the drag races. There was an award for A/FX Class and an award for Best Reaction Time. Non other than Big Jim Dunn was on stage to present the awards to the winners.


By the time the show was over, the California sun began to set as well. With the amount of people and cars in this parking lot, it took a very long time for everyone to be able to leave. The event finished smoothly and I got a few more shots as people left. Thank you for checking out my report.

The complete report of my USA trip (in Japanese) is here.
Thank you very much.
MOONEYES Staff Osanai