If you’ve been fortunate enough to spend a rollicking night hanging out at some of America’s small town ovals, you’ll know that things can get a little nutty away from the bright lights of a super speedway. The long-running spectator drag series at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Maine—also known as the South of the North—is a fine example of that, bringing new meaning to the phrase “run what you brung.”
In this case, that means a bunch of pickup trucks and SUVs going wheel-to-wheel on a white-knuckle lap around the small track for a $500 grand prize. And yes, while purpose-built drag pickups certainly exist, these are regular people (read: not professional racers) throwing down in their plain old daily drivers. You’ll see a few that have been lowered, fitted with racing tires, or otherwise modified, but for the most part these are beaters, work trucks, or grocery-getters through and through.
The competition is a traditional ladder setup, with the field being cut in half at the end of each round and winners moving on to face each other. You’ll see some truly choice entries here, including a mid-1990s Chevrolet C/K with a crew cab and a road work light bar, a soccer-mom-special Chevrolet Tahoe, a fish-out-of-water WJ Jeep Grand Cherokee, and of course that GMC Sierra with the ladder rack out back seen above.
Who comes out on top? You’ll have to watch to find out. Be sure to look for the red Silverado as the driver overcooks it on the final turn and ends up beached on the infield tire barriers.
If pickup trucks aren’t your thing, you’re probably not reading this. But just in case, here’s another video with more…appropriate spectator drag entries from that same day.
