dB Drag Finals

The weekend of October 2, 2009 marked the 12th Annual dB Drag Racing World Finals. This weekend also marked a milestone for me; my 10th World Finals attendance. The first three were as a World Finals finalist with my team and the latter seven have been with Performance Auto & Sound Magazine; the ONLY publication to stand the test of time and support the sport to this day on a National and International level.

Finals this year was run simultaneously on three separate continents and locations; Hamburg Germany, Tulsa Oklahoma and Brazil. For the past 9 years I’ve attended world finals on North American soil and this year I thought I’d branch out. With that being said we booked a flight for good ol’ Hamburg Germany. Thanks to the efforts of Detlef Hagel who is the Head of dB Drag in Germany we arranged to have the publication in attendance and to see first hand what World Finals is all about overseas.

Over the last nine years I’ve had a chance to experience finals through the eyes of competitors and spectators and I can tell you that the competitors on the other side of the Atlantic have the same hunger, passion and drive to compete. The weekend of finals was a long one and I do emphasize LONG. With no less than 12hr days from Friday-Sunday, each day was filled with A LOT of Red Bull and fast food runs. This weekend I had a chance to see the intensity and drive from all competitors whether they were from Germany, Belgium, Austria, Italy or Greece just to name a few countries. Of course you can say I’m somewhat partial to a certain group of competitors; lets just say it’s a “Greek thing”.

The weekend was filled with a host of things to do from checking out vendor alley and seeing some of the coolest gear to hearing some of the craziest demo vehicles ever built.

In Hamburg there was an Astro van demoing some of Kickers finest gear with a total of 24 12inch woofers and not one but TWO WARHORSE amplifiers. Now if that’s not enough power to blow you away then I don’t know what is. On the other side of the pond you had Tommy “King of Bass” McKinnie demoing his Isuzu pick up all weekend long in the Incriminator Audio booth. For those that don’t know, Tommy was the previous Bass Race 159.9 World Champion. Of course he has since hung up his crown and is sitting back enjoying his retirement, or at least that’s what he’s told everyone!

Along with the companies mentioned above Finals is made possible with the help and support of many others. In Hamburg you had ALPINE, Ground Zero, Kicker, Cactus Sounds, ZAPCO and SPL Dynamics to name a few. In Tulsa there was Kinetik, dB Drive, Digital Designs and Memphis to name a few, while in Brazil there was Shocker, Banda, Taramps and Hinor to name a few that came out and represented.

Now you know the old saying all work and no play is not a good thing, so taking care of the fun aspect on Hamburg soil was the competitor party on Friday night; full of Germany’s finest lager along with the Sexy Car Washes that were taken place all weekend. Having only seen these car washes in photos it’s safe to say that you don’t know what you’re missing until you see them up close and in person. On North American soil Soundstream sponsored the competitor party which was the place to be for competitors and participants alike.

On the competition front there was an unprecedented quadruple run to determine the Street Max European Champion. Both competitors in the finale belted out an incredible 165.7db in the first run, they then had five minutes to charge and get ready for the second tie breaking run which once again resulted in a 165.7db tie. Once again an additional five minutes where given to charge and get ready at which point they once again belted out an astonishing 165.7db. This sort of thing is unheard of and had every single person in the arena on their feet and by the competition lanes. With the fourth run about to take place people where wondering what was going to happen. That being said Team Ground Zero – VS Audio once again belted out a 165.7db then came time for Cactus Sounds to run and after three previous runs he was able to squeeze out an incredible 165.8db clinching the win and thus going on to win his 5th World Championship.

In the Extreme 2 category there was a fierce battle between Team SGK of Germany and Team Rip Rock from Canada. In the end, twins from Canada won their first ever World Championship with an incredible 180.8db. Speaking of extreme classes and the 180db club, Team Loud became the first ever Europeans to break the barrier with 180.2 in Extreme 1. The big boy class has always been the Extreme 5+ class and this year was the battle of titans with Craig Butler and Hal Team Shocker. These two battled it out with Hal coming out on top with a 181.6 to Craig’s 181.1.

The Super Street category had a battle of titans in the SS 1-2 class with last years defending champs Team TVE battling it out with dB Devils M&J. Both teams produced unheard of SPL figures in the upper 169s but in the end dB Devils etched out TVE’s score of 169.7 with a score of 169.9. All Street classes were hard fought but the biggest battle raged in Street A which saw Greece’ own Team Powermusic – Psichas take the World Championship with a shattering 159.5 setting
a new World Record in the process.

This year was also the year of Michael “Big Oki” Mueller in bass race. After coming in second place at the world finals last year he won the coveted World Championship in the 150-159.9 bass race category. I’ve had the pleasure of hearing and seeing this vehicle in person and I can tell you that not only does put up big numbers in the lanes, it also sounds wicked demoing to crazy metal tunes.

With the weekend at an end it was time once again to head back to the great white north. I can honestly say that my 10th World Finals attendance was one of the best I’ve ever had. Congrats to everyone involved in making Finals happen worldwide and I look forward to seeing what 2010 has in store. Just a friendly piece of advice… lookout for the return!