Belt-sander racers step aside: Your tools just aren't fast
enough — and even if they were, they're way too
ordinary-looking to compete in the Power Tool Drag Races. This
year's competition was held in May in San Mateo, Calif., and
the tools were anything but ordinary. To be fair, a few did
look like belt sanders, but only one came out of the factory
that way, and it — for reasons unknown — competed
in black nylon panties.
In any other setting such a strangely attired machine would
stand out, but not here, where tools had been chopped,
combined, and modified into outlandish contraptions (1). If the
bad guys in the Mad Max movies had been tradesmen, this is what
their tools would have looked like.
Races began in traditional fashion, with a woman holding a pair
of flags. When the flags came down, the tools took off (2),
most tethered to long electrical cords, but some powered by
compressed air (3) or gas engines. Smaller machines ran between
2x4s down 75-foot-long wooden tracks (4); larger ones were
driven drag-strip style across pavement.
The most popular motors appeared to be angle grinders and pairs
of angle grinders (electric or pneumatic), followed by circular
saws and routers. A few of the smaller tools had rubber drive
wheels, but the majority ran on saw blades (5), which got a
better grip on the wooden track.
Trophies were awarded for the usual things, like winning, as
well as for such distinctions as most impressive engineering,
most pathetic engineering, most dangerous machine, most
spectacular crash, and best-dressed team. — David
Frane
Web Extra:
Twenty-plus years ago, a carpenter I was working with told a
funny story during lunch break. He had been on the roof of a
two-story building with a carpenter who was sanding with a
brand-new belt-sander when a breaker blew. The carpenter who
was sanding placed the tool on the roof and went down to reset
the breaker. But he did one thing wrong — he forgot to
unlock the trigger — so as soon as he flipped the
breaker, the belt-sander flew off the roof and broke into
pieces when it hit the driveway.
Belt-sander ski-jumping never caught on — but belt-sander
racing and power-tool racing certainly did. A number of
contests are held around the country, but the most extreme
machines compete at the Power Tool Drag Races, held almost
yearly in the San Francisco Bay Area. In recent years these
races have been held at an auto wrecking yard in San Francisco;
this year they were held at the Maker Faire in San Mateo,
Calif.
Many of the builders who compete would describe themselves as
artists. If you look at the modifications they’ve made to
the tools, you’d probably describe them as gearheads
— and some, perhaps, as crazy. Regardless, the races
themselves are a great event for anyone who’s interested
in tools and likes to see them used for fun. Here are some more
photos from my day at the races. — David Frane