INDIANAPOLIS — Measuring quickness and speed at the Indianapolis 500 calls for a variety of yardsticks.
Winner Scott Dixon, who earned the pole with a four-lap average speed of 226.366 mph, recorded the race’s fastest leading lap at 222.057 miles per hour. It took 40.5302 seconds to complete. However, rival Marco Andretti paced the fastest lap of the race, a 40.1720-second ride around the 2.5-mile oval at 224.037 mph. Eight cautions for 69 of the 200 laps reduced the average speed of the race to 143.567 mph.
As impressive as that is, these 650-horsepower open-wheel machines of the IndyCar Series can seem relatively tame, compared to the National Hot Rod Ass’n’s nitromethane-propelled Top Fuel dragster and Funny Car.
And that’s the lure of it. With a 22-gallon fuel cell and specialty Firestone Firehawks that dictate smart, conservative 500-mile strategies for the ethanol and fresh tires, Dixon and his colleagues said they’re astounded when they consider that NHRA’s headliners blast a quarter-mile at 100 more mph.
Gluttons that they are for the rush of a missile-swift race car, only a brave few have had a stint as a straightliner or even would be willing to give it a whirl.
Most agree with sports-car racer Scott Pruett, who competed in five Indianapolis 500s and was Rookie of the Year nearly 20 years ago. He said, “Anybody who wants to strap a rocket to his ass and go 350 miles per hour in a quarter-mile is crazy — absolutely insane.”     
Seemingly fearless Marco Andretti said he’ll just observe, thank you. He and dad Michael Andretti were guests of longtime family friend Don “The Snake” Prudhomme at Englishtown, N.J., in June 2005 for the NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. He got the sensory-overload treatment at the Christmas Tree (the NHRA’s electronic starting device with red, amber and green bulbs) and said, “I saw the lights. I knew when they were going to go, and it still scared me. When you feel the thrust and your eyes are watering, it’s awesome.”
Is that something he’d like to try?
“Not for me. Nope,” he said.
Dad Michael said that day at Englishtown, “I just love drag racing. I’m definitely a fan. There’s nothing like being here in person. It’s so impressive to feel the vibration and power. It’s just a great experience.”
Marco’s cousin, John Andretti, tried drag racing 15 years ago. In 1993, he advanced to the semifinals of the NHRA’s Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway in his debut race as driver of Jack Clark’s Taco Bell Dragster. His career-best speed, which came at that event, was 299 mph. John  followed Danny Ongais, another driver who proved his talent in a variety of motorsports. Ongais drag raced in the 1960s, long before trying his hand at championship-car racing.
A.J. Foyt IV tried it, too — when he was 8 years old. He drove a Junior Dragster at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Texas, at the same time he was racing go-karts. But the quick thrill wasn’t enough for him, he said.
“It happened a little too quick for me. I realized I liked doing it a little bit longer than a few seconds,” Foyt said.
Now, a Top Fuel dragster is another matter, Foyt said: “I’d definitely love to get in one. They’re definitely more exciting than a Junior Dragster. It’d be awesome to go that fast in a car. If anybody offered me a car to get in and give it a go, I’d definitely love to do it.”
Buddy Rice’s family drag-racing roots emerged after he won the 2004 Indianapolis 500.
“I was offered any car I wanted in the world,” he said, “and I ended up getting a ’49 Mercury.” Rice said the hot rod “is a car I always wanted,” after growing up watching dad, Buddy, Sr., pursue his racing hobby in the NHRA’s Super Comp and Comp Eliminator sportsman-level classes.
Rice said he never has drag raced, and neither has Buddy Lazier, who won at Indianapolis in 1996. But while Rice sidestepped the notion by saying, “Anything’s possible, but I’m satisfied here,” Lazier said he “would love to do it…When there was a good ride and I could make some money doing it.
“When those things go thundering by you,” Lazier said of the nitro cars, “you feel it in your chest cavity. You feel it everywhere. But worse than that, four days later you smell it, all the rubber in your hair!”
Scott Dixon, a friend of but no relation to two-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon, said of the dragsters, “Those cars are scary, man.” Still, he said he “tried to do a swap” with the Don Prudhomme-Snake Racing driver. He said he encouraged Larry Dixon to try his Target Chip Ganassi ride while he could “have a little go” at the dragster. “It never turned out,” Indianapolis’s newest champ said. “For some reason, Chip wouldn’t let us.”
Dario Franchitti, the 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner, said his mishap-riddled past is holding him back from jumping into a nitro-powered drag-racing car for a lark.
Alluding to his September 2006 crash of a precious lightweight vintage E-type Jaguar at England’s Goodwood Revival Meeting and a back injury from a motorcycle accident that shelved him for most of the 2003 season, Franchitti said, “With my history of trying things out, with historic cars and motorbikes, I don’t think I’ll be allowed. I’ve got a history of ending up in trouble with those things. So I’ll stick to watching. I can only imagine the thrill of driving one of those cars, though.”
Franchitti said he first felt the power of the 8,000-horsepower machines from afar. He was testing his IndyCar at Firebird Int’l Raceway in Chandler, Ariz., several years ago.  He said he “kept feeling this strange vibration through the car and kept wondering what it was.” The rumble he sensed was NHRA’s Funny Car contingent, testing their latest tune-ups, as well.
His curiosity led him to the quarter-mile dragstrip, and he said with glee, “They let me stand between the lanes when they did a run. It was amazing. It knocked the wind right out of me, knocked the breath out of me. It’s a wonderful sport — love it!
“It’s a completely different branch of the sport. All that attention and focus for a quarter-mile is awesome. I like John Force. I like all those guys — Ron Capps, (Gary) Scelzi, Whit Bazemore — they’re really cool guys. But John Force gets out of the car and he’s on the limits. I love it.”
Whether accomplished drivers from other series want to drive a nitromethane rocket or simply respect those cars from a safe distance, the consensus likely would be that drag racing has no limit when it comes to being “on the limits.”