For any enthusiast who just appreciates a good build for speed—raw speed über alles—the Texas Mile is like a marvelous gallery dedicated to the art of being awesome. It's also this weekend, so if you're neat Beeville, Texas, you should go.
Everywhere you turn at the Texas Mile, there are cars built for one single purpose: speed. Raw speed, in a straight line. To go as fast as possible.
Many of these builds are simply immaculate in ways that cars built for road or oval racing usually aren't.
We'll stay on top of any crazy records that get broken, but in the meantime, enjoy this set of photos from this spring's Texas Mile.
Some cars were more prepared than others. You see full race builds to street cars to a lot of cars that are somewhere in between. The regulations step up the amount of safety equipment required based on how fast the car can go, and the licensing structure has similar steps.
Bikes go down the Texas Mile along with the cars.
Amazing custom paint jobs weren't out of the ordinary, either, such as the hood interior detail on this Red Baron-themed Camaro.
Huge turbos and superchargers are definitely the norm, as are big bottles of nitrous.
Beautifully modified classics are a common sight as well.
Other classics showed up relatively unmodified, but clearly awesome.
If you don't love the Grand National, I'm pretty sure you're with the terrorists.
Some cars try to eke out whatever advantage they can with aerodynamic mods and enough tape to make your typical ding-averse green trackday student blush.
Some cars were built to break certain speed records, like this Insight.
The Texas Mile is a celebration of "anything goes" just as much as land-speed racing in general. It's not hard to set a record, apparently. Competitors often pick something no one's ever done and set a speed record for it.
Clearly, this bare-bones Honda Insight meant serious business. It was a lightweight car with a small engine that looked like a ton of fun, even for other hoonage.
Even trucks partake in the event.
Land speed racing is that one type of competition where you actually get a solid number for "how fast does your racecar go?" Someday, I need to take my Lancer and find out just to answer this question once and for all. Something tells me that my daily driver wouldn't be out of place.
The Texas Mile is part car show, part build mania, part appreciation for anything with an engine in it, and all awesome.
Competition runs start on Friday and last through Sunday per the schedule here. If you've never been, it's definitely worth checking out.