If time seems to be dragging this summer, maybe dragging your vehicle or kicking out the jams is the cure.

Grove City Airport in Springfield Township will host part of a three-day X-treme Sound Summer Nationals event this weekend. The event consists of drag racing and a two-day battle of the car audio systems.

At 7 p.m. Friday, anyone with a licensed, insured vehicle can enter time trial drag racing at the airport.

"They can bring anything that is street legal, which means licensed, has insurance and is inspected. We're expecting more of the import cars and subcompact cars," said Bob McCracken, who co-owns Triple Crown Events, Inc., New Castle, with John Morgan. "Even the Schwebel's bread man could come up and run his truck if he would like."

Triple Crown is sponsoring the event, which moves to Cooper's Lake near Portersville, Butler County, Saturday and Sunday for the "X-treme Sound" portion.

"We need a lot more ground to do the sound part and a lot fewer neighbors," said McCracken. "But because of the racing, we needed the runway to do the time trials."

Drivers will run against a clock, not other cars, on the quarter mile course, he said. "They'll get three attempts for their best time. That'll rank them against everyone else."

As for the X-Treme Sound portion, McCracken said: "If people have never experienced this, they have to come out. It's not unusual for these vehicles to have 10 or 12 bass speakers with upwards of 25 amplifiers, powered by 16 batteries."

"They have bulletproof glass in the windows and bolt the door shut after they put the microphone inside, then they trigger the sound by remote control. You'll see them sit on the windows to make sure the front window doesn't come out," he said.

"These vehicles play just a single note, like a burp. They know they've built these machines to compete in these kind of events and they're coming in from all over the U.S., like Connecticut, Virginia and Florida. It's the hottest thing right now with the next generation of car and sound owners," he said.

By taking part in the competition, contestants will be able to get a world ranking, and possibly qualifying for world finals, McCracken said. The event is sanctioned by two " splextreme sound" organizations: Arkansas-based dBDRAGS and USACI, which is based in Utah. The "spl" stands for sound pressure level.

Entertainment during the weekend at Cooper's Lake will include area bands such as Strict Flow, Lab Rats and Bruening Sun. Emergency personnel will also be present all three days.

General admission tickets for X-treme Sound Summer Nationals, good for all three days, are $20. Registration begins at noon Friday at Cooper's Lake (follow the signs from exit 99, Interstate 79.) Competitors tickets are $50, which covers drivers and a "co-pilot or passenger." For more information, (724) 658-5000 or email tcrown@ccia.com.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Sherris Moreira-Byers at sbyers@sharonherald.com