The pulses are so loud it is like being punched in the chest. Sometimes the engines explode which is also fun as the smoking parts fly around.
Once, the Top Fuel driver had the silly thing in reverse. The christmas tree turned green, and he launched backwards. He had lightning reflexes, chopping the power incredibly fast. The thing still flew back nearly 100 feet, and if it had continued would have climbed up the grandstand behind it.
I never, ever, ever stand in front or in back of a dragster when its engine is running. I also do not stand radially to the engine (when they blow, the parts fly out radially).
Other than that, it is great fun to go to a race in person. It's the only motor sport left where the attendees can go into the pits and watch the mechanics at work. Watching a team rebuild a V8 engine in minutes is amazing. Then they'll fire it up to test it. Blipping the throttle produces shock waves that you can see hitting the bystanders.
The barely restrained violence of those machines is just crazy mad fun you'll never get from watching it on TV.