Over View of Drag Racing

Drag racing has the largest participation base of any motor sport. Any car with basic safety equipment can drag race. By far the most popular form of drag racing is called "E.T. Handicapped" or "Bracket" racing. In this form of a drag race, two different vehicles of varying performance can race against each other on a potentially equal basis. This is possible because the slower car is given a head start of the starting line equivalent to the difference between the two vehicle’s E.T.s (elapsed time). However, a vehicle must also choose an E.T. before racing, that the vehicle will not exceed, called a "dial- in." If the vehicle exceeds this "dial-in" E.T., then the win will go to the other driver (assuming the other driver did not exceed his dial-in). Theoretically, if both drivers run exactly the E.T. they predicted, then the driver who reacts the quickest to the start light will win the race. Starting line reflexes are extremely important in drag racing!

A drag race, in basic terms, is an acceleration contest between two vehicles from a standing start, over a measured distance. The accepted standard for that distance is either a quarter mile (1320-ft) or an eighth-mile (600-ft). A drag racing event is a series of such two vehicles, tournament style eliminations. The losing driver is eliminated, and the winning driver progresses to the next round until only one driver remains.
The contests are started by means of an electronic device consisting of multi- colored lights commonly called a "Christmas tree". On each side of the tree are seven lights: two small amber lights at the top, followed in descending order by three amber larger bulbs, a green bulb, and a red bulb.

Three light beams cross the starting line and connect to trackside photocells, which are wired to the tree and electronic timers in the control tower. As the front tires of a vehicle break the first light beam, or pre stage beam, the pre stage light on the tree indicates that the car is approximately six inches from the actual starting line. As the racer rolls forward into the stage beam, the front tires are positioned exactly on the starting line. The stage bulb is lit on the tree, indicating the vehicle is ready to race. When both vehicles are fully staged, the starter will activate the tree, and each driver will focus on the three large lights on his or her side of the tree.

Depending on the type of racing, all three amber lights will flash simultaneously, followed four tenths of a second later by the green light, called a "pro tree". Alternately, the three bulbs will flash consecutively five tenths of a second apart, followed five tenths of a seconed later by the green light, called a "competition tree," or "full tree". On each run, elapsed time and speed are monitored to determine performance. When vehicles leave the staging beams, they activate an elapsed-time clock, which is stopped when the vehicle passed the finish line. The start to finish time is the vehicle elapsed time (E.T.). Each lane is timed independently. Speed is measured in a 6-foot "speed trap" that ends at the finish line.

The first vehicle that crosses the finish line wins, unless, as in some categories, it runs quicker than its dial-in or index (expected performance for a vehicle in a given class is assigned by National Hot Rodding Association). A racer also may be disqualified for leaving the starting line to soon (red lighting),leaving the lane boundary(crossing center line,touching the wall or guardrail, or hitting a track fixture such as photocell), failing to stage,or failing a post run inspections.