Drag racing is a high-speed kind of automobile racing held on a straight paved track called a drag strip. Drag races are traditionally 1/4-mile (0.4-kilometer) long, with some 1,000-foot (0.3-kilometer) courses for the fastest classes of cars. Some cars cross the finish line in less than four seconds. The fastest cars reach speeds of more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) per hour. Such cars use a parachute at the rear to slow them down to a stop.
Drag-racing cars
range from mass-produced passenger cars to unusual-looking models built only for racing. The bodies of cars built only for racing are made of such strong, lightweight materials as aluminum, carbon fiber, fiberglass, and magnesium to increase their speed. The frames, though, are still made of steel. Engines vary, based on the type of fuel they burn. The three main classes of professional drag-racing cars are (1) Pro Stock, (2) Top Fuel, and (3) Funny Cars.
Pro Stock cars are especially built for racing. However, the cars must resemble commercially produced cars, with the engine at the front of the car. A Pro Stock car burns high-octane racing gasoline. Until 2018, Pro Stock cars were required to use the car manufacturer’s engine. For example, a Ford body had to contain a Ford engine. Today, the body and engine may be from different manufacturers.
Top Fuel cars, also called dragsters, are named for the high-energy type of fuel they burn—a mixture of nitromethane and alcohol. The car bodies are not required to resemble production cars. They have engines in the rear, one seat, and a long, slender frame. They also have huge rear tires that increase speed by applying more than 7,000 horsepower to the road and gripping the asphalt well. In comparison, compact and mid-size passenger car engines and light truck engines produce 200 to 500 horsepower. The front wheels on Top Fuel cars are narrow like bicycle wheels to reduce drag. Drag is a force that resists the forward motion of an object.
Funny Cars, like Pro Stock cars, must have a body that resembles a particular model of passenger car. However, the wheelbase (distance between front and rear axles) of Funny Cars is required to be shorter than that of standard passenger cars. This and other requirements gave the cars a strange appearance when they were first introduced in the mid-1960’s and led to the class being named “Funny Cars.” Funny Cars, like Top Fuel cars, use high-octane fuel.
Drag races.
Hundreds of cars may race in a drag meet. The cars race two at a time, accelerating from a standing start. Each race is called a “run” or a “round.” The losing car is eliminated, and the winner advances in the competition to race against another car. The elimination continues until only two cars are left. The winner of the last round is the meet champion.
The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) supervises the major drag races in the United States and Canada. Each year, it conducts more than 20 events in which drivers earn points toward the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Championship. Notable events in the series include the Winternationals in Pomona, California; the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida; and the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Indiana. A smaller organization in the United States, the International Hot Rod Association, also holds drag races. In Europe, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) organizes the European Drag Racing Championship. The race was brought to Europe by American troops serving with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the 1960’s. The New Zealand Hot Rod Association (NZHRA) has been running races since 1966. Since 1973, the Australian National Drag Racing Association has organized races in Australia. Organized drag racing now takes place worldwide, from the Caribbean to South Africa and South Asia.
History.
There is no agreement about how drag racing first got its name. Many believe the name came from the informal term “main drag” for the main roadway in a town. In the United States, the sport began in the early 1930’s, when young men gathered to race against each other on dry lake beds and in illegal events on two-lane stretches of public road. In 1950, C. J. “Pappy” Hart founded a drag strip on an unused runway at the Orange County Airport (now called the John Wayne Airport) in southern California. Santa Ana Drags, as it was called, was the first professional drag strip to charge admission.
Young people from throughout the United States heard about this unique form of racing and traveled to California to watch how the races were organized. Within months of the first drag races at Hart’s drag strip, organized drag racing was flourishing nationally. In 1951, the NHRA was established as the sport’s governing body.
“Big Daddy” Don Garlits was drag racing’s first superstar. A Top Fuel driver, Garlits won 144 major races, 17 World Championship titles, and 8 U.S. Nationals from 1955 to 1992. Other notable drivers have included Joe Amato, Kenny Bernstein, Antron Brown, Larry Dixon, Brittany Force, John Force, Bob Glidden, Tom McEwen, Shirley Muldowney, Don Prudhomme, and Tony Schumacher.
