Welcome to Something for Nothing

Drag racing is the world’s greatest hobby. Drag racing can be very fun, but it takes a lot of preparation and experience to become a good racer. Here’s a quick look at what it’s like to spend a day at the race track.

A normal day at the race track starts out with a warm-up. The purpose of the warm-up is just to make sure that the car is functioning normally and no last minute adjustments need to be made. After the warm-up it is time to take the car to tech inspection. Trained personnel makes sure everything on the car is legal and abides by all the rules in the rule book. After the tech inspection it is time to go back to the pit area. The pit area is where everyone parks their trailers and keeps their equipment.

Next come the practice passes. Every track is different, and the track determines the number of passes the driver gets. At my home track, The Las Vegas Motor Speedway, we get two practice passes. The announcer calls each class to the staging lanes for their practice passes. The staging lanes are an area behind the race track where each class meets before heading under the tower. Once everyone is ready, the announcer will then tell everyone to move forward under the tower. In this position the driver puts on his/her suit on and gets in the car. After the driver is ready it is time to pull up to the water box where the car is now started and the driver begins to do a burnout. In order to do a burnout, the driver must hit the gas, hold on for about three seconds, and then let off. The purpose of the burnout is to warm up the tires and the engine. After the burnout, the driver stages the car, waits for the lights to come down, and hits the gas!

After the practice pass information like the R.T. (reaction time), E.T. (elapsed time), and M.P.H. (mile per hour) are gained. A good racer keeps track of their information in a log book, which will be helpful later in the day. A reaction time is based off of something called a Christmas tree. A Christmas tree has two white bulbs, three yellow bulbs, one green bulb, and one red bulb, respectively. The first white bulb is called the pre-stage. This is when the front tires are half way into the stage position. When the second white bulb lights up, the driver is completely in the stage position (or ready position). Once the drivers’ opponent is staged as well the yellow lights start to come down. The normal race car leaves when the third yellow bulb comes on. This gives the car time to react and leave. If the light turns green, then the driver is in a good position, but if it turns red, the driver is automatically disqualified.

Normally after the two practice passes there is a qualifying pass. The qualifying pass is very similar to a practice pass. It determines the ladder for the first elimination round based on the best reaction time. The ladder determines the drivers’ opponent for the first round. The number one qualifier will race the last qualifier; the number two qualifier will race the second to last qualifier and so on. After the ladder is determined it is time for the elimination round.

The elimination round is a little different from the practice passes. In the elimination round the driver must put a dial-in on his/her car. A dial-in is an estimate of what the driver thinks the car is going to run for that pass. The driver must take in consideration how much the wind and weather have changed. This is where a log book comes in handy. If the car goes faster than the dial-in it is called a break-out and the driver is disqualified. During the elimination round, once the driver is eliminated, he/she is out of the race entirely. The number of cars is cut in half after each round until there are only two cars left. This round is called the final round and determines the winner of the race.

Throughout the season the driver gains a certain amount of points depending on his/her results, with the winner receiving the most and the first round loser receiving the least. The number one qualifier gets an extra two points. This helps from having a tie breaker at the end of the season. After the season is over, the driver claims his/her best eight out of ten finishes and the person with the most points is declared the champion.