A beginner's guide to racing at the drag strip. This How-To explains some of the fundamentals of racing at the drag strip, how to stage, what all those lights mean on the tree, and different launching techniques. Also included is an explanation of bracket racing for those of you who are looking for something other than all-out ground-pounding racing!
Submitted By: BAFMustangGT, Code001, and MarvinMyCat
Racing At The Drag Strip
Before you go to the tree, you may want to warm up your tires especially if you have drag radials. You will want to back up or drive into the "water box". This is a place where they spray down some water so you can spin your tires and warm them up. You should put your car into 2nd (if you have a manual), rev it up to 4000 RPMs and drop it. After you drop it you will want to slam on the brake and hold it a few seconds till you see smoke flowing out of the tires. Let go and drive to the staging area. This should only take 6 or 7 seconds.
When you stage, there are staging lights and there are tree lights. The staging lights will be off to the side of the tree lights on the top. Move your car forward slowly until the first set of staging lights come on. This is called pre-stage. Once your opponent has lit his/her staging lights, bump your car forward till the staging lights come on. Once you are both staged, you will have about 3 seconds until the tree lights flow. They are quick, so be ready!
The launch is the most important thing. I do not watch the lights come down, I only watch the 3rd set of launch lights (which are yellow). When it comes on, (do not anticipate, wait for them to come on) mash on the accelerator hard and fast! If you wait for the green light to come on, you will be +1 seconds for your reaction time (RT). If you go too fast, you will get a .499 or lower RT, which is bad, and you will have a penalty. A perfect RT is .500, which can only be obtained by launching at the 3rd yellow. The red light at the bottom will go off when you leave the starting line before the green light is activated, resulting in disqualification.
Dump Vs. Slip
Many people start out with the "dump" because it is very easy. When the 3rd yellow light comes on, they just dump the clutch and wait for it to catch (sometimes people get good practice and learn where to dump to get instant traction). The only problem with this, is when you dump it, the front end will rise up only a few inches, if that. When gravity starts to pull the front end back down, it hits the ground causing the suspension to compress. This down force is typically hard for the engine to counter thereby slowing the car down and causing the driver to have higher 60’ times.
Another way to launch is called "slipping". This consists of the driver letting out the clutch in a controlled manner so the tires do not slip. If they do slip, pushing the clutch in just enough to gain traction is the means to compensate this. This makes the front end rise in a manner that will not allow the front end to come down fast because power is being added and applied throughout the whole launch. This takes a lot more practice but can be a better launch in the long run.
Alternate Drag Racing - Bracket Racing
Some people new to drag racing do not know about the handicapping system which will allow motor enthusiasts of all types of varying degrees of skills and vehicle setups to race one another, as well as provide for a fun and challenging day at the track.
A bracket race is best described as a handicap, which allows the competition to be on equal grounds. Just because you are lined up against a 12-second car, doesn't mean you can't beat him with your 17-second car. The idea behind this is similar to handicapping oneself at golf. When you are the better team, you give the disadvantage to them by giving them points. In bracket racing, if you are running with a 17-second quarter mile car, and the guy next to you is running a 12-second quarter mile car, then he will have to wait an extra 5 seconds AFTER you start in order to make the match fair. If you were to run your EXACT 17-second quarter mile, and he were to run his EXACT 12-second quarter mile, you should both cross the finish line at EXACTLY the same time.
When you enter onto the track, an official will call up to the timing tower to get your "dial-in" time. This is the time, which you think you will run the quarter mile in. The "dial-in" time is what you will establish the day before the actual elimination day. In some cases, it may be the same day but just earlier. The runs are called time trials. These are the runs that you want to try and go your fastest to see what you and your car are capable of. This is the time in which you want to try different approaches to your launch, dump or slip. These runs are all about you and no one else as these are just practice runs.
After you have figured out your dial-in time, you will want to run as close to that time as possible. This is where consistency comes into play. The other half of winning in bracket racing is your "reaction time". This is what can make you instantly lose a race. In a bracket race, you will most likely face a .500 second tree, which means that between each light is a half of a second. When it comes to your reaction time, your number one opponent is the tree.
Keeping you car legal is a major part of racing. A Lot of people make modifications and they don’t think of the consequences it will have if they do it wrong. More often than not, a racer will do something that they think is legal, only to find out that it is not accepted by track officials or the event holders technical inspection. Many of these things can be avoided simply by purchasing an NHRA rulebook. If you build your car to NHRA legal standards, you will be able to compete in nearly every event you want to enter. If you are looking into racing different styles, such as SCCA, Road race, etc. check with the sanctioning body to figure out if you have to follow all of the NHRA standards. In most cases, they have a completely different set of rules for car setup and race safety. Check these things before you end up wasting your time and money on safety features that you may or may not need. You can get these rules simply by calling the the organizations and ordering a rule book or going online to get them.