I have always loved drag racing.
It’s auto racing in its purest form.
No muss, no fuss, no fancy rules, untangled and uncomplicated.
Two cars, side by side, fast as you can, with the first one across the finish line declared the winner.
True, various classes get indexing or handicapping involved and there’s some tricky timing in some of the divisions, but the basic idea is nice and, well, basic.
This basic idea has grown to the most popular form of auto racing based on number of competitors around the world.
The National Hot Rod Association, or NHRA, for example, is just one drag racing sanctioning body, and they boast more than 80 thousand members, 95% of which are non-professional drivers.
That gives you an idea how popular and wide spread drag racing is.
A listener asked me recently why it’s called drag racing. You don’t have to drag anything, unless of course the car breaks part way down the strip.
The reason it’s called drag racing is a bit fuzzy.
The one explanation that makes the most sense is that it started on the main ‘drag’ or street in small towns in California right after World War II, and expanded to off-street competition with better and safer organization.
Interesting now, and one of the main reasons we like this arm of the sport so much, is that it helps get the racing off the street, where it actually got started.
I also like drag racing because it costs very little to get started.
Neighbourhood drag strips often stage strictly stock meets for street cars. Entering takes nothing more than driving your car to the strip, they paint a number on your side window and you’re paired up with all the other hip-pocket John Forces in your town.
When the light turns green, away you go!
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I particularly like High School vs. High School drag racing competitions.
“More Science High” kids bring their cars out to run against their cross town rivals at “Robert E. Lee Memorial.” Go Rebs!
It gets interesting when the local police department brings out their entries marked up like cruisers to see who’s fastest.
That sets up good rapport between the kids, the cops and their cars; and that’s a good thing. It gets back to that message about keeping the racing off the streets.
Another aspect of drag racing that’s very appealing is the lack of a gender barrier.
Male and female drivers are on equal footing in terms of competitive ability and results.
Shirley Muldowney broke down that gender thing back in 60’s when she became the first female driver to earn a pro drag racing license.
A multi-time national and world champion, Shirley is still, to this day, the only female race car driver to win major auto racing championships.
And she earned those titles racing against the guys, straight up!
That tradition is still very much apparent today.
John Force’s daughters are and have been involved in the NHRA pro ranks, running against their legendary father John in Nitro FunnyCars.
Sometimes Courtney beats her Dad and sometimes John is faster than Courtney.
Erica Enders-Stevens has been a power house in Pro Stock, to name another top contending female drag racer.
In terms of winning streaks in professional sport, drag racing is first through the lights.
Still in there slugging and winning, 64 year old John Force is a fifteen-time NHRA FunnyCar champion, but his record of 10 straight championships is unrivaled in any sport.
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Steve Kinser comes close with nine straight World of Outlaws sprint car championships, as does Jimmie Johnson, with his five NASCAR Sprint Cup titles in a string. You can also include the Montreal Canadiens with five-straight Stanley Cups, and five World Series’ in a row for the New York Yankees.
John Force, a drag racer, has better numbers than all those people/teams.
And while all these numbers are very impressive, the main reason I have a big warm on for drag racing is the entertainment value for the ticket buying fan.
And by fan, I certainly include myself.
Your general admission ticket to an NHRA national event is an automatic pit pass.
Unlike any other form of the sport, each and every customer can get right up close to where the crews are working on these amazing machines, especially if we’re dealing with nitro-methane fueled Top Fuel dragsters and FunnyCars.
These engines, just slightly louder than your average act of God, are now being metered at around 8,000 horsepower!
From a standing, idling start, these cars go from 0 to 100 MPH in ONE split second, with speeds topping out between 320 and 330 MPH!
To witness this live is a sensory and auditory assault that is beyond thrilling.
It’s why drag racing gets weekly coverage on Raceline Radio, and has since Day 1, 21 years ago.
Tale Wags: We are just a few short weeks away from heavy equipment on Canadian Motor Speedway land in Fort Erie to start Phase 1 of the historic project. Raceline Radio, the exclusive radio voice of CMS, has the latest news weekly… My first actual vacation in about four years takes the clan to Civil War mecca of Gettysburg, PA. That means a visit to sprint car hot Lincoln Speedway. The iron in the soil there turns the fast clay oval red, and we do mean bright red. Very cool!