Brenda Williams

Drag racing is one of the most chanceful and deadly hobbies around the United States and the world. Drag racing is illegal in most areas of the country and is done late at night on long stretches of road between two usually inexperienced drivers. Inexperienced means that they are not professional race car drivers. There is legal drag racing in the United States and it takes place on a innocuous race track. Two vehicles race down a long track with a set distance at top speed and deploy a parachute at the end of the race to help with the breaking process.

The National Hot Rod Association, also known as the NHRA, is in charge of overseeing the majority of drag races in the United States. The second largest racing organization is the International Hot Rod Association, also known as the IHRA. There are five classes in drag racing in the NHRA and the IHRA. They are the Top Fuel Dragster, the Top Fuel Funny Car, the Pro Modified, the Pro Stock and the Pro Stock Bike. The latter is a heavily modified motorcycle and is only raced in the NHRA. Some unprofessional yet favourite classes are the Super Stock, the Sport Compact, the Top Sportsman, the Pro FWD and the Top Alcohol Dragster.

Here is a brief list of terms and their definitions regarding drag racing from Drag Racing Made Easy’s website:

•Beam—starting line electric eye controlling “pre-staged” and “staged” lights

•Blow—supercharge; wreck. Said of an engine.

•Digger—dragster (as distinct from a bodied car or flopper)

•Flopper—Funny Car, short for “fender flopper.” Coined by dragster crews in the late 1960s to separate Funny Cars, which had fiberglass bodies with fenders, from dragsters. Erroneously attributed to flip-top bodies of Funny Cars.

•Fuel—mix of methanol and nitromethane (”pop”, nitro); race class using it

•Holeshot—getting a significant advantage off the starting line. The other driver gets “holeshotted” or “left at the tree”. A “holeshot win” is any win in a heads-up class where a slower car beats a faster car because of better reaction time.

•Hook Up—Good traction between tires and track resulting in increased acceleration and reduced slipping or smoking of tires.

•Nitro—nitromethane (sometimes incorrectly used to refer to nitrous oxide)

•Overdrive-The ratio between the revolutions of the supercharger to the revolutions of the engine, controlling amount of boost; see underdrive

•Rail—dragster (as distinct from bodied car or flopper). From the exposed frame rails of primeval cars.

•Slingshot—early front-engined dragster, titled for the driving position behind the rear wheels (erroneously attributed to launch speed)

•Top end—finish line of strip; high part of engine’s rev band.

•Traction bars—rear struts fixed to rear axle to keep rear axle from twisting, causing wheel hop and loss of traction; also called slapper bars.

•Wheelie bars—rear struts fixed to rear axle, which deform out to rear of car to help prevent car’s front from rasing too high or flipping over on launch.

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