Evo Street Racers: How To Drag Race

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Evo Street Racers Official How to Drag Race article.

THE TRACK
A standard quarter mile or eighth mile drag strip is 60’ wide utilizing a concrete pad for the first few hundred feet with the remainder of the track an agrate mix of concrete and asphalt.

TECH INSPECTION
After entering the drag strip facility, you want to drive to the tech inspection. There are two purposes for tech inspection, safety and to fairness (check vehicles that are participating in racing series for mechanical advantages). Most tracks adhere to the minimum safety standards:

The Battery terminals are tight.
• Battery is properly secured to the vehicle.
• Coolant overflow tank and hoses are secured and functioning properly.
• No fluid leaks onto the ground.
• Drive belts are in good condition.
• Wheel studs and lug nuts are installed & torqued.
• Street tires have a minimum of 3/32 tread depth.
• Nitrous bottle is vented to the outside of the car.
• Seat is properly secured to the floor.
• Seat belt is functioning properly without any tears.
•All loose objects in the vehicle are either in the trunk or removed entirely.
•Pants and a shirt are minimum racing attire for a car.
•No passengers in vehicle while racing.
• All vehicles running 13.99 or quicker require the driver to wear a snell 90 helmet or better.

STAGING LANES - WATER BOX
Upon entering the staging lanes, the racer will come to an area called the head of staging. At the head of staging the racer will be directed to the burnout box by the staging lane employee. From the burnout box, when directed by the water box employee, the next step is staging the vehicle on the starting line. Street tires vehicles should not burnout and go around the water as the above yellow Chevrolet Cavalier has done, while slick tire vehicles should perform a short burnout like that of the above white Trans Am.

STARTING LINE
To stage and start a drag race, a drag strip utilizes an indicator device called a Christmas Tree that which is usually located ~40’ ahead of the starting line. As the vehicles approach the starting line two small yellow bulbs at the top of the tree will signal the driver that s/he is in pre-stage. Thereafter, the vehicle must roll up an additional seven inches setting off the second set of yellow bulbs, known as stage, in order to activate the Christmas Tree to count down. Three large amber bulbs will fall down at a .5 second difference followed by a green bulb. If a vehicle leaves previous to the green bulb the red bulb will light up, indicating a foul start thereby giving the other driver an automatic win.

THE FINISH LINE
After crossing the finish line, the driver should let off the throttle and slowly apply the brakes. Absolutely NO HARD BRAKING, as it will induce a skid and pose a danger to yourself and your competitor. Based on the turn off locations, the vehicle that has the turn off location on his/her side exits first (unless their is a large speed difference). No matter what the circumstance, do not turn around on the track. If your vehicle breaks down do not continue to cruise down the track rather apply the breaks and pull towards the wall; track officials will assist removing your vehicle. The shut down area is utilized to slow the vehicle down after making a pass on the track and can range in distance from a quarter mile to 3/4 of a mile. The shut down areas will have one to three turn off areas to gain access to the return road. For emergency purposes after the shut down area there will either be a gravel pit, sand pit, catch nets, foam blocks, or tires in case if your vehicle cannot slow down in time. Keep in mind, if your vehicle enters a gravel pit or sand trap it is critical for steering wheel to be kept straight.

THE RETURN ROAD
After exiting the track the racer will follow the return road to the ET shack where s/he will receive a time slip. Thereafter the speed limit in the pits are around 10-15 mph; the racer can return immediately back to the staging lanes to race or go into the pits.

STREET TIRES
There are three main tires used on a drag strip; street, drag radials, and slicks. Street tires are not designed for burnouts because it superheats them thereby providing poor traction. The recommendation for a street tire is to go AROUND the water box and accelerate hard to the starting line to remove any debris off the tires. Street tires also remove the traction compound, VHT or VP, unlike slicks and a few drag radials that put down rubber. The inherit conflict/problems is that racers do not remove the debris off their tires by accelerating hard to the starting line and then rip up the VHT creating poor track conditions.

SLICK TIRES Christmas Tree
On the opposite side of the tire spectrum are slicks which are designed to be heated up to work correctly. Do to the amazing traction these tires support, water is usually required to get them to spin without doing damage to the drive train. Like previously noted, slicks leave a rubber compound, unlike street tires who remove it, hence why conditions can improve over a professional racing period (assuming that the track temperature does not dramatically change).

CUTTING A GOOD LIGHT
The average human’s reaction time is .2 seconds while the average vehicle’s reaction time from when the gas pedal is depressed to when it starts to move is .3 seconds. When competing on a Sportsman Tree, in order to cut a perfect light of .5 you should go on the third amber light.

TYPES OF RACING
Heads Up: The first car to cross the finish line wins.
Index: The index is a time constraint on a heads up race, where if a driver goes faster than the index, they lose. It allows different classes of cars to race together.
Bracket (ET): A handicapped form of competition where the dial-in for each vehicle is compared. The slower car receives a head start equal to the difference of the two vehicles with the theory being that both cars will cross the finish line at the same time. A good bracket racer is not defined by how fast his vehicle is, rather how skilled s/he is at being consistent and cutting a good light.

DRAG STRIP TERMINOLOGY

Break-out: When a car runs quicker than its dial-in. The driver loses the race unless the other car breaks out by more, red lights, or crosses the center.

Christmas Tree: Composed of a two sets of staging lights, three amber lights, a green light, and red light. Used to stage a car and start the race.

Deep Staging: Utilized by experienced racers, it puts the vehicle closer to the finish line, decreases the racers reaction time, increases elapsed time and reduces the final trap speed, putting him/her closer to disqualification.

Delay Box (Box): Is an electronic device used to aid the driver at the starting line. The driver can dial a number into the box called the delay. Used in conjunction with a transmission brake and a two-step, the driver holds down a button mounted on his/her steering wheel, activating the transbrake and two step, and then lets go of the button the instant he sees the of amber from the first bulb. The delay box will then count the thousandths of a second dictated by the driver and release the transbrake and two-step.

Dial In: Anticipated E.T. a vehicle will run. Scoreboard

Elapsed Time (ET): The time between when the car starts and reaches the end of the 1/4 mile.

Line-lock: Allows the driver to apply the brakes on one set of tires by hitting a button. Based on your drivetrain configuration, the linelock will be applied to the wheels that are not driven. Four-wheel line-locks are used to simulate a transbrake.

Pro Tree: Three ambers illuminate on the Christmas tree at the same instant with the green illuminating .4 seconds later.
Reaction Time (R/T): The delay that occurs when the last yellow light is turned on and the car clears the stage beam. The green light is turned on .5 seconds in a sportsman tree and .4 on Pro tree after the last yellow is lit up, therefore a R/T value of .5 or .4 is a perfect light.

Red-light: A red-light occurs if a car leaves the line before the green light comes on. During competition, this will immediately give the win to the opponent, unless the opponents crosses the center line.

Sandbagging: This is the practice of dialing-in an ET that is much slower than the ET that a car runs so that the vehicle should always hit the finish line first.

Shallow Staging: is utilized by beginners because it puts the racer further away from the finish line thereby increases reaction time, reduces elapsed time and increases trap speed.

Time Trials: A limited amount of passes prior to qualifying or the actual race.

Transbrake: A device that allows a car to remain stationary even when the motor is under power. Working only on an automatic transmission it places first gear and reverse at the same time. With gears of the same ratio but in the opposite direction the car will not move. Upon pressing a button, the reverse gear is released allowing for a powerful launch.

Trap Speed: Refers to a car's MPH measured during the last 60 feet of the 1/4-mile. Taking the weight of a car and the trap speed makes for a good indicator of how much horsepower an engine has.