How To Get Started In Drag Racing – Drag racing is the fastest, loudest, and perhaps most spectacular of all motorsports. It pits drivers and their cars against each other in pairs from a standing start on a standard straight course of up to a quarter-mile. In this month’s Revolution, we answer some of the most frequently asked questions about how to get started in this exciting discipline.
Four wheels and a power unit. There is a huge range of different vehicle categories to choose from, starting with production vehicles on the road. The highest level is Top Fuel Dragsters, which includes an extremely professional level of engineering.
How To Get Started In Drag Racing
Yes, if your car is road-legal you can compete with anything you go on. However, if it is not road legal, it will need to be trailered to the venue.
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At entry level (such as ‘Run What Ya Brung’ events) you don’t need any other kit – you don’t need a crash helmet unless your car has a soft top or can reach 110mph at the finish line. If you’re at a formal level of competition, you’ll need approved fire-resistant clothing, a crash helmet and possibly additional safety gear, depending on the class you’re in.
In the lowest class, costs are minimal – for road vehicles the main costs are regular tires and regular fuel. However, in higher classes, costs will increase as more specialist equipment and preparation is required.
Often, people camp on the track – either in tents, caravans, or motorhomes. Around Santa Pod, located between Bedford and Northampton, there are also many hotels, guesthouses and Airbnb properties.
A public track day such as ‘Run What Ya Brung’ at Santa Pod costs £65. This includes entry to the event, the sign-on fee for a standard event and unlimited running on the track.
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Accuracy, precision, and consistency of application are key to being successful, as is having a cool head. You also need to empathize with your machinery and understand its characteristics, capabilities, and quirks, and you need to assess and analyze the track and the atmospheric conditions to gauge slip levels and optimize your start.
In handicap racing (also known as ‘bracket racing’) you need to be able to assess and pick accurate dial-in times and it’s also important to hone your launch techniques, gearshifts and finish line sighting.
Finally, in any category, having an element of mechanical aptitude helps, as drag racing is a ‘hands-on’ motorsport – and it’s even better if you have a friend or two willing to get their hands dirty!
A drag race is an acceleration contest between two cars from a standing start over a measured distance – traditionally a quarter-mile, sometimes less, no more. The winner of each pairing advances to the next round, the loser is eliminated, and the competition continues until one winner remains – a knockout tournament like FA Cup football or Wimbledon tennis.
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At its most basic level, non-competition, unsanctioned events – such as Run What Ya Brung track days – allow unlimited runs and are timed only by the clock. Some individuals simply choose to confine their track activities to these types of events, rather than stepping up to sanctioned competition.
Permitted race meetings typically run over two or more days and begin with qualifying against the clock, with elimination rounds for qualifying racers ending the meeting.
Drag racing comes in two forms: heads-up racing (usually the faster class) and bracket or break-out racing (usually the slower class). The heads-up format sees equalized cars compete against each other without handicaps, while bracket competition involves cars of unequal type and output, with handicap starts and staggered timing to be the things in the strip. In bracket racing, competitors who ‘break out’ – dip below their designated index or selected dial-in time – will be penalized.
The racing is intense and the pressures are immense as head-to-head runs are often decided by fractions of a second.
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The competition is gender neutral, so male and female racers compete together. Junior competitors can start with a minimum entry age of eight, while Seniors start at 16.
Drag racing is an engaging sport and encourages new entrants when they are out of the car – fierce competition is usually confined to the starting line!
You win each elimination match by crossing the finish line ahead of your opponent (subject to bracket racing breakout rules) and you win the overall event by beating all of your opponents, round by round, until only you survive.
The sport has many different classes and racers can compete for trophies and prize money in individual events, while also earning points towards seasonal championships.
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The top category is Top Fuel and that’s the equivalent of Formula 1. An explosion on wheels, legendary racer Tony Schumacher once described it as “like being rear-ended at traffic lights by a cement truck doing 200mph!” It’s a team sport, but the driver must be able to withstand an intense physical assault while controlling a car that tops 300mph in less than four seconds.
Organized drag racing is an original and autonomous motorsport discipline, full of its own philosophy and structure, intricacies and requirements. There may be occasional crossovers with circuit racing, often with sprinting and land-speed record competition.
The most popular venue in the UK is Santa Pod Raceway, which is the only track in the UK equipped to accommodate sanctioned competition to the highest level. However, this isn’t the only place you can go drag racing in the UK. Straightliners run events at Melbourne Raceway, near York, and Dakota Raceway, in Devon, while Perranporth Driving Center uses Spitfire Raceway in Cornwall. In Scotland, there is a 1/4-mile strip at Crail Raceway, on the Fife coast, which runs regular events.
It’s very simple for any Club to hold a drag event – all they need is a straight road or track on private property (NOT on a public highway!). The length is not specified, but it must be wide enough to accommodate two vehicles side by side from a standing start without risk of collision and enough space beyond the finish line for the vehicles to slow down safely.
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Early drag races were started by the flag, and this remains possible today, while a finish-line observer (perhaps with a running slow-motion video camera for very tight finishes) is all that is needed to determine which car is the first to cross the finish line. . Of course, safety standards must always be followed and any formal, sanctioned competition must comply with Motorsport UK regulations.
Start by reading as much as you can about the sport and attending and watching a drag race as a spectator to see if it appeals. Free access to the paddock is standard at all events, allowing a close-up view of the entire process and a chance to talk to all the racers you see there.
If it appeals and you have a fully valid driving license (or relevant Motorsport UK licence), take your car to a public track day and give it a try. You’ll find that there’s always someone around ready to pass on knowledge, so make sure you talk to anyone and everyone you can.
If you want to progress further, it’s a good idea to attend the annual ‘Dial-In Day’ at Santa Pod in March, as it provides a thorough classroom and on-track grounding in the fundamentals of the sport. You can then get a club membership and a Motorsport UK competition license and enter an event. Any rookie must complete three observed runs to demonstrate ability to the Race Director’s satisfaction before entering full competition.
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Whether your car is showroom-stock or slightly modified, the Sportsman ET is the starting point – elapsed time brackets from 30.00sec to no more than 12.00sec. No technical inspections or tests are required, except for basic vehicle safety. Faster classes require stricter technical vehicle inspection appropriate to the class (including driver’s clothing).
At the highest level, there are classes for Top Fuel Dragster, Pro Modified, Top Methanol and Pro Stock in the FIA European Drag Racing Championships, while the British Drag Racing Championship is for Pro-Modified vehicles.
The Santa Pod Racers Club National Championship runs the Pro Mod and Sportsman categories, while there are Club Championships for the Sportsman classes at the SPRC, Melbourne Raceway and Crail Raceway. The website Eurodragster.com lists many of the different championships available. Chances are, if you love cars, you’ve participated in at least one stoplight race (or more) in your life. While it’s certainly frowned upon (don’t worry; we’re not here to teach you the legalities and dangers), you do have alternatives, making it legal at your local drag strip. It’s easy to forget how far drag racing has progressed in the 60+ years since the 50s car freakout was all that was going on. Early drag strips were funded in large part by social fraternal groups, such as the Elks or the Lions as a solution to rampant street racing and all the chaos that often resulted. The goal is