The race
Several things are important on the way down the track in drag racing. The first is not to cross into your opponent's lane, as this will result in disqualification. In case of a double disqualification in which one driver commits a foul start and the second driver crosses into his opponent's lane, the driver who committed the foul start wins. Another important consideration is when to shift gears. Most drag cars are shifted manually by the driver, and there are optimum times for shifting that vary with each car. Typically, power will increase as the engine RPMs (revolutions per minute) increase, but only up to a point before power begins to taper off. The ideal time to shift is at the peak power point. Most drag racers use a tachometer to judge shift points. In Fuel classes especially, "pedalling" the car (adjusting the throttle) to prevent loss of traction is often important, is one measure of how good a driver is.
Strategies for crossing the finish line usually only involve bracket racing (see above). If one car has a huge lead, it may slow down before crossing the finish line to prevent a breakout. Especially in bracket racing, it is not uncommon to see the leading vehicle's brake lights come on briefly before the finish line. The term "sandbagging" is used in races where the driver in a bracket race puts a slower "dial in" (the predicted E.T.) that he/she could run and then at the finish line tap the brakes lightly or lift of the gas pedal to reduce the E.T. to run as close as possible to the dial in.
If both cars break out, the car closer to their dial-in wins. In NHRA Junior Dragster racing, however, there is a maximum elapsed time where a car which is faster than the maximum permissible time is ejected from the entire race. This is faster than the official break out elapsed time.
Several things are important on the way down the track in drag racing. The first is not to cross into your opponent's lane, as this will result in disqualification. In case of a double disqualification in which one driver commits a foul start and the second driver crosses into his opponent's lane, the driver who committed the foul start wins. Another important consideration is when to shift gears. Most drag cars are shifted manually by the driver, and there are optimum times for shifting that vary with each car. Typically, power will increase as the engine RPMs (revolutions per minute) increase, but only up to a point before power begins to taper off. The ideal time to shift is at the peak power point. Most drag racers use a tachometer to judge shift points. In Fuel classes especially, "pedalling" the car (adjusting the throttle) to prevent loss of traction is often important, is one measure of how good a driver is.
Strategies for crossing the finish line usually only involve bracket racing (see above). If one car has a huge lead, it may slow down before crossing the finish line to prevent a breakout. Especially in bracket racing, it is not uncommon to see the leading vehicle's brake lights come on briefly before the finish line. The term "sandbagging" is used in races where the driver in a bracket race puts a slower "dial in" (the predicted E.T.) that he/she could run and then at the finish line tap the brakes lightly or lift of the gas pedal to reduce the E.T. to run as close as possible to the dial in.
If both cars break out, the car closer to their dial-in wins. In NHRA Junior Dragster racing, however, there is a maximum elapsed time where a car which is faster than the maximum permissible time is ejected from the entire race. This is faster than the official break out elapsed time.
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