Since I have been helping out at our local track, I’ve noticed that every week there have been a few people who come in and want to try their hand at drag racing their daily driven street car for the first time. I will always encourage a new person to give it a try, especially a young person. Drag racing tracks were invented to get young people off of the streets where racing is dangerous and onto the strip where it can be controlled and is much safer. But anyone at any age that has a driver’s license can race! So get out there! It is a lot of fun!
If you want to race your street car here is some advice to get you started.
The really neat thing about drag racing that other forms of motorsports can’t say as easily is that anyone with a driver’s license can race. And you can race on the very same tracks that the pro’s race on! The concept of racing your car is basically the same as racing the professional’s car. The main difference is speed.
I first recommend you attend some races at your local track to just watch. Don’t just sit in the stands though. A spectator entry gets you access to the pits, too. Walk around and look at the other cars. Observe the other drivers and crews. Pick a car or two you are interested in and watch them throughout the night to get an idea of their routine and how they do things. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Most racers are very happy to help and if you happen to get someone who isn’t helpful, ask someone else.
Then I would talk to the track personnel, either the guys who check the cars over before racing, called tech or at the front gate. Ask for a list of rules and if they have any notes they can give you for new people who want to learn to race. Tell them you want to bring your car down and try it and are looking for advice. Most track personnel are happy to help and have literature that you can take and read.
At local tracks they usually have two days or nights per week they are open with the occasional third day for a special race. One day will be for what is called test and tune. Test and tune is not a race day, it is where anyone can bring any car to test it and see how it will run. Usually everyone pays the same flat fee and you are allowed to make multiple runs within the time that the track is open. I recommend you come first on these test and tune days to get some practice before trying out on a race day.
When you arrive at the track you will pay your test and tune fee at the gate. They will then give you what is called a tech card. Take your car and the tech card to “tech” where the track personnel will look over your car and make sure it is safe to race. Ask the front gate where tech is if you are not sure.
Once you arrive at tech, fill out your card and hand it to one of tech guys. Once your car has been approved they will hand you back a slip that was attached to your tech card that has your car number assigned to you. Keep this piece of paper with the car at all times as you cannot make any runs without it. Tech will write your car number on the windshield and on the right front window of your car with a special shoe polish like marker so the tower personnel can read it. Leave this number on the car throughout the night. Then find a place to “pit”. A pit space is where race cars park. Just be sure not to block entry to someone else’s pit space and you cannot park in the staging lanes.
The track will usually have a schedule of what kind of car runs when. They will separate street tire vehicles from the race cars that have slicks. Slicks are the rear tires of race cars that do not have tread. Racing slicks cannot be driven on the street and are designed to help the tire grip the track on takeoff, hopefully reducing tire spin.
Though the basics are the same, since you will start out racing your street car you won’t have as much prep work to do before or during the race as other faster cars do. You will however want to make sure the tire pressure in your tires are the correct amounts, that the oil and coolant levels are good and do not run down the track with your air conditioning on. Running with the A/C on not only slows you down, it drips water on the track making it slippery and dangerous for the faster cars. Do not run if your car is leaking any type of fluid for safety’s sake.
Then you want to listen to the track announcer call for street tire vehicles to the lanes. Some tracks have radio station frequencies you can tune your radio to hear the announcer. When he calls street tires to the lanes he will state what lane numbers they want you in. The lanes are numbered and one lane will lead you up to the right side of the track and the lane next to it to the other side of the track. Find out which numbered lane takes you to what side and pick whatever lane you want to try first. The street cars will all line up in the lanes and when ready the track will start pulling them out two by two. Move up as the car in front of you moves up. When you get up closer to the top of the lane get ready to hand your run ticket that tech gave you to a track official who will punch it with a hole punch signifying this is your first run of the evening. Then wait for him to wave you forward. Your card will be punched everytime you make a run.
You will then pull into what is called the water box. This is where race cars do their burnouts. A burnout is designed to not only clean off any rocks or debris from the rear tires, it is also designed to heat them up to help them “stick” better upon takeoff. Learning to do a good burnout is crucial to racing a car and can take coaching and practice. But since you are driving a street car that is most probably a front wheel drive car you will not be doing a burnout. If you tried doing a burnout with your front wheel drive street car, you could end up causing damage to your car and engine. So I would recommend you drive around the water if you can. Then line yourself up straight with your rear tires on the outside edge of the water.
If you have a rear wheel drive street car and you want to try a small burnout then ask the guy in the water box to tell you when to stop after pulling through the water. If you are doing a burnout you want to be on the edge of the water not in it. The idea of the water is to get the tires a little wet so they will spin. Watch the starter, the guy who sets the Christmas Tree (the starting lights) he will motion for your burnouts to start. You want to hit the throttle fast while holding the brake, but do not over rev the engine. This is where help and practice comes in. Do a burnout to about ¾ of the way up to the line. If you are not doing a burnout, accelerate hard up to the line to heat the tires up. Just be sure not to overheat your brakes or over rev your engine. Be prepared to not do it right the first several tries and ask for help and advice from other racers. Stop when you are ¾ of the way to the starting line.
Now you want to slowly approach the first stripe on the track. If you have been watching other cars run then you know there are two stages – pre-staged and fully staged. The first stripe is the pre-stage. When your wheel hits the pre-stage beam it will light the very top bulbs on your side of the Tree. When these top bulbs light up on your side, stop and wait for the other car to light his if he hasn’t already done so. When the other car’s top bulbs are lit you are both Pre-Staged. Then you want to ever so slowly creep about six inches till the second set of yellow bulbs are lit on your side. When the other car’s second set of bulbs are lit you both are now Fully Staged. At this point the starter will flip a switch to start the tree. The next bulbs to light are the three yellow bulbs from top to bottom. When you see the last yellow bulb flash on, stomp hard on the accelerator. You’re off!
I recommend leaving at an idle the first couple of times till you get comfortable leaving the line. Then you can do what is called footbraking where you have your left foot on the brake and you rev your engine up to usually no more than 3000 rpm depending on your engine, which will allow you leave harder and faster.
Once going down track you want to obviously keep in your lane. Oh and by the way, you must be wearing your seat belt. You should know where the finish line is. At least I hope you scoped that out before you started. Once you pass the finish line, de-accelerate slowly and find the turn off. There are rules to turning off. Usually whoever is on the same side of the turn off or gets to the turn off first turns off the track first. Keep this simple rule in mind as you do not want to turn in front of another car as you may very well be t-boned in the side. Always be aware of where that other car is for safety’s sake.
Be sure to get off the track fast. You don’t want to linger as the next pair of cars are waiting their turn to run. When you turn off the track and start to come back up the return road you will want to stop off at the time slip booth to get your time slip. This piece of paper will show you both your car’s run and the other car. Find your car number and look at that column of numbers. It will give you your reaction time (expect that to be bad your first time out) and the other times and mph increments down the track. You will want to keep this time slip and compare it to the other runs you will be making to see how you are improving. Once you have your time slip, go back to your pit space and wait for the next session of street tires to be called to the lanes.
That’s it. Feel the adrenaline rush? It’s a neat feeling isn’t it. And it only gets more fun from there as you get more comfortable with what you have to do and as you get better. Expect mistakes and don’t be embarrassed when you make them. Everyone makes them, even seasoned professionals. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and strike up conversations with other racers. You’ll make some great friends at the track.
I’ll cover more details of learning to race later. Till then, keep the most important rule in mind – have fun!!!
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