Drag Racing & Street Racing

Drag Racing & Street Racing In the world of motor sports, drag racing stands out as quite an original form of racing when compared with the world of NASCAR and/or Indy racing. Two cars racing side-by-side doesn't sound all that complicated and, in the beginning, drag racing was pretty simple: "It followed the age-old ritual of pitting two individuals against each other in a simple contest of speed. Whoever got to the finish line first was declared the winner" (Miller 10).

The very beginning of drag racing was all a bout impromptu, illegal and dangerous contests held on city streets and country roads. While done in "drag" style (start stop in 1/4 of a mile), this was also the very beginning of street racing. Though races of the aforementioned type were held in many communities, the roots of organized drag racing began in post-World War II America on dry lakebeds in California's Mojave Desert (NHRA 13). Hot-rodders had been coming together since the early 1930s.

Some may argue that drag racing began Wally Parks, one of the founders of the Road Runners Club in 1937. Others say that Goleta Air Base north of Santa Barbara, California was, in 1949, the first site of drag racing (Auto Media). Regardless of who came up with the idea of drag racing first or where the first drag race was held, the important fact is that for approximately 75 years now people have been drag racing -- both competitively, illegally and always dangerously.

Illegal street racing has gone on for just as long as still continues to this day. When we think about drag racing, some of the first images that come to mind are of hoodlums in "souped" up cars, guys racing each other to show off for their girlfriends, men bragging about their mechanical skills and rebuilt engines, fights breaking out over losses, back roads kicking up dirt and gravel.

These are just some of the more iconic images that we see in movies (especially those like "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Grease"). Illegal match racing and street racing was the beginning of drag racing. The earliest form was the standing-start race of two cars over an identical short distance -- usually 1/4 of a mile.

The seemingly random distance of 1/4-mile came from the fact that it was an easily measured distance and because of the fact that anything over that distance would be quite dangerous (Natural Museum of America History), although with drag racing, any distance would appear to be quite dangerous when it is being held on an illegal "track" such as a street.

Back in the golden age of drag racing, there were mass-market novels like Hot Rod by Henry Gregor Felson that made the "hot-rodding phenomenon seem like a widespread form of youth rebellion. Its lurid cover glamorized speed and mobility even as the content warned of the terrible consequences of dangerous driving" (Natural Museum of America History). Each and every hot rod was unique, loud and daring.

The hot rod at its conception was, and still is, an American icon and a "symbol of performance, freedom, and creativity…influencing everything from movies to music" (Dregni 13). In the beginning of the 1950s, promoters built legal drag racing strips with very little investment.

All he (or she) would have to do is lay a bit of asphalt over a 1/2-mile in two wide lanes (the extra bit for the prep and burn-in apron at the starting end together with an over-run beyond the finish line), add some bleachers where spectators could sit and watch, and add a timing apparatus. With these things it was easy to go into business on sunny weekends.

The local law enforcement was usually very pleased by such tracks because it gave the guys with the urge to drag race a safe, legal place to do it. Teenage boys would work on their cars, souping them up to race and bring them to the "strips." If they lost, they would simply bring their cars home and continue working on them, bringing them back the next weekend for the race.

The majority of drag racing fans were and still are people who enjoy working on their own cars (Natural Museum of America History). Going fast was the only real value in drag racing. Briefer and briefer elapsed times, the goal; shaving weight and boosting power any way possible, the means. Cars with comparable kinds of bodies ran in match races, with few restrictions on engine, chassis, and drive-train modifications that owners could try.

The motivating idea -- and the quality that still attracts the die-hard enthusiasts for the form -- is the same "no holds barred" expression of sheer power deftly (Natural Museum of America History). Drag racing rules have changed over the sixty years since Wally Parks helped found the National Hot Rod Association, but they are mainly to accommodate technical changes like fiberglass bodies. There have been additional safety improvements as well, for example, roll cages and fire suppression to help protect the driver (Natural Museum of America History).

These regulations are what make competitive (and legal) drag racing safe. Drag racing on streets is never legal, under any circumstances, and competitive drag racers will be the first to preach about the dangers of illegal street and drag racing.

While drag racing is not as popular as Indy or NASCAR, that is most likely because drag racing is more of a mechanics' form of racing than a drivers' form, "but any enthusiast will rightly point out the skills of the drivers of such high-powered cars, the fastest of which now exceed 300 mph in "the quarter" (Natural Museum of America History. Drag racing and street racing are full of history and tradition. As mentioned, the images of the early drag racers have become iconic in our culture.

Movie stars such as James Dean and Steve McQueen were some of the most memorable actors who played guys who had "a need for speed." Professional drag racing is steeped in American tradition and it also helps shake off the stereotype that street racing and drag racing are just juvenile shenanigans. Drag racing and street racing are, undoubtedly, quite symbolic for many.