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Drag racing
is a form of specialized automobile racing that is most popular in the
United States, although it is also practiced on a limited basis in
England, Canada, and Australia. In a drag race, two entries start side
by side, aiming to finish the straight-line course—called the drag
strip and usually 1/4-mi (0.4-km) long—in as fast a time as
possible. Such cars, known as drag racers, take many forms. Some have
engines behind the driver and parachute-assisted braking. Speeds are
maintained only for a short burst, but are calculated in miles per hour
and also in seconds.
Drag racing owes its
origin to hot rods, cars specially modified for improved
acceleration and speed, which were first built in southern California in
the late 1930s. Drag racing was formalized in 1937 with the creation of
the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA), an organization of
automobile enthusiasts who raced their cars in the California desert.
World War II (1939-1945) interrupted development of the sport, but after
1945 it blossomed, helped by the U.S. Air Force, which saw drag racing
as a way to identify young men who could serve in the mechanical and
flight crews of the bombers that made up the Strategic Air Command. The
first paved strips for drag racing, in fact, were runways at air bases
and airports. The first formal drag strip was opened in Goleta,
California, in 1948. The sport spread rapidly, and today there are
hundreds of drag-strip facilities on which more than 5000 events are run
annually. American drag racing is overseen by numerous organizations,
the most important of which is the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA),
located in Glendora, California
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