Autopartswarehouse.com | The Drag Race

Drag Racing is a sport wherein two cars race down a defined distance as fast as possible.

Drag Racing was born during the post World War II era. Dried lake beds, like the Muroc in Mojave Desert became the setting of a monthly congregation of hot rodders and speed junkies during the 1930s. This is where the first car ever made it passed 100 miles per hour.

Others claim that the Drag Race was born in Goltry, Okla during the early 1900’s.

But for most, Drag Racing began when Wally Parks created the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). The NHRA formalized the sport. Before its establishment in 1951, Drag Racing was not legitimized because of its safety hazards to drivers. NHRA changed that by establishing rules and standards that legitimized Drag Racing. Mr. Wally Parks was NHRA’s founder and first president.

Today, the NHRA is the largest motor sports sanctioning body with over 80,000 members.

About the term…

There are many explanations behind the origin of the term “Drag Racing”. Some say it came from “Drag that car out of the car and race”. There are others that consider the term to be geographical in origin – the “main drag” refers to the city’s main avenue which is usually wide enough and long enough to accommodate a race. Others insist that “Drag” refers to holding the transmission in gear for a longer interval.

Either way, the first “Dragsters” were only street cars that were customized to optimize speed. After years of evolution, customizing “Dragsters” were done by professionals.

As years went by, speed barriers were constantly made and broken by immortals. The latest of which was Tony Schumacher in ’99 who went 330 miles per hour!

Sources: nhra.com