Hey animal Jim I have a question for you !

[stimpy]

thanks Rock , Doc , and Animal ( I almost typed Zeke )

[art d]

OK, I am a day or two older than most, but I remember them as 66 feet, before and after. I think they changed to the finish line after to many 300 mph's
Art

[draglist]

'Tis true... it used to be a 132 foot trap... 66 before and 66 after the starting line. The MPH was taken by measuring how much time (in fractions of a second) it took to cover that distance. The less time, the higher the MPH. Because of the additional 66 feet past the finish line, racers who used to "drive it out the back door" used to get huge MPH numbers.

At some point, NHRA started freaking out about the big speeds. They stopped awarding championship points for Top Speed of the Meet and they started measuring only the last 66 feet of the strip. The MPH was measured over a shorter distance, but did or did not result in lower speeds, depending on where the drivers clicked it.

Those racers who usually clicked it at or slightly before the starting line before the length changed, actually showed slightly better speeds after the change. This is because speed scrubs off very quickly; for these racers, the final 66 feet past the finish line were recorded while the car was slowing drastically. This caused the average speed over the entire 132 feet to be lower.

However, for those racers who were known to keep their foot in it past the finish line (ANIMAL and others), the speed kept climbing over the last 66 feet, thus reducing the elapsed time it took to cover the overall 132 feet, and THUS, increasing the speed! So for these BIG SPEED guys, the shorter distance reduced their MPH numbers by a few MPH...

PS... do you get yet that I LOVE drag racing numbers! BP

[stimpy]

Isn't our motto ? I have a need for speed ? not I have a need of E.t...

[racersforcoffee]

When the insurance pressures kicked in, the elimination of the last 66 was like shortening the base path! Can't say I ever really 'adjusted' to it-'specially since I was one of those bracket 'baggers you loved to hate-baiting the higher HP cars into the traps with my dinky O/SA....

This is an obvious opening for an ongoing "Ask Animal" advise column- which Bill could make a fixture. Gawd, I could use the comic relief!

[Mr. Jean]

ET is what counts, and wins races. MPH dazzles the fans, and is used for tie-breakers. jmo

There you go! In my day, that's what I built and tuned for. I went after ET and take the stripe. MPH is great and I do love speed, but I'll take quick over speed to get the win.