Damned Drag Racers!

[Ree]

Posts like this make me angry.

No need to be nasty about it.

OK...let's calm down.

Thank you for educating us on the sport of drag racing, but for as long as I have been around, the type of racing being referred to has always been known as "drag racing".
I understand that it's now done on sanctioned tracks with rules, but I don't think that was always the case, so please have patience with those of us caught in the past.

Even the NHRA doesn't really know where the name came from (note the highlighted part) :

"Although the tiretracks of its history are clear, the origin of the term "drag racing" is not. The theories are almost as many and varied as the machines that have populated its ranks for five decades. Explanations range from a simple challenge ("Drag your car out of the garage and race me!") to geographical locale (the "main drag" was a city's main street, often the only one wide enough to accommodate two vehicles), to the mechanical (to "drag" the gears meant to hold the transmission in gear longer than normal)."

Another version of the early history of drag racing from autoMedia.com:

"It started out as a wild activity practiced by hoodlums in hopped-up cars, but over the course of a few decades, drag racing would ultimately transform itself into one of the world's most popular motorsports. Drag races after World War II were held on military runways, growing out of speed runs (sanctioned and otherwise) on California's dry lakes. Many recognize Goleta Air Base north of Santa Barbara, California as the site of the first organized drag race in 1949. These early drag strips were temporary facilities with no safety barriers or grandstands—just pavement, people and fast cars. Thousands of spectators turned out to watch early racers run 10-second elapsed times (E.T.s) on the measured quarter-mile—a distance chosen because it was about the length of a city block. Most cars were driven to the track or towed to the races on open trailers. Corporate sponsorship and glistening transporter trucks were far in the unimaginable future."

So, I'm sorry if the title and misnomer of the thread has upset you, and we appreciate that you took the time to clarify the difference, but there are nicer ways of getting your point across without insulting us "average" people.

[Pezzle]

Also to note on the rest of my thread responses: I should've said OVERTAKING and passing on the left, sorry.

[sld72382]

Real Drag Racing is not that popular a sport where I'm from because it was made illegal nearly 20 years ago in my home county.

<snip>

And if you have problems with me, you need to tell ME.

No problem with you, just wanted to give you a heads up about it. Like I said before, news outlets call illegal street racing drag racing many times and it hurts the reputation of real drag racers.

And where are you from anyway? The only place I know of that banned motorsports is Switzerland, if there is another place that banned motorsports I'd like to know.

Hey Ree, the term drag racing seems to have multiple origins, but one explanation I heard was that one guy lost to another and said "Man that is a real drag!"

BTW kind of OT but now that we're talking about it, people make fun of me "liking a sport where they go in a straight line for 5-10 seconds." I simply fire back with, "Well at least drag racers know where the finish line is the first time, we don't have to go around in circles 400 times looking for it!"

[protege]

If I remember correctly, the term "drag racing" came from California. 80 years ago, people would race from light to light on the "main drag," which was usually a long, straight road leading into or out of town. Given their car culture out there then, it wasn't long before it caught on. Even now, at sanctioned racing, the starting light mimics those old traffic lights. Eventually, people got tired of idiots racing on public streets, meaning it then moved out into the desert. The Bonneville Salt Flats was, and still is, a favorite location. I've never been to Bonneville, but my MG has...and I have a 120mph slip to prove it

[smileyeagle1021]

Protege, you haven't missed much... I've passed through Bonneville way too many times (I think I'm up to over 30 times going across the Salt Flats).. and there aint much there to miss.

[Evil Queen]

Thanks for the History Lesson Ree. I wikied the [drag racing] and it claims to be a very common sport in the US though I have yet to find many legal racing zones. Oh well. As usual, you learn something new every day.

No problem with you, just wanted to give you a heads up about it. Like I said before, news outlets call illegal street racing drag racing many times and it hurts the reputation of real drag racers.

And where are you from anyway? The only place I know of that banned motorsports is Switzerland, if there is another place that banned motorsports I'd like to know.

Drag racing was made illegal in Macon County, North Carolina (and that's as close as I'm getting to telling you guys where I'm from! I don't need a bunch of you crazies on my doorstep! )

I don't watch the news either, but I made an exception today because of the storm. And... it fitzed itself out, as expected.

[JustADude]

Like I said before, news outlets call illegal street racing drag racing many times and it hurts the reputation of real drag racers.

Now, I've always understood drag-racing to be an event, like a lap race or a sprint/endurance* race. Based on that, and the fact that drag-racing's origins are from the streets, I'd say it's perfectly fair to call illegal street racers drag-racers as long as they were actually drag-racing.

That being said, I do totally agree about the media completely misusing the term to cover any form of illegal racing, CID (Careless and Imprudent Driving), and other forms of asshattery.

*Go from one place to another as fast as you can, no lap-counting. Sprint for short ones, endurance for the long ones (like LeManns)

[Pagan]

I've been looking and I can't find anywhere in NM state law that says you have to stay right except when your passing. Not even on the interstates.

I've always understood those laws to apply to the highways anyway, not streets in town. That's just not practical....especially on major arteries.

Since Tropical Storm Edouard looks nasty, I just may start a road trip now.

Just don't head west!

Drag racing was made illegal in Macon County, North Carolina (and that's as close as I'm getting to telling you guys where I'm from! I don't need a bunch of you crazies on my doorstep! )

The favourite street for that crap here was Montgomery. I think they finally got it stopped.

[Evil Queen]

But... you're out west... and so is the chilies!

The chilies! They call to me!

[PhotoChick]

off-topic but evil queens reminded me

pagan have the hatch chilis been harvested yet or am i too early? I'm in town next week and need to pick some up.

[Kogarashi]

I've been looking and I can't find anywhere in NM state law that says you have to stay right except when your passing. Not even on the interstates.

One reason I like NY. On the highways, they have signs that actually say to keep right except to pass (they also have the signs about seat belts and using headlights when your wipers are on, with the banner across the top of the sign saying "New York State Law"). Smaller streets don't have signs like that because it's not a restriction.

[Pagan]

off-topic but evil queens reminded me

pagan have the hatch chilis been harvested yet or am i too early? I'm in town next week and need to pick some up.

Yeah, looks like it started down there around the 1st. http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_10071033
Just ignore the way "chili" is spelled. Like my da said, "You don't harvest chili, you make it".
The Hatch Chile Festival isn't until the end of the month, though.

We're still a couple of weeks away, even though they do send some Hatch up this way.

[PhotoChick]

thanks darling. I was pregnant last summer so my time line is a bit fuzzy.