Is it time for a “shot clock” in drag racing?

The year was 1975 and along with a great group of friends, we traveled to Byron Dragway for what was the largest payout for bracket racing in its day, $5,000-to-win. I have to thank perennial historian Dave and Lori Schapiro for the participant decal shown here. With cars from all over the United States and even Canada, I don’t remember a car count, but it was a lot. Enough so that track owner, the late Ron Leek, would constantly berate us over the PA system with, “I have to have a pair of cars going down the track every 30-seconds if you guys expect to get this race completed.”

That “30-second” number has stuck in my head ever since. Today, it’s not uncommon at a bracket race for that number to be at least more than double that. And in reality, the slowest cars are dragsters, despite them being the quickest on the track. Think about it. They do a burnout across the line, now have to back up, maybe reset their delay boxes, etc., and then stage. And the fact of only eighth-mile racing doesn’t make it any quicker, in some cases worse at tracks where there is only one turn-off at the very end of the shut-down area.

Door cars are usually the quickest. They do a burnout; not across the line; pull up and Stage. While I’ve measured dragsters to sometimes be well over 60-seconds, door car are usually in the 40-50-second range; still above the 30-second “Leek rule” though.

It’s been suggested to me the distance between the burnout box and the starting line be extended and eliminate dragsters burning out across the line. Obviously at some tracks that’s not a possibility, but it does bring up an interesting point.

Now though it appears we have another issue in drag racing, where there are some who are seemingly taking forever to Stage, which only tends to extend the pace of play and the actual day of racing.

Basketball has a shot clock. Football does too. I believe it was this year where minor league baseball also instituted a shot clock. All of it done to speed up the pace of play, alleviating one team from hanging onto the ball for a long time without giving the other team a chance at scoring. Is it time a “shot clock,” or something similar is instituted in drag racing?

The problem can be especially frustrating at some of these high-dollar bracket races where 500+ entries show up. Think of it in this regard: If the average time between pairs is, at best, 60-seconds, and legitimately 10-seconds could be knocked off each pair, it would mean a roughly 15-percent reduction in time. At an event where eliminations take 10-hours, it could knock that down by an hour-an-a-half. And that’s just by knocking 10-seconds off each pair.

Now I agree, the numbers I’ve listed are just subjective as there are a lot of variables which come into play and affect how long a day at the races lasts. But if we could just pick up the pace, it would allow us to get done quicker. And at events where there are 400-500 or so cars, it might mean getting done at a reasonable hour; whatever that may be.

Then though, there is the question of why certain racers take longer to stage than others. It’s always been my understanding that I can’t race until we’re both staged, so I want both of us to get in quick so we can compete against one another. But everyone has their own idiosyncrasies and habits they go through prior to staging. I don’t necessarily have a problem with that, but I’d just like everyone to think of the final outcome and… Get you’re a$$ in there and stage! The time you save might just get you into the cooler faster at the end of the day.

I'm for it.

I do my (door car) burnout, and am set to stage. If the other car is backing up from a 300' burnout, revving the motor to 6k 9 times in a row, I'll light the pre stage bulb.

YES

30 min between rounds isn't necessary either. If it takes you an hour to get ready for the next round something is wrong.....at one big race this year they had to wait forever for the same guy

Agreed John. I used to do short burnouts in a 4 link dragster and never burnt over the line. Didn't need to. Car hooked just as well with the short burnout, and saved a jug of extra fuel over the course of a 3 day race believe it or not.

I go to a couple small tracks where there are maybe 6-8 dragsters and I notice those days I usually am heading home after the race is over and the sun is still up. At larger tracks where there are majority dragsters, seems like about 9-10pm and they're just starting 5th round. All that extra time adds up.

Most bracket racers do good, they burnout, line up up and run them. I hate some of the group of people that have to have 30 people on the starting line to help them stage and they run not time and can not get it down the track and they act like it is a big deal. Takes them 5 or 10 minutes to run them and they got nothing.

I'm good with it. It would stop some of the racers that have "extended" starting line procedures when certain other racers are in the lane next to them from playing those games....not necessary. I do my thing. I burnout, back up, blip the throttle once or twice, stage....I've seen some racers that will suddenly have "other stuff to do" or will seemingly take MUCH longer than they usually would when they are against a certain competitor....My thoughts are either race or don't. If you have to play games on the line to try and gain an advantage, then you suck period!!!

I get it and agree John. But I’ve been racing long enough to know many of the slow to stage door car guys and take my time meeting them just before the pre-stage light at their pace. The only door car racer I can’t pre-stage faster than is Skinny Kenny.