History of Drag Racing

Drag Racing by definition is a speed contest between two entities from one point to another and as such a race between two dogs to that bowl of fresh Alpo can be considered a drag race. For our purposes however we will focus on automotive drag racing which is a contest between two racers in a vehicle of some kind from point A to point B.
Interestingly enough this is an almost innate part of the human psyche because if you consider it you perhaps see drag races everyday in one form or another and it's important to understand how deep that competitive nature runs to truly appreciate the phenomenon that is Drag Racing. Started in america after the end of the second world war Drag racing was limited to streets and back-roads which is what we would call street racing today. It later gained legitimacy with the founding of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) by it's founder Wally Parks in 1951 who was also it's first president. The sport quickly grew as racers now had an official sanctioning body to organize races within a safe environment (no more run in's with the police) and as a result it also helped to create ancillary industries dedicated to making the vehicles go faster stop quicker and drive safer.

This industry is known by many names such as the Hot Rodding Industry, The Aftermarket, The Performance Industry to name a few. The sport is one of inclusion that doesn't mandate one have a specialized vehicle to participate and no special training needed, in fact the only requirements are that you have a legal and valid drivers licence and a safe vehicle to use. So at a typical drag race you could see people from all walks of life and all levels of development in the sport, from the weekend warrior and the soccer Mom looking to blow off some steam to the top fuel professional getting some test and tune passes in for the next big event.

This broad scope of participant is one of the reasons why the sport has grown so much and why at the RaceHub we feel it is important to include it in our regular content so that you the racer have access to information on the sport from as many areas that we can cover so hope you enjoy the brief history lesson and if you want the full detailed history for some light reading you can visit the link below. The contributions for this subject will be coming all the way from the Cayman Islands...and yes we do lots of Drag Racing here too :-) Stay tuned, Stay Sharp, Stay Safe.



More History -- http://www.nhra.com/nhra101/history.aspx