Drag Racing

A drag race is an acceleration contest between two cars over a measured distance, which is either a quarter-mile or an eighth-mile. Each car pulls up to the starting point that sits in front of an electric light, commonly called a "Christmas Tree". The Christmas Tree has two sides, one for each racer, each with three yellow lights at the top, one green in the middle, and a red at the bottom. The cars usually start racing down the tracks at two different times, due to the handicap that is placed on them. For example, car A and car B are racing. Car A is faster than car B, so car B would get a head start. The Christmas Tree tells each racer when to go. When each car leaves the starting line, each contestant activates a timer which is stopped when the same vehicle reaches the finish line. The start-to-finish clocking is the vehicle's E.T. (elapsed time), which measures the performance and serves to determine handicaps during competition.