Motorcar Racing Organisation Birmingham

Most (although not all) drag racing involves two cars racing each other to the end of the measured distance. The elapsed time from the light turning green to the car's front end passing through the 'traps' at the other end of the track determines the winner; this time is composed of the car's actual elapsed time, plus the driver's reaction time. In practice, in the more competitive classes it is necessary for the driver to 'jump the gun' by a faction of a second, starting the car during the split-second interval between when the yellow light goes out and the green light goes on. However, if the car crosses the electric eye in front of it before the green light comes on, the driver has 'red-lighted' and is disqualified. (If both cars 'red-light', then only the first car to cross is disqualified.) A driver who gets a substantial lead over the other car taking off at the start is said to have a 'hole shot'. The driver's reaction time and the car's top speed are also recorded, in addition to the elapsed time, but neither plays a direct role in determining the winner. The car that crosses the finish line first wins the race. A car with a good hole shot can actually blow the engine partly down the strip and coast to the end of the track at a (relatively) lower top speed than the competitor, and still win with a lower elapsed time.

In the common Eliminator racing format, the losing car and driver are removed from the contest, while the winner goes on to race other winners, until only one is left. There are some instances where there are 3 cars remaining, and in this case one car, either chosen at random or the car with the fastest elapsed time thus far, gets a "bye run" where his or her car goes down the track by itself (in order to at least partially eliminate the advantage that would otherwise come from the engine having one less run on it), and then awaits the winner of the other two for the title. However, in most Eliminator formats, the bye runs take place only in the first round. Drivers are about equally divided between making a nice easy pass on the bye run so as not to stress the car unduly, or making a real effort for the benefit of the spectators.

The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) oversees the majority of drag racing events in North America. The next largest organisation, the International Hot Rod Association, (IHRA), is about one-third the size of NHRA. Nearly all drag strips will select one or the other of these sanctioning bodies to be associated with. The NHRA is more popular with large, 1/4 mile nationally-recognised tracks, while the IHRA is a favourite of smaller 1/8th mile local tracks. One reason for this (among others) is the IHRA is less restrictive in its rules and less expensive to be associated with.

There are literally hundreds of different classes in drag racing, each with different requirements and restrictions on things such as weight, engine size, body style, modifications,...