Whether you're a hard-core racing enthusiast or just want to test your driving skills against others, TVRP's Test and Tune/Fun and Grudge Friday nights are a run and easy alternative to dangerous and illegal street racing.
What to Expect
When you get to the track, you'll pay for a tech card at the pit gate when you come in to the track. Fill out the tech card and go to the tech area. Tech area is currently the front of the staging lanes 8 & 9. That is where track officials will inspect your car to make sure that it meets the safety requirements to race. Some of those basic requirements include:
Seat belts, working taillight, safe tires, secured battery, long pants (not nylon or shorts) and short sleeve shirt (no tank tops), closed toe shoes (no flip flops or sandals), helmet if your car runs faster than 14 seconds in the quarter mile.
Once you've gone through tech, received your race number and wristband, you are ready to race.
Line up in the staging lanes 2-7; lane one for motorcycles and atv's, lanes 8-9 for tech. The track official in charge of staging will pull you out two by two. If there is someone you want to race, please line up back to back, and let the staging line official know.
When you are pulled you will proceed to the ready line just under the crossover bridge and wait until the official in the waterbox waves you ahead. The waterbox will allow you to wet your tires and do a burn-out. Do not start your burnout while a car is still at the starting line.
After completing the burn-out, and before you pull up to the christmas tree, be sure that your door is closed, windows are rolled up, seatbelt is fastened and all required safety equipment is donned.
The Tree
The staging beams are located about 40 feet before the christmas tree. There are two infared beams that need to be broken before the car can launch. Pull forward slowly until the top yellow pre-stage bulb on the tree lights up.
Yellow bulbs warn drivers that they are approaching the starting line and the "staged" position.
Signal drivers that they are on the starting line and ready for a run. These yellow bulbs come on when the front wheels of the race car interrupt the beam from a light source to the photo cells. These same photo cells start the timing equipment.
All three amber floodlights in a driver's lane flash simultaneously before the green light comes on. This is called a "pro start" system. Racers running in handicap categories get a countdown of one amber light at a time until the green light comes on. The "pro start" system runs with a .4-second difference between the amber and green lights, while the handicap system runs with a .5-second difference between bulbs. Many non-national event tracks still use a five-amber light.
This is the one that makes it all happen. Once the green light is flashed, the driver in that lane is free to make a run down the track. Any time green light is shown in a driver's lane it indicates that a fair start was accomplished.
When a car leaves the starting line before the green light comes on, or, in some cases, is staged too deeply into the staging beams, the red light will flash in that lane. It indicates the driver in that lane has been disqualified. During competition, only one red light will light, thus eliminating only the first offender.
Roll forward just inches for the second yellow or stage bulb to light up, that means you are staged and ready to go. Once the second bulb for both lanes are lit, the starter will activate the tree. The lower yellow lights will come on one at a time at half-second intervals. Be ready to hit the gas when the last yellow comes on. By the time you and your car react, the green light will be on. If you leave before the green light is on, you "red light". Don't worry. It happens to the most experienced racer and won't affect your et or mph.
Time and speed are recorded at five intervals along the track. There are clocking devices at the 60-foot, 330-foot, 1/8-mile, 1,000-foot and 1/4-mile locations.
The first of these infrared beam sender/receiver triggers is located 66 feet before the finish line and is used to start the individual lane top speed clocks. A second beam, located at the finish line, shuts off both the individual lane elapsed-time and top speed clocks, and triggers the win indicator. The 66-foot speed trap computes top speed.
The length of the actual racing surface at an NHRA Drag Racing Series event is one-quarter mile, or 1,320 feet. The average width of each lane is 30 feet.
Make sure you know where the finish line is, at TVRP the 1/4 mile finish line is the scoreboards. When you cross the finish line don't hit your brakes too hard. Keep going to the opening in the guardrail or go all the way down to the end of the track. Be aware of the driver next to you and do not cross in front of him/her. Also don't turn around on the track.
After you have exited the track proceed to the first little blue building and receive a printout of your track performance. You will get a reading on how long it took you to react to the tree, how quickly you reached the 60', 330' 1/8 mile and 1/8 mph, 1000' and 1/4 mile and 1/4 mile mph.