{"id":28177,"date":"2019-09-12T16:00:07","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T20:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=28177"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:24:17","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:24:17","slug":"prep-or-no-prep-that-is-the-question-track-prep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/racing\/2019\/09\/prep-or-no-prep-that-is-the-question-track-prep.html","title":{"rendered":"Prep or No-Prep: That Is the Question \u2013 Track Prep"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A handful of readers recently made comments wanting to know\nboth the back story on track prep and some explanation of \u201cNo-Prep\u201d racing that\nseems to be sweeping the country. So let’s kick it off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are going to go over the back story on track prep. We\ndiscussed the evolution of drag racing a few articles ago. Referring back to\nthat, when the NHRA became a \u201cthing\u201d and events started getting more\ncompetitive is roughly when track prep really started to have a major role in\nthe sport. As mentioned, drag racing as\na sport was an evolution of street racing \u201cstreet\u201d cars and taking the grudge\noff the street and moving to the track. The move was largely done in part to make it\nsafer for drivers AND spectators, and remove the bystanders from the mix. It\nalso made for a good way to turn the activity into a sport or competition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When drag racing started to take off (pun intended), you have to look at the type of cars and power levels that were present during the time. The roots of drag racing took place on the street, salt flats, airport access roads, airport runways and the like. Little could be done to alter the surface the early races were taking place on. It wasn\u2019t until designated drag strips began building that track prep really started to take form. As more drag strips started opening and more events were organized and held, the more racers began flocking to race their cars and push the boundaries. As competition goes, tit for tat, the battle to climb to the top of the horsepower chain began. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early racecars were raw, mechanical, basic, packed full of\nvery little \u201ctech\u201d. The original drag cars, with their limited horsepower and\nmechanical abilities, required little prep in order to perform properly in a\nrace. Nothing more than dry, clean and smooth pavement was needed to flex your\nmuscles. As more and more tracks opened and people took to the track,\nhorsepower levels in racecars quickly began to climb. Sanctioned events and\nseries began on a national level. Rubber and tire technology, as well as vehicle\ntechnology, began to grow at a rapid rate. These ingredients pressed the need\nfor a means to manage traction on the drag strip. It doesn\u2019t matter how much power your engine\nmakes, if you can\u2019t get it to the ground and get the car moving, it won\u2019t do you\nany good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s talk about tire spin. Not only does tire spin affect\nthe overall results of a car’s performance on the track via the elapsed time\n(E.T.), but tire spin is also volatile and dangerous. When you have crazy amounts\nof horsepower all being released in an instant, things can get out of control\nquickly. Track prep evolved alongside drag racing and aided in pushing the\nsport further by providing a means to get cars off the line faster, safer and\nin a more controlled manner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Man<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

These days, track prep really is a science. While all sorts\nof methods, chemicals, processes and tricks have been tried over the years, it\nall boils down to science and physics. It all starts with a perfectly flat and\nlevel concrete surface. After that, depending on the expert you talk to is\nwhere the magic happens.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Track prep for an event consists of making sure the track is\nclean and dry. Then, a mixture of chemicals is applied to the surface causing a\nreaction within the rubber compound of the tire. Mix in some heat from a\nburnout, and you get a super sticky and tacky surface. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to chemical mixtures, different machinery is\nused to prep the track. The newest form of machinery in providing ultimate\nstick uses drag tires on the back of a tractor that spin backwards as the\ntractor moves down the track laying down layers of rubber on top of the\nsurface. There are many things track prep wizards have to sort out when\nprepping an event, such as what type of cars and tires will be running, air\ntemp, surface temp, current surface conditions of the drag strip, etc. Every\nevent requires its own unique prep as no two days are the same, nor are any two\nrace events. These prep-masters have it so\nfine-tuned; depending on the conditions, they can achieve zero tire spin,\nperiod. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"race<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The NHRA uses track prep for the opposite reason. When Top\nFuel got \u201ctoo fast\u201d, before limiting their track length to 1,000 feet from 1,320 feet,\nas well as a variety of other class rules, NHRA would prep less to prevent the\ncars from hooking up so perfectly and in turn slow them down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next time, we will talk about the latest craze\u2026No-Prep racing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Future installments: Prep or No Prep: That is the Question \u2013 No Prep<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A handful of readers recently made comments wanting to know both the back story on track prep and some explanation of \u201cNo-Prep\u201d racing that seems to be sweeping the country. So let’s kick it off. We are going to go over the back story on track prep. We discussed the evolution of drag racing a few articles ago. Referring back to that, when the NHRA became a \u201cthing\u201d and events started getting more competitive is roughly when track prep really started to have a major role in the sport. As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":28182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[575],"tags":[528],"class_list":["post-28177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","tag-drag-racing"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/feature-12.jpg","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28177"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28177"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28199,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28177\/revisions\/28199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}