@65pacecar Hello, The days of traffic lights were around in 1959 a simple red amber and green. It was a lot easier and fairly accurate compared to watching the eyes of the flag starter. When he raised the flag, there was always a specific time to count and then his elbow dropped, along with the flag. That caused more than enough time to step on the gas pedal for an early lead. The early racers figured out the elbow was faster than the actual flag and gave an advantage over the other racer in the opposite lane. In street racing, the same thing was applied if one knew what to watch for. Everyone drops the elbow first. Jnaki So the red light/green light started the whole “even steven” mode for all racers. Until that is, some racers began to time the red light going off and green light starting. Most see the red going dark and the green coming on for the official start. But, the seasoned veterans of the racing scene had a jump on the green light, if one could time it. There is/was a very short time lapse between the "dark red off" view and the green light coming on. So, the top racers started when the red went off. By the time the green came on, which was a split second, one racer was already accelerating. Most of the time it was a judgement call by the start line official as to whether or not the first racer jumped the gun. It was very difficult to prove. Jnaki The advantage was almost not noticeable, but it was there. In the factory stock car classes, everyone was supposed to be evenly built by factory standards. So, any quickness usually won the class eliminations. It was also the same thing when the normal street intersection red/green lights were used to race. There was a definite gap between the darkening fade of the red and the green light coming on for the start. Most of the time, the opponent in the other lane had no idea for a quick start. They usually thought their built up motor was all it took to win. The C&O Stick Hydro + 4:56 Positraction gears increased the quickness from the starting line 99% of the time. Note: By early 1964, an early version of the modern Christmas tree light system was put in place. Still hanging in the middle of the dragstrip starting line. Adding a staging light, with the green for go and a red for jumps.
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