I’ve seen all manner of flag starts lately in traditional, street, or no-prep drag racing. Some start with the flag up and it’s brought down. Some just wave it up. Either makes for pretty sloppy starts. Excluding flashlight or LED starts I recall a technique of 3 flags which seems fair and accurate for timing. The starter has 2 smaller green flags each of which gets pointed to the staged cars to get their nod they are ready. The tip of the largest white flag is then rested on the ground and then jerked up—the moment the tip leaves the ground is the start. What do any of you recall or think about these?
Flag starts are in this day and age kind of hokey. Very very hard to tell if someone “jumps” the flag which usually ends up in a big dust up on the start line after the run. I personally prefer a start system that will tell me if I went -.001 red.
Before 1970 there was only like 4 -7 National events , Before there was different rules @ different tracks. Racing then nothing like to day This might help explain . Off topic , all those pictures and photos seen racers changing engines hotel parking lot and other places is because it was a rule after the track closed no race vehicle was allowed on the premises. Or a 14sec car run a 7 sec fuel or B cl*** 14 sec car start @ 1/8 mile the 7 sec start @ 1/4 ... West coast one way ,East another and I'm ***uming all across the US Pictures below before 51 then 1957 house in the background is my great aunts.. from what my uncle can remember block with light was around 55-58 for Et . Not tree , if not @ National event lot of confusion and controversy , https://www.nhra.com/news/2015/nhra-supernationals-1970-73
Well, if you're a serious drag racer and worried about reaction times, pay outs, & chest t*******, why would you even attend a flag started event? They are more of an exhibition, or a nod to days gone by. Is there even a flagged event that pays out enough to warrant the travel & expense to race at it? Seems like they are aiming for fun and not worried about you breaking out of your bracket time.
Fontana was the best in its day. They had a hanging 3-light traffic signal. As I remember(?), the vehicles would roll forward to light the yellow light in their lane. When both were in, the starter would put the top of the flag on a ****on out beyond the starting line, nod at each -- and rise the flag lighting the green light. Cool with some flagman still in the picture.
What year about ? OLD DOMINION drag strip claims first on east 1951 . Gore family, pretty much all of us men /guys of my Family worked there since open 51 original track closed around 2014. Uncle started 66 , became starter 71 ish to preset even after Od closed , just another track , worked @ 2 same time starting in 2005
Flag/flashlight street race starts went the way of the Dodo when Big Willie drove up and pulled the Christmas tree out of his wife's car. https://www.dodgegarage.com/news/ar...k-at-big-willie-robinson-and-his-king-daytona
Fontana didn't open until about 1955 - https://thegentlemanracer.com/2010/10/2010-07-lost-dragstrip-fontana-drag-city-html/ While informal racing happened earlier, the Santa Ana Drag Strip, opening in 1950, is widely considered the first commercially successful, regularly scheduled drag strip on the West Coast (and in the U.S.), setting the stage for organized drag racing despite earlier impromptu events in places like San Diego and Scotts Valley. Another contender is Pomona Dragstrip, opened in 1949/1950 with paving specifically for racing, making it potentially the first purpose-built strip, though it became famous later with NHRA events. Today in SoCal (LA area) you have the choice of driving 2 hours north to Famosa or 2 hours south to Barona.
Hello, As teens that have seen plenty of hand starts and flag starts, there is no question that on/off lights or traffic signal lights we grew up with in daily life were good for the dragstrip. Then that morphed into the Christmas tree lights that are prevalent today. The things wrong with flag starts is that it is good for Indy and sports car track races to start a ton of cars all heading for the starting line. No way to jump the gun. But, in drag racing, the flag up starts have a quirky item that decides whether one leaves early or on time. The flag drops is the start of the race. But, where does the flag have to cross to actually start. The minute the arm moves, the race starts? That has been the standard for a lot of early drag races and currently nostalgic races. But, is it good? For those that have gone through the early flag starts at the drags to the arm raised starts on the late night streets, it has/had its problems. Arguments about who left when and why some folks seem to get a better start every time. The question remains today. When the arm is raised, who decides when the race starts? As the flag or arm drops, one guy is across the line and the other is still waiting for the flag to start dropping to the ground. But, where is the actual starting point? For those that have scrutinized those starts, as the elbow of the starter moves down, then the flag starts its decent. But the elbow gives a second or two, head start, as most are watching the flag. This allows folks who have learned the flag system in plenty of races to win most of the time. Or all of the time. The elbow moves first and that is a great start. Jnaki Ok, so, what about the original street light that made its way in the early days of drag racing? Yes, it now seemed like red for stop and stage. Yellow for caution and when the green light pops up… go. That was good in the timing during eliminations. But, as the automation of the lights started and continued on, the yellow came on and lasted a second or two before the green light started the race. The same thing at normal intersections. The yellow light fades off and the green light comes on. But, for those that have used this system many times, the yellow light going off gives a one to 2 second (two seconds is a car across the street) advantage over one guy who waits for the solid green. Drag racers also noticed that at the early drags, yet, the immediate staging is/was so up tempo that a lot of people just lost due to waiting for the solid green to pop up on the traffic light. But, the winners were already across the line and perhaps a car length lead when the green light starts. It is/was all legal. The difference between getting a good start and waiting for the flag to drop or green light to come on was shown by this 1958 photo. We learned the technique as that Tan color Impala usually won all of the elimination races until some racers actually learned why he won. All of our cars were exactly the same in the stock car cl***. No one took photos of the starting lights on/off and the cars on the starting line at the time, so there was no question until it was raised as to who jumped the green light. Those early racers moved when the elbow moved or the yellow light went off a split second before the flag moved or the green light came on. That was a fine point learned in winning trophies and late night street races. YRMV
As I remember, at the little track my pop raced at pre-1970. The starter had a stick or rolled up flag he pointed at each driver, who nodded that he was ready. Then he waved the flag that was in his other hand. It was all in one smooth motion. Done 100's of times in a day. He never appeared to change his timing. I was only 10 years old at the most. So, my childhood memory could be fuzzy.
I had a talk with Don Garlits about flag starts. In the early years the starter held the end of the flag on a ****on that activated the red foul light. If you left before the starter took the flag off the ****on a red light would come on and you were disqualified.
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