By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

CarDomain member TechWeasel is doing a series of videos on basic drag racing topics, covering some of the stuff he wished somebody had told him when he went to the track for the first time. The pilot episode is on tech inspection. Check it out!

Dragracing 101 – Tech Inspection

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

How about some good old fashioned four-speed abuse Atco Raceway in New Jersey? The Mustang featured in this video sure seems like a runner as it takes no time at all for the driver to rip through the familiar H-pattern from first to fourth.

Stick shifts are in short supply when it comes to active drag racing competition anymore. Yes, lots of street cars with gear bangers show up on test and tune night, but when the competition goes up a notch, most racers follow the leader and chase down those parts, rightly or wrongly. Since that’s the case, the mighty four-speed is a dying breed at the drags because consistency is so hard to come by.

The man in the video seems like a certified professional with that gear lever. Hit the video below and have a look (and listen).

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

In one of the most tragic and freakish drag strip fatalities we have ever heard of, a spectator at Harrells Raceway in Harrells, North Carolina, was killed when a car crashed and its motor came loose, landing on said spectator. Another spectator was injured when the flaming fuel cell from the same car launched past them, causing burns.

Reportedly the car was traveling 130-135 mph down the humble eighth-mile strip. News reports state that the engine was thrown 100 feet and landed on top of spectator Terry McDougald of Lillington. The driver of the car was flown to the hospital in Wilmington, but refused care. Far less importantly, several vehicles, which we presume were parked track-side, suffered damage from flying parts and debris.

We’ve seen lots of wrecks but we have never seen an engine tear loose and travel the distances that this one did. We feel terrible for the family of the man killed by the engine. A simple trip to the drags ended up costing him his life.

Source — WWaytv3.com — Drag Strip Spectator Killed by Flying Engine

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

When I watched this, I was more than a little surprised that the Raging Bull gets its ass repeatedly handed to it. What’s the deal here? Every incarnation of the Gallardo has had over 500 horsepower, and the Audi “only” has 525. So why the hell is this such a lopsided match up? Maybe the Audi has a ton of mods? Maybe the Lambo driver just sucks?

Audi R8 V10 vs. Lamborghini Gallardo

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

We’re going to get Friday off to a smashing start, literally. One of our European forum members tipped us off to video clips of a wheel-stander, The Little Green Wagon, drilling the guardrail and rolling during a run at a strip across the pond. If there’s one thing that wheel-stander drivers and gymnasts have in common it is the need to stick their landings. This one, not so much.

We cannot tell if the wheels were turned when the truck touched down or if something went away in the front end due to the impact of coming back to Earth, but the results were super un-good for the driver. He climbs out of the truck eventually, which is good, but the ol’ Dodge is way wrecked.

This video is a good illustration of why many strips have abandoned the linked Jersey-barrier style walls. You can pretty clearly see here how they get compromised during a big impact.

Thanks to BangShift.com forum member Gerrit for the tip!

Jump to :25 to skip to the action.

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Neither one of these Japanese heavyweights was made for drag racing, and there’s obviously a huge—like 315K—price difference. It would have been more fun to watch them duke it out on a road course, but this is still an interesting match-up. I got big kick out of the narrator, who said that the LFA’s brakes are “powerful enough to stop the rotation of the earth.” That’s pretty good stuff.

Lexus LFA vs. Nissan GT-R Drag Race

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

The Corvette ZR1 is no joke, but this drag race proves that it’s no match for the uber-exotic Koenigsegg CCR Evo. And while this clip is totally wicked, I kind of want to see the Swedish meatball pick on someone its own size. Like how about watching it go toe-to-toe with a Veyron or an Ultimate Aero? Those babies might be able to give it some competition.

CCR vs. ZR1!

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

Let’s face it, we are at the dragstrip more than anyone but the touring pros, so it only makes sense that we’ve seen a lot of funny and weird things go down while at the track. One that never ceases to amaze us is the racer who loses a wheel in the water box, or who chucks the rear out of his car at the launch. Clearly, we don’t want this to happen to anyone, and we feel bad for being entertained by the carnage this Mustang suffers when the rearend decides it doesn’t like its happy home.

But like we said, we are entertained. Check it out, you will be too.

By Taner Tozan

Taner Tozan

This STM tuned Evo holds the record as the world’s fastest Mitsubishi on a stock block. Pushing over 680 horsepower with 584 ft/lbs of torque, it runs the quarter in 9.60 Quarter at 156mph. To put it into perspective, the 2009 Lamborghini Murcielago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce runs a respectable 10.9 second quarter mile. Not to mention the MSRP in excess of $350,000.

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

There are lots of great sleepers out there. The amazing farm truck that surfaced a couple years back still leaves our heads shaking, but this plumbing van from Australia ranks right up there with it. It began life powered by a suck-ass, small-displacement Mitsubishi engine and now packs V8 umph. The best part is the fact that it still has pipe on the roof rack and it handles like a fuel altered.

The fact that this beast blazes the tires at will, and clearly could run 10′s if it could hook, may make this the most entertaining 11-second pass we’ve ever seen.