What this site is
The Drag Car Racer is a free quarter-mile drag racing simulator that runs in any modern web browser. There's nothing to download and no account to create. You pick a class, roll up to the line, watch the Christmas tree and race a CPU opponent to the stripe. Every run gives you a time slip with your reaction time, elapsed time and trap speed, and your best runs are saved to a leaderboard in your browser.
Alongside the simulator, the site publishes articles about how drag racing works: the starting system, time slips, bracket racing, shifting, traction and power-to-weight. They're written for people who are curious about the sport, getting ready for their first test-and-tune night, or just want to understand what's happening on the screen.
Why we built it
A drag race is only about thirteen seconds long, and most of it is decided before the car has gone a hundred feet. Getting good at staging, reacting to the tree and shifting at the right moment takes a lot of repetitions, and at a real track you might get a handful of passes in a whole evening. A simulator lets you practice the start fifty times in a row and see exactly what each change did to your numbers.
The Drag Car Racer is one of a family of free browser simulators from the same small team, each built around one real-world skill that's hard to practice: The Boat Docker (docking a power boat), The Trailer Parker (backing a trailer), The Driver Tester (road-test maneuvers) and The Train Yarder (a kid-friendly train yard).
How the simulator models a real strip
- Staging. Real pre-stage and stage beams, with the pre-stage beam about seven inches behind the line, and a seven-second limit to stage once your opponent has.
- The tree. A Pro tree: all three ambers flash together and the green follows 0.4 seconds later, after a random hold so you can't leave on a count.
- The car. A five-speed manual with paddle shifting, a torque curve that flattens from about 3,000 RPM, peak power near 5,300 and a rev limiter at 6,000.
- Classes. Three classes split by pounds per horsepower, modeled on how real stock classes work.
- Timing. Reaction time, elapsed time and trap speed on every run, plus distance boards at 60 feet, 330 feet, the eighth mile and 1,000 feet.
- Two views. A 3D view from the driver's seat and a 2D overhead view of both lanes, showing the same race.
It's a simulator, not a video game with power-ups. There's no nitrous button. You win by leaving on time, keeping the car in its power band and not lifting before the finish.
How the site is funded
The simulator and articles are free. There is no third-party advertising. See our privacy policy for how analytics work.
Get in touch
Found a bug, spotted a mistake in an article, or have an idea for a new class or feature? Email theboatdocker@gmail.com.