 |
 C64 title screen | |
| Publisher(s) | Family Software |
|---|---|
| Writer(s) | Bob Kodadek |
| Platform(s) | Commodore 64, IBM PC |
| Release | 1986 |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, two-player |
Drag Race Eliminator is a video game written by Bob Kodadek and published by Family Software in 1986 for the Commodore 64 and in 1988 for IBM PC compatibles. It was the first drag racing game for a personal computer.[ citation needed ]
This video game is a two-player, drag racing program with timing accuracy to one thousandth of a second. This simulation of professional drag racing included five classes of NHRA competition, including Top Fuel Dragsters, Top Alcohol Dragsters, Top Fuel Funny Cars, Top Alcohol Funny Cars, and Pro Stock. Race against the computer or another player. The timing system used a .400 Pro Tree with reported reaction times, elapsed times, and vehicle miles per hour. The outcome of every race was determined by the driver, not random data. Supported joysticks and keyboard for input.
Drag Race Eliminator was ported over to the IBM PC and compatibles in 1987 and became one of the longest selling racing games in the history of personal computers.[ citation needed ].
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Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most commonly 1⁄4 mi, with a shorter, 1,000 ft distance becoming increasingly popular, as it has become the standard for Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars, where some major bracket races and other sanctioning bodies have adopted it as the standard. The 1⁄8 mi is also popular in some circles. Electronic timing and speed sensing systems have been used to record race results since the 1960s.
The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a governing body which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorsports sanctioning body in the world.
Donald Glenn Garlits is an American race car driver and automotive engineer. Considered the father of drag racing, he is known as "Big Daddy" to drag racing fans around the world. A pioneer in the field of drag racing, he perfected the rear-engine Top Fuel dragster, an innovation motivated by the loss of part of his foot in a dragster accident. This design was notably safer since it put most of the fuel processing and rotating parts of the dragster behind the driver. The driver was placed in front of nearly all the mechanical components, thus protecting him and allowing him to activate a variety of safety equipment in the event of catastrophic mechanical failure or a fire. Garlits was an early promoter of the full-body, fire-resistant Nomex driving suit, complete with socks, gloves, and balaclava.
Funny Car is a type of drag racing vehicle and a specific racing class in organized drag racing. Funny cars are characterized by having tilt-up fiberglass or carbon fiber automotive bodies over a custom-fabricated chassis, giving them an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers' showroom models. They also have the engine placed in front of the driver, as opposed to dragsters, which place it behind the driver.
Top Fuel is a type of drag racing whose dragsters are the quickest accelerating racing cars in the world and the fastest sanctioned category of drag racing, with the fastest competitors reaching speeds of 338 miles per hour (544.0 km/h) and finishing the 1,000 foot (304.8 m) runs in 3.62 seconds.
Top Alcohol refers to two different classes in professional drag racing: Top Alcohol Dragster and the Top Alcohol Funny Car. Commonly known as "alky" cars, both are akin in design to the premier Top Fuel classes, but less powerful. In both classes, the cars are either supercharged ("blown") engines, burning alcohol (methanol) or can burn nitromethane and be normally aspirated, fuel injected engines. Top Alcohol Dragsters and Funny Cars resemble their nitromethane (Fuel) counterparts, with about half the power of their respective classes. Each car uses a three-speed transmission.
Kenneth Dale Bernstein is an American drag racer and former NASCAR and IndyCar team owner. He is nicknamed the "Bud King" for his success in the Budweiser King funny car and dragster. He has also been nicknamed the "King of Speed," because he was the first driver to break 300 miles per hour in the standing-start quarter mile. Bernstein owned King Racing, which he drove for in the NHRA and fielded various cars in other racing series such as IndyCar and NASCAR. Bernstein retired from full-time competition in 2002 and moved his son Brandon into the Bud King Top Fuel dragster, but returned to finish the season in place of his son after Brandon suffered a severe injury. With the exception of a brief return to Funny Car in 2007, Bernstein did not return to the car and instead continued to run his team until the end of the 2011 season when he left drag racing altogether.
Don Prudhomme, nicknamed "the Snake", is an American drag racer.
Nostalgia drag racing is a form of drag racing using cars from the 1950s, 1960s and lately the 1970s.
Frank Hawley is a two-time World champion drag racing driver.
Jack Chrisman was an American drag racer. He was a drag racing pioneer and 1961 champion. He was influential in the formation of the Funny Car class, as he introduced the first blown injected nitro-burning Funny Car. The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) ranked Chrisman 23rd on their Top 50 drivers in 2001.
Don Nicholson was an American drag racer from Missouri. He raced in the 1960s and 1970s when there were few national events. The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) estimates he won 90 percent of his match races. As of 2002, he held the record for the most number of categories in which he reached a final round : Funny Car, Pro Stock, Super Stock, Competition Eliminator, Stock, and Street. He was nicknamed "Dyno Don" after he was one of the first drivers to use a chassis dynamometer on his cars in the late 1950s, a skill that he learned while working as a line mechanic at a Chevrolet car dealer.
Maple Grove Raceway (MGR) is a quarter-mile dragstrip located near Mohnton, Pennsylvania, just outside Reading. It opened in 1962 as a 1/5-mile dragstrip. It was eventually lengthened to its current quarter-mile length in 1964. The track has been sanctioned by the National Hot Rod Association for most of its existence. It has hosted an NHRA national event since 1985. Uni-Select Auto Plus came aboard as the Nationals sponsor in 2011. Other key events include the American Drag Racing League, the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, the Geezers Reunion at The Grove, the Super Chevy Show, Mopar Action, Fun Ford Weekend and the NHRA Pennsylvania Dutch Classic.
Pat Austin is a retired American drag racer. He competed in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). He won four NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car championships between 1987 and 1991. He was the first driver to win eliminator titles at the same event when he won the Top Fuel and Alcohol Funny Car classes at Topeka. His 62 wins between his start in 1985 and 1996, which were the most for any driver between the late 1970s and 1996.
A gasser is a type of hot rod car originally used for drag racing. This style of custom car build originated in United States in the late 1950s and continued until the early 1970s. In the days before Pro Stock, the A/Gas cars were the fastest stock-appearing racers around.
Cruz Pedregon is a 2-time NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Funny Car Champion from Torrance, California. He is the brother of Tony Pedregon, also a two-time Funny Car Champion & Frank Pedregon Jr. who has won multiple NHRA National Events. He currently races for his own team, Cruz Pedregon Racing, Inc.
The Drag Racer franchise is a series of games that were developed by Waterloo, Ontario-based game designer Adam Telfer, who started designing this Flash game at the age of 14. The game, first released in 2003 was later ported to iOS devices as a partnership with XMG Studio. The core game-play in Drag Racer is quite simple. Players purchase cars that they customize, upgrade, tune and then race opponents in an effort to win credits that allows them to upgrade existing cars or buy new ones.
Vallco Professional Drag Racing is a card-based drag racing game invented by Greg Zyla originally in 1963.
The European Drag Racing Championship is a combination of four Drag Racing categories that have competed in six events since 1996. The European Drag Racing Season is held from May to September in four countries; UK, Sweden, Finland and Germany. Each drag race category pairs two drivers that compete against each other and the winner is the racer with the lowest reaction time and elapsed time over a designated destination. The drivers are adjudicated points for their performance at each stage which are tallied for a given season.
The 2020 NHRA Drag Racing Series was announced on May 14, 2019.