A lot of revolutionary products are making their way into the drag racing marketplace these days, but the one that peaked our interest was the drag racing specific Racepak Drag Smartwire system (P/N 500-KT-SWDRAG). It turns out after doing some digging that the rumors off the new unit were true, and Dragzine is proud to be the first publication to present you with a sneak-peek at this hardcore racing setup.

A key feature to the Drag Smartwire is the provided chassis wiring harness that streamlines the entire wiring process. Racepak outlines what wire connects to each of the key components in a drag racing setup on the wire itself.

“The advantage of this system is that the solid state wiring, and power distribution portion of the module eliminates the need for fuse panels, breakers, and relays,” Chris Vopat of Racepak explains. “It simplifies the wiring throughout the car, and with CAN bus technology you have multiple circuits running through a single wire at different times, depending on need. This results in the least amount of total wiring in the car, while making it light and reliable.”

This fully programmable system adapts to both 12 and 16 volt systems, allowing you to add sensors and increase chassis voltage when upgrading your track driven vehicle.

One of the features that sets this system apart from the original, is the addition of full drag racing oriented programming. This programming is designed to handle all the common drag racing functions, and works in conjunction with the fully labeled wiring harness. Installation of the Drag Smartwire system will be a breeze for users as well, thanks to the pre-made wiring harness and directions.

The prowess of this versatile system really shines when you take into account that it’s able to direct 125 amps of power to a total of 30 output circuits, while simultaneously receiving 12 total inputs that are completely user defined.

With the addition of a Racepak switch panel, the user is able to manually control the operation of key components outside of the Drag Smartwire programming.

What does that exactly mean? Well for example, this feature provides a canvas for a user to direct an action of a twin electric fan to operate under several dictated guidelines. If the engine needs to be in an operating temperature range around 140-150 degrees; the Drag Smartwire can control the dual fan setup individually, kicking on the first fan at 140 degrees, and the second on at 150 degrees to maintain the temperature range.

A racer can use this system in conjunction with a Racepak wide-open throttle switch, or the Racepak switch panel, and then have the ability to manually operate their fans through the specified setup. Racers can even program a total fan shutdown during a run to further manage the engines cooling system using the Drag Smartwire system.

It became apparent when we started to open all of the packages from Racepak just how versatile, and useful this new system could be. The plan is to install the Drag Smartwire system in our Project Evil 8.5 Mustang, and see what this amazing system is capable of. We will test the limits of the Drag Smartwire’s functionality and show you just how much it can help any racer with their program. Stay tuned for more as we’ll be diving deeper into the operation, and installation of the Drag Smartwire on our Project Evil 8.5 car in the upcoming months.