Drag racing is pretty straight forward; waterbox, burnout, stage, press foot on gas, launch, and hold on for dear life. But as we told you last week, some dragstrips have started featuring non-conventional additions to showdowns between racers like the tag team race held at this year’s TurboBuick.com Nationals. Why? We don’t really know, but these competitions do make for some humorous YouTube videos.
Speaking of odd-ball races, we’ve found another strange yet rather entertaining drag race competition, this time showcased at the Beaver Springs Dragway in Pennsylvania. You thought pulling a Chinese fire drill on the track was weird? Wait until you see what the competitors in the video above have to do before racing down the track.
It’s called the Hot Dog Race and it’s been held at several events at the Beaver Spring Dragway for years now. In fact, forum posts and YouTube videos date the practice back to at least 2006.
Much like the tag team race, competitors in the Hot Dog Race must complete an extra activity before racing to the end of the track. Standing in front of their vehicles, competitors are given a cup of soda and a hot dog. Once they’re given the go-ahead, racers must drink the soda and eat the hot dog before running down to the 60-foot mark to throw away their trash and then run back to their vehicles. Once there, they must get in and speed to the end of the dragstrip to see which team wins. Two people must compete per vehicle so if your teammate is a slow runner, you’ve got yourself a problem.
While the Hot Dog Race is a bit strange, it does get right to the heart of America. I mean, what’s more American than stuffing your face with a hot dog competition style and then squealing tires down a dragstrip? Seems to me like we may have discovered the next big sport. Check out another video of the Hot Dog Race below.