Who says that you need to perform a burnout to go fast?
Okay, so 60-plus years of conventional wisdom amongst drag racers says so, but with some really solid track prep work, bypassing the burnout box and getting the rubber to the road can be done.
The obligatory burnout, as much a part of drag racing’s DNA as the quarter-mile distance or the christmas tree, serves to not only clean the rear tires of dirt and debris that gather in the pit area and in the staging lanes, but to heat the contact patch of the tire for better traction on the starting line and down track.
In this clip filmed recently at the Sikeston Dragstrip, a small eighth-mile facility in southeastern Missouri, the ’38 Fiat Fuel Altered known as the “Wild Rat” drives right around the water box and proceeds directly to the starting line. As most of the top nitro teams in the sport do today, a pair of crewmembers wipe down each slick thoroughly before staging, but aside from that, this thing goes completely “commando”.
As you can see, the cackling, nitro-powered machine never really missed a beat despite not doing a burnout, as it hooked up and went right down the groove to a 4.33-second elapsed time at 162 mph, helping point out the case that while a burnout is always best practice, some cars can simply save the fuel and tires and do without.
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