What do you have to say? Your name: Your location: Your email: Do you want to subscribe to our FREE email newsletter? Yes No Letters which do not include a full name will not be considered for publication. * Your letter may (or may not) be published in our "We've Got Mail" section.

A world view

I have said it before: I love the drag racing in other countries, and I can’t wait to go sometime. It looks like a lot of fun. And I love the different cars.

Jeff Kammes
Dekalb, Illinois

Drag definition #1

Re: Inquiring minds... While I don't know that it could ever be determined with absolute certainty I would offer Paul Page the following as to the origin of "drag racing".

The use of ‘drag’ in drag race, meaning a car race held on city streets (as opposed to on a track), comes from one of the earliest uses of drag, that being wagon or cart (dragged by a horse), which dates back to the 18th century. By the mid-1800s, drag was being applied to the streets themselves, a sense we still use when we speak of the ‘main drag’ of a small town. A drag race, which appeared in the early 1950s, was originally simply a race held on the main drag, but the term was carried over to such races held in more isolated spots, such as abandoned airstrips. Eventually drag racing became a highly-developed and specialized sport with matches held at drag strips and featuring the nitro-burning funny cars we all love.

Sounds logical to me.

Kerry Blueher
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Drag definition #2

I remember when I was ten years old at the county fair, they had two horses lined up side by side with a steel box with weights in them. The horses would race 1/4 mile pulling the weighted boxes; the first horse to get to the finish line was the winner. They called it drag racing. I grew up in Ohio.

Could the idea of a 1/4 mile and horses racing have carried over to cars?

Empty seats at Bristol? Why?

Keith Schultz
Apache Junction, Arizona