Japanese automaker Honda Motors Co. has decided to pull out of Formula One Racing for 2009 as part of an effort to focus on its core business in the face of the global economic crisis. Honda CEO Takeo Fukui said that the company is unable to continue supporting an F1 team due to the economic crisis.

Honda is open to selling the F1 team. “The automobile industry is experiencing very difficult times,” Fukui said. “Demand started to dry up in November and we can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.” Honda’s withdrawal from F1 sent shock waves throughout the racing world. The 2009 season of Formula One could start with only 18 cars on the grid. The pull out is just another sign of the difficulties facing automakers around the world, especially the big three: General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, who are seeking a $34 billion bailout to stay afloat.

Honda is also having a bumpy ride. Last Thursday, the automaker announced it was cutting jobs in Britain and Japan because of declining vehicle demand. To date, Honda has already reduced its annual production of consumer cars by more than 140,000 worldwide.

By 2009, Top Fuel cars will be required to use the Electrimotion Safety Shutoff Controller for the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, the NHRA Technical Services has announced. This announcement is in line with the continuous efforts of NHRA to improve safety in drag racing. In October this year, Nitro Funny cars have already been required to use the device beginning at the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals held that month.

The Electrimotion Safety Shutoff Controller was designed by Dave Leahy. It senses manifold burst panel failure and simultaneously activates the fuel shutoff, shuts down the ignition and deploys parachutes. The use of the shutoff device will be mandatory for both Top Fuel and Funny Cars beginning at the season-opening of Kragen O’Reilly Winternationals at the Auto Club Raceway in Pomona on February 5 to 9, 2008.

Drag racing is one of the world’s most popular motorsports and is also regarded as the fastest of them all. It is essentially an acceleration contest on a track or dragstrip between two vehicles competing over a straight, measured distance to cross a set finish line from a dead stop. The standard distances for drag racing competitions are quarter mile (1,320 feet/402.3 meters), 100 feet (301.5m) and the eighth mile (660 feet/201m).

A drag racing event involves a series of two vehicle contests where the losing racer is eliminated and the winning racer advances until a single victor remains.

The race is started using an electronic device called a ‘Christmas tree’ (due to its multicolored starting lights). Each side of the tree features seven lights including two small amber lights at the top followed by three larger LED lights, a green bulb and a red bulb.

These lights are activated when both drivers are staged. Activation causes the three large amber lights to light up simultaneously followed by the green light (Pro Tree). For each run, two separate performances are measured: elapsed time and speed. When the vehicles leave the stage beam, they activate an elapsed time clock that is stopped once the vehicle reaches the finish line. This start-to-finish clocking serves as the vehicle’s elapsed time which is used to measure performance.

Meanwhile, speed is measured in a 66-foot so-called ‘speed trap’ that ends at the finish line. The first vehicle that crosses the finish line wins. A racer can be disqualified in a number of cases including leaving the starting line too soon, leaving the lane boundary, touching the guardwall and guardrail, striking a track fixture (such as photocells), failing to stage, failing a post-run inspection.

Photo Credits: Jerry Thompson and Pixeleye Interactive

Drag racing continues to attract enthusiasts from all over the world. But before you head out into the racetrack, do you know what ‘Interval Timers’ mean? How about ‘bang the bowler’? Brush up on drag racing terms with this comprehensive glossary from the National Hot Rod Association or NHRA.

Air box: Used primarily on Pro Stock Motorcycles, it settles “negative air” around carburetors the way a hood scoop does on a car.

Air foil: the same as a wing — a stabilizer, generally used to create downforce, which increases stability and tire-to-track adherence at high speeds.

Bang the blower: an explosion inside the supercharger caused by a flame from the combustion process accidentally re-entering the supercharger, where fuel and air are present. Generally caused by a stuck or broken intake valve that normally would be closed during the combustion sequence.

Breakout: Used only in handicap racing, “breakout” refers to a contestant running quicker than he or she “dialed” his or her vehicle (predicted how quick it would run). Unless the opponent commits a more serious foul (e.g., red-lights, crosses the centerline, or fails a post-race inspection), the driver who breaks out loses. If both drivers break out, the one who runs closest to his or her dial is the winner.

Burned Piston: When a cylinder runs lean (too much air in the air-to-fuel mixture) and excessive heat burns or melts the piston.

Burnout: spinning the rear tires in water to heat and clean them prior to a run for better traction. A burnout precedes every run.

Christmas Tree: Also called the Tree, it is the noticeable electronic starting device between the lanes on the starting line. It displays a calibrated-light countdown for each driver.

Clutch Can: The bell-shaped housing, or bellhousing, used to encase the clutch and flywheel.

Clutch Lockup: The progression of clutch-disc engagement controlled by an air-timer management system.

Deep stage: to roll a few inches farther into the beams after staging, which causes the pre-stage lights to go out. In that position, a driver is closer to the finish line but dangerously close to a foul start.

Dial under: when drivers in Super Stock and Stock (handicap categories) select an elapsed time quicker than the national index. Drivers select a dial-under, or e.t., that they think their cars will run based on previous performance. The breakout rule is in effect.

Diaper: an absorbent blanket made from ballistic material, often Kevlar, that surrounds the oil pan to contain oil and parts in case of an engine explosion; required for Top Fuel, Funny Car, Top Alcohol Dragster, and Top Alcohol Funny Car.

Dropped cylinder: when a cylinder runs too rich (too much fuel in the air/fuel mixture) and prevents the spark plug(s) from firing.

Elapsed time: the time it takes a vehicle to travel from the starting line to the finish line. Also called e.t.

Eliminations: After qualifying, vehicles race two at a time, resulting in one winner from each pair. Winners continue in tournament-style competition until one remains.

Foul start: indicated by a red light on the Christmas Tree when a car has left the starting line before the green light, or starting signal.

Full Tree: used in Competition, Super Stock, and Stock, for which a handicap starting system is used to equalize competition. The three amber bulbs on the Christmas Tree flash consecutively five-tenths of a second apart, followed five-tenths later by the green starting light. A perfect reaction time on a full Tree is .500.

Header(s): a fine-tuned exhaust system that routes exhaust from the engine; replaces conventional exhaust manifolds.

Hemi: A Hemi engine has a hemispherical shaped cylinder-head combustion chamber, like a ball cut in half.

Holeshot: when a driver reacts quicker to the Christmas Tree to win a race against an opponent with a quicker e.t.

Hydraulic: when a cylinder fills with too much fuel, thus prohibiting compression by the cylinder and causing a mechanical malfunction, usually an explosive one

Index: the expected performance for vehicles in a class as assigned by NHRA. It allows various classes of cars in the same category to race together competitively.

Interval timers: part of a secondary timing system that records elapsed times, primarily for the racers’ benefit, at 60, 330, 660, and 1,000 feet.

Methanol: pure methyl alcohol produced by synthesis; used in Top Alcohol Dragsters and Top Alcohol Funny Cars.

Nitromethane: Produced specifically as a fuel for drag racing, it is the result of a chemical reaction between nitric acid and propane.

Pre-stage: to position the front wheels about seven inches behind the starting line so the small yellow lights atop that driver’s side of the Christmas Tree are glowing. The next step is to stage and be ready to race.

Pro Tree: used in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, Pro Stock Motorcycle, Top Alcohol Dragster, Top Alcohol Funny Car, Super Comp, Super Gas, and Super Street, which feature heads-up competition. All three large amber lights on the Christmas Tree flash simultaneously, followed four-tenths of a second later by the green starting light.

Reaction time: the time it takes a driver to react to the green starting light on the Christmas Tree, measured in thousandths of a second. The reaction-time counter begins when the last amber light flashes on the Tree and stops when the vehicle clears the stage beam.

Sixty-foot time: the time it takes a vehicle to cover the first 60 feet of the racetrack. It is the most accurate measure of the launch from the starting line and in most cases determines how quick the rest of the run will be.

Slider clutch: a multi-disc clutch designed to slip until a predetermined rpm is reached; decreases shock load to the drive wheels.

Speed trap: the final 66 feet to the finish line where speed is recorded.

Stage: to position the front wheels right on the starting line so the small yellow lights below the pre-stage lights are glowing. Once both drivers are staged, the calibrated countdown (see Christmas Tree) may begin.

Supercharger: a crank-driven air/fuel-mixture compressor, also called a blower. It increases atmospheric pressure in the engine to produce more horsepower.

Turbocharger: an exhaust-driven intake air compressor (see supercharger).

Wedge: an engine with a combustion chamber resembling a wedge in shape.

Weight transfer: critical to traction. Vehicles are set up to provide a desired weight transfer to the rear wheels. Upon acceleration, the front wheels lift and the weight shifts to the rear wheels, which makes them less likely to spin.

Wheelie bar(s): used to prevent excessive front-wheel lift.

Source: NHRA