Official Oil of Drag Week
AMSOIL is proud to be the Official Oil of Hot Rod Drag Week. Our synthetic racing oils and lubricants offer the extra protection needed for high-performance vehicles to remain worry-free during a demanding and grueling race schedule like this.
“We drive to the track predawn, so the vehicle is operational before an early-morning tech inspection.”
Street Legal Drag Racing
Having the AMSOIL booth near the pit area at Hot Rod Drag Week was a great reminder of the attention to detail required to make a vehicle race ready. Organized pit routines were exhibited by many drivers in the Hot Rod Power Tour.
Preparation included jacking the car up, draining the gear oil and pulling the axles, driveshaft and pumpkin (rear-end gears), and swapping between 4:11 and 4:88 gearing to pull harder off the line. Not to mention changing out a dual-point distributor with advance spark for track-only use and fine tuning the timing and carburetor for race-worthy acceleration down the straight.
2022 winner Tom Bailey’s 1969 Chevy Camaro averaged 6.583 seconds and had the fastest race of the week at 6.032!
Drag and Drive
Hot Rod Drag Week requires each competitor to race five consecutive days across four track locations. Each competitor not only has to endure a relentless racing schedule but is also required to drive the vehicle over 1,000 miles between locations along a pre-set, photo-verified public road route.
While this “drag and drive” event is a competition, spectators and those who ride along will also find an atmosphere of camaraderie, companionship, and the shared desire to see every car run at its best.
Fast and Furious
Drag racing has come a long way in the last 50 years. Cars are faster, tires are stickier, equipment is much safer and the tracks are cleaner. There have been huge technical advances in lubrication alone.
Gear oil withstands much wider temperature extremes and higher pressures. Grease is also more efficient, with substantially lower coefficients of friction and higher resistance to temperature extremes. Synthetic engine oils top the chart, as they are molecularly engineered to withstand extreme-performance applications like drag racing, which cooks conventional motor oils.
Who’s Fastest?
Hot Rod Drag Week brings street legal drag racing back to the Midwest every September. Racers test their mettle over five days and four locations, to see who can win the title of “Fastest Street Car in America.” In 2022, the route began and ended at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, just outside of St. Louis, Missouri. Learn more about the event below.
