Intro to Junior Dragster
When The Board of Management from Champion Dragway, Meremere threw up the idea of involving their sons and daughters in drag racing by designing Midget dragsters as they were first known. Know one would of through that the idea would be copied through out the world. But years later it has become an internationally recognised class with Junior dragsters now raced in New Zealand, America, and Australia. This class has now been renamed Junior Dragster as an accepted International class of competition. This class has produced several drivers that have continued through to competing in higher class's world wide.
Junior Dragster division caters for competitors between the ages of 6 to 17 years of age. Racing downsized replicas of dragsters over a distance of eight-mile. They have three different classes.
| Junior Class | 8 to 11 years | Restricted to engines of maximum of 125 cc 5 HP Briggs & Stratton engines, Gearbox / transmission allowed. |
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| Senior Class | 12 to 17 years | Restricted to engines of maximum of 250 cc, Gearbox / transmission allowed. |
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Price Motorsport have several Junior Dragsters that you will see here. Built and painted to replicate the full-size dragsters.
These dragsters have been built in house by Price Motorsport with the intentions of introducing children to the sport of Drag Racing, and showing the family type atmosphere of drag racing to the general public and Sponsors.
This has really worked well and the dragsters really turns some heads when seen together. The finish of the Junior Dragsters is impressive. When displayed at the 2002 National Hot Rod Show organised by the New Zealand Hot Rod Association. one of the Junior Dragsters obtained second place in Competition Race Car and second place in Competition Engine, our Top Alcohol Dragster had obtained the first places.
Junior Dragsters race under the Dial Your Own Racing format (DYO). This method of handicap racing requires a handicap type Christmas tree where the starting lights for each lane are controlled independently allowing the slower car in each race to be given a start over its competitor. The amount of handicap applied in each race is calculated as the different between the "Dial-in" times of each competitor. Dial-in times are nominated by each competitor following qualifying and should represent what the competitor considers he can achieve consistently. Competitors must remember however that if they run under their dial-in, i.e. breaks out they are disqualified. They must also be careful not to dial-in too much under the time the dragster is capable of achieving as this will give their opponent the advantage. In theory, a competitor who is able to run on their dial-in should win each race provided of course they read the Christmas tree correctly and are not caught asleep on the start line.
For example: Junior dragster A has been timed at 14.78, 14.74, and 14.76 seconds for the eighth-mile, and the driver feels that a "dial-in" of 14.75 is appropriate. The driver of Junior dragster B has recorded elapsed times of 12.27, 12.22, and 12.26 on the same track and has chosen a dial-in of 12.25. Accordingly, Junior dragster A will get a 2.5 second head start over Junior dragster B when the Christmas tree counts down to each car's starting green light. If both vehicles cover the eighth-mile in exactly the predetermined elapsed time, the win will go to the driver who reacted quickest to the starting signal. That reaction to the starting signal is called "reaction time".
The order of the qualifying positions is also important as it determines the seeding of the Junior dragsters in the first round of elimination, that is, the arrangement of who must run against whom. This order is worked out on the reaction times achieved by the drivers in qualifying. i.e. Number one qualifier is the driver with the best reaction time achieved in his qualifying runs. Number two qualifier is the drivers with the second best reaction time.
If you are interested and want to build a Junior Dragster for the new blood in this exciting sport, Detailed chassis plans, One piece Fibreglass Bodies, Fibreglass Seats and Windscreens are available, See our contact page for details, or contact us at any race track that you see them competing at.
