The increasingly popular Speed TV show, Pinks All Out, came to Atlanta
Dragway May 9-10, 2008 to tape another episode of its growing series.
Well over 20,000 spectators (a one day attendance figure rivaled only
by the NHRA Southern Nationals) packed the grandstands on both sides of
the track. They definitely received their money’s worth during the
event, which features nearly 500 “little guy” racers vying for a spot
in the 16 car field that the show revolves around. David Harris, media
relations manager for Speed said, “Never has there been so much
excitement over the little guy racer.”
Pinks All Out is a spin-off of the original Pinks, which aired in 2005
with the premise of old style, “lose the race, lose your ride” pink
slip racing. “All Out” is a successful effort by host and executive
producer, Rich Christensen, to bring grass roots style drag racing to
television. Instead of the typical “Christmas Tree” start,
Christensen’s classic “arm drop” first ensures both racers are ready,
and then starts them off in a style similar to 50s style drag racing.
However, Pinks does use the staging portion of the “Christmas Tree” to
ensure both racers are positioned correctly at the starting line.
Pinks technical advisors Nate and Adam Pritchett, stars in their own
right, are the ones who ultimately choose the 16 car field for the
show. Their goal is to choose the ones that are closest together in
elapsed time, to ensure an even, heads-up, wide open, side by side, no
holds barred competition. Going into an event, no one knows what range
will be selected, although mid ten second quarter mile times are
prevalent. For the Atlanta event, the selected field ranged from a
quickest time of 10.30 seconds to a slowest of 10.38. Similar to street
racing, no times are displayed on the scoreboards, and after the
competition begins, not even the competitors are allowed to know their
elapsed times. It’s simply a case of the first person to the finish
line wins each round. The final round is done a little differently.
Both finalists are allowed to start when they get ready, but then are
not allowed to turn off their engines, and are not even allowed to
remove their safety equipment during a best two out of three passes
elimination.