Dragster (car)

A dragster is a specialized competition automobile used in drag racing.

Dragsters, also commonly called "diggers", can be broadly placed in three categories, based on the fuel they use: gasoline, methanol, and nitromethane. They are most commonly single-engined, though twin-engined and quad-engined designs did race in the 1950s and 1960s.

The design of dragsters evolved from the front-engined rail (named for the exposed frame rails) of the earliest days of drag racing, into the "slingshot" (with the driver between or behind the rear tires, or "slicks") of the early to middle 1960s, to the "modern" type common in the 1970s.

Depending on the class they run in, dragsters can be injected or supercharged (or turbocharged), with a variety of possible engines. The engines are most often derived from automobiles'; some early examples used surplus aircraft engines. Today, they may also be electric.

Dragsters are distinct from "bodied" cars such as funny cars and gassers, as well as from Altereds.

The front engine dragster came about due to engines initially being located in the car's frame in front of the driver. The driver sits angled backward, over the top of the differential in a cockpit situated between the two rear tires, a design originating with Mickey Thompson's Panorama City Special in 1954, as a way of improving traction. This position led to many drivers being maimed when catastrophic clutch failures occurred. Due to limited traction, some dragsters with four rear drive wheels were attempted as well as designs with twin engines.

The final Top Fuel driver to win a National Hot Rod Association national event in a front engine dragster was Art Marshall on August 6, 1972 at the Le Grandnational outside of Montreal, Canada.

The drawbacks of front-engine designs (including fatalities) led to several attempts at rear-engined cars. Among them were pioneering rear-engined dragsters (and funny cars, including Doug Thorley's and Dave Bowman's) were Steve Swaja's AA/Gas Wedge I from 1963, Roger Lindwall's 1966 Top Fuel Re-Entry and Kent Fuller's fueller Sidewinder III, both in 1969.