60-foot Time

60-foot time is the measurement of how long it takes a drag racing car to travel the first 60 feet from the starting line, serving as the most important indicator of a vehicle's launch performance and initial acceleration.

In drag racing, the 60-foot time appears on every time slip and is considered more critical than horsepower numbers. A car that launches well in the first 60 feet will almost always run a faster overall time than a more powerful car that struggles off the line. This makes the 60-foot time the foundation of competitive drag racing.

Think of it like a sprinter's first few steps out of the blocks. Just as those initial strides determine much of a runner's final time, how quickly a race car covers those first 60 feet largely determines its success for the entire quarter-mile run.

Several factors directly impact 60-foot times. Traction is paramount - without proper grip between the tires and track surface, all the engine power in the world won't help. The suspension setup must transfer the car's weight to the rear tires during launch, while the driver's technique in managing the throttle and clutch determines how smoothly that power reaches the ground.

Racers obsess over their 60-foot times because improving this number by just a few hundredths of a second can drop their overall elapsed time significantly. A typical street car might post a 2.2-second 60-foot time, while a well-prepared race car can achieve times in the 1.4-second range or better.

When racers talk about a car that "hooks" or "launches hard," they're describing a vehicle with excellent 60-foot times. Conversely, a car that "spins" or has poor 60-foot times will struggle regardless of its top-end power, making this measurement the ultimate test of a drag car's setup and the driver's skill at the starting line.