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Elapsed Time
Race Procedures
Elapsed Time (ET) is the total time it takes a vehicle to travel from the starting line to the finish line in a race, measured electronically to the thousandth of a second.
In drag racing, ET is a crucial performance metric that starts when the vehicle leaves the staging beams and stops when it crosses the finish line. Unlike reaction time (how quickly a driver responds to the starting signal), elapsed time measures only the vehicle's actual travel time on the track.
ET determines winners in many racing formats and allows for handicap racing through "dial-ins," where drivers predict their times. For example, a Top Fuel dragster might have an ET of 3.7 seconds, while a street car in bracket racing might run a 14-second ET.