The front engine dragster came about due to engines initially being located in the car's frame in front of the driver. Today, they may also be electric.ĭragsters are distinct from 'bodied' cars such as funny cars and gassers, as well as from Altereds. The engines are most often derived from automobiles' some early examples used surplus aircraft engines. 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.ĭepending on the class they run in, dragsters can be injected or supercharged (or turbocharged), with a variety of possible engines. They are most commonly single-engined, though twin-engined and quad-engined designs did race in the 1950s and 1960s.

An early example, a 1958 Fuel rail, on display at the California Automobile MuseumĪ dragster is a specialized competition automobile used in drag racing.ĭragsters, also commonly called 'diggers', can be broadly placed in three categories, based on the fuel they use: gasoline, methanol, and nitromethane.

Ed roth orbitron