While the old fashioned quarter mile drag strip is still considered by most to be the ultimate proving ground for high horsepower cars, in recent years there's a been a big shift to longer half mile events with rolling starts, usually held on a shutdown airport runway.
Here, the focus is less on perfect launches and reaction times and more on putting a car's power to the test. With both stock and modified cars becoming more powerful than ever, these longer tracks really allow high powered cars to stretch their legs—and the result is incredibly fun to watch.
When it comes to half-mile roll racing events, no one does it better than Shift S3ctor who hosts their Airstrip Attack events in California, Oregon and Colorado. Recently, Shift S3ctor returned to the Coalinga Municipal Airport in Central California for its fall Airstrip Attack event and we headed out to get a look.
Whether it was car owners looking for head-to-head grudge matches that wouldn't be possible at a normal drag strip, or drivers simply looking to see how fast their machine would go in a half mile, there was a constant parade of wild machinery heading down the runway. From screaming exotics to heavily modified muscle cars and homebuilt tuner cars, there was no shortage of excitement to be had and speed records to be set over the weekend.