How Does a Time Slip Card Tell the Story of a Race?

Drag Races
Author: Lütfi Mete Odabaşı
Creation: 25 October 2026

That small piece of paper handed to you at the end of the lap tells you, in numbers, where the run was won and where it was lost.

Share This Page

A time slip is the sheet handed to the driver from the control tower at the end of the track when a drag run is over, telling the whole story of the run in numbers. Your reaction time, how fast the car accelerated at which points of the track, the elapsed time and the trap speed are all on this single slip. When read correctly, it tells you where the run was won, where it was lost, and where it was wasted. That is exactly why this is the first textbook for every amateur who wants to improve at the track.

Highlights

The time slip; shows reaction time, 60 feet, 330 feet, half mile and finish values on a single sheet.
The 60 feet time is the single best indicator of launch quality.
On a 12-second car, 0.01 seconds in reaction time is roughly equivalent to one foot at the finish.
Launching before the green means a red light and automatic disqualification.
For street cars, a good quarter mile is 13-15 seconds; below 12 is fast, and below 10 is supercar territory.

What Is on the Slip? Reading a Time Slip Line by Line

Reaksiyon süren, drag koşusunun ilk saniyesinde kazanıp kazanacağınıza dair dürüst bir aynadır; yeşile verdiğin cevap pistteki her şeyi belirler.

When you take the slip in your hand, it may look like a confusing pile of numbers at first glance, but it is actually like a story that must be read in order. At the top there is usually the car number and class information; in official races this field is filled in, while on test days it stays empty. If you are in a bracket race, you will also see a dial-in: the ET you think your car will run, that is, your target time.

The lines below do the real work: reaction time, 60 feet, 330 feet, half mile (660 feet) and quarter mile ET and MPH values. If you raced against an opponent, the slip also gives the opponent's same values; so the comparison of the two runs is in your hand on a single sheet. Each of these numbers comes from a timer set up at a specific point on the track, and each one critiques a separate part of the run.

Reaction Time: Your Answer to the Green

The R/T on the slip is the time between the moment the green light comes on and the moment you set your car in motion. But here is the trick: experienced drivers mostly start the launch as the last amber goes out, and the car is already moving when the green comes on. In the .500 format known as the Sportsman tree, the goal is to get the RT as close to .500 as possible. If you launch before the green, the red light comes on, which means automatic disqualification. Think of how most bracket races are won or lost at the starting line; that small RT number on the slip may be the most expensive number of the run.

60 Feet: The Report Card of Your Launch

The 60 feet (about 18 meters) timer measures the time to pass the first section of the track and is the single best indicator of launch quality. If you spin the tires on the launch, your ET slows down, but interestingly your trap speed may rise a little; your car pushes the engine at high rpm for longer up to the traction line. That is why seeing a low 60 feet time on the slip is the most concrete proof of a good launch, and the tenths lost at 60 feet are reflected in your entire ET. As dSport also points out, a better 60 feet time significantly improves your ET.

330 Feet and the Half Mile: What the Middle of the Track Tells You

The 330 feet and 660 feet (half mile) figures track the middle portion of the run. 660 feet is exactly half of the quarter mile, and at many tracks the speed at that point is also recorded. What are these intermediate times good for? This is where you see your repeatability in bracket racing: in a good set of runs, the 60, 330 and 660 feet ETs match almost exactly. If your 60 feet is fine but the numbers start ballooning at 330, you know the car is running out of breath in the middle of the track. On test days, putting the slips side by side and comparing these columns is the cheapest way to show which setup is working.

ET and MPH: Two Different Stories at the Finish

The quarter mile ET is your total time on the track, and it is the number that determines the winner: whoever spends less time on the track wins. MPH, on the other hand, measures something a bit different. It records your average speed from the last infrared light 66 feet before the finish line to the finish; so the trap speed on the slip is not your instantaneous speed the moment you cross the line, but the average of the last 66 feet. Roughly speaking, ET tells you about your launch and traction on the track, while MPH tells you about your engine's power trend. That's why seeing a poor ET despite a high trap speed is not a contradiction, but a sign of a typical traction problem.

How Do You Tell a Good Run from a Bad Run on the Slip?

Let's think with a concrete example. In a 12-second car, a tenth-of-a-second slip in reaction time corresponds to roughly one foot at the finish line. So if you see an RT of .55 on the slip, you are theoretically half a foot behind at the start line. Now let's compare two hypothetical runs:

Category	Good Run	Problematic Run	What Does It Tell You?
R/T	.510	.680	Late start, loss at the start line
60 feet	1.75	2.05	Tire spin or late launch
330 feet	5.20	5.55	Loss of acceleration in the first third
1/8 mile	8.10	8.45	Falling performance in mid-track
1/4 mile ET	12.60	12.95	Tenths lost in total
1/4 mile MPH	109	111	Trap speed up but ET worse: traction problem

The second run in the table is a classic scenario: even the trap speed rose by a few mph, but the ET hit rock bottom. This is proof that the car has the power but cannot transfer that power to the road. The solution is also read from the slip: fixing the 60 feet, meaning playing with tire pressure, suspension and launch RPM settings. The goal is to find the lowest possible 60 feet time on every run. When the numbers add up, the slip tells you not to celebrate, but what to work on.

Why Is the Time Slip the Most Valuable Feedback Tool for Amateurs?

I'll be honest with you: there is almost no cheap way to measure your car's quarter mile performance outside the track. Dyno is expensive, GPS-based apps fall short. Yet the time slip is the cheapest data logger in racing. After every test run, the slip in your hand is the single-sheet report card of every change you made that day. Did you lower the tire pressure? What did the 60 feet say? Did you raise the launch RPM? Did the RT improve? You can only see this by collecting slips.

There is also a technical side. Reaction time is a skill that can be improved: building a physical and mental pre-race routine, doing short 10-20 repetition daily practice sessions with handheld or full-size simulators called a practice tree, and experimenting with your button release technique make a visible difference on the slips. In bracket racing, perfecting your own reaction time consistency first, then tuning the car to the driver, counts. Slips are the milestones of this journey; as you collect them, you hand-draw your own development chart.

In case you are curious: how good an ET should you see on the slip? For most street cars, 13-15 seconds is a perfectly respectable quarter mile; under 12 seconds is considered fast, and under 10 moves you into the supercar category. At the top level, things are a whole different story: Top Fuel dragsters finish 1,000 feet in 3.6 seconds and are the fastest accelerating race vehicles in the world. But even in their runs, the principle never changes; the numbers speak the same language at every level.

Tracks Where You Can Test Your Slip in Türkiye

You can only get this piece of paper at the track, and there is a lively scene for it in Türkiye. The 2026 Türkiye Drag Championship season started at the Antalya Kepez Drag Strip, and after the rounds run at Kepez in spring and summer, the season finale will also be run at Kepez on October 24-25. The Konya Drag Strip has also been renovated; so the facilities where you can fold your slip and put it in your pocket are increasing. Alongside championship rounds, many tracks host test and tune days; those are the ideal places to play with slips without the pressure of an official race. Now you know what to do when you get your first slip in hand: start reading from the RT, not the top left.

Final Word: The Numbers on Paper Are Honest With You

The time slip doesn't tell everything, true. But what it says is not a lie, and it is all collected on a single sheet of paper. If you want to understand where a run was won, where it was lost, and where it was wasted, don't throw the slip into your pocket without folding it after every run; open it, read it, compare it, and keep it. After a few weeks, you will have a notebook created by the best teacher at the track. Which number do you think hurts you the most: a bad RT, or a bloated 60 feet? You will find the answer on your first slip.