I am thinking of taking my 2012 Prius C two to my local track (Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, IL) for T

Looks like all the info is on their website:
Test and Tune 101 - Route 66 Raceway

 

Street Legal Style

Street Legal Style: What to expect

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When you get to an NHRA Member Track for an NHRA Drags Street Legal Style presented by AAA event, you’ll pay your entry fee and get a tech card. Fill out your information on the tech card and proceed to the tech area to submit your car for safety inspection. The tech staff and track officials will inspect your car to make sure you meet the racing safety requirements. Some of the safety requirements include:

• Seat Belts
• Working headlights and taillights
• Safe, DOT-Approved tires
• Secured Battery
• Must be wearing long pants (no nylon), sleeved shirt, closed-toe shoes and socks when making your run.
• Helmets and additional safety equipment may be required.

Contact your local track for specifics; they are more than willing to help you determine if your vehicle meets the requirements.

What do I need to participate?*
Check with your local NHRA member track for its requirements, but generally, you can expect to be expected to provide proof of the following:

• A valid driver's license
• Valid vehicle registration and insurance
• DOT-approved street legal tires
• Seat belts
• Muffler
• If using nitrous, nitrous-oxide bottles must be stamped as meeting DOT 1,800-pound standards *Requirements may vary

What to expect at the track Step-by-Step

1. Entry: When you enter the track, you'll receive a tech card after paying your entry/participation fee.
2. Tech: After completing your tech card, you'll drive your vehicle to tech, where a simple safety inspection will be performed on your car.
3. Registration: You'll then check in at racer registration, where you'll sign a release form and show your valid driver's license.
4. Staging lanes: Once you're registered, drive to the rear of the staging lanes and get ready to race. See tips on Staging your vehicle.
5. Race: When it's time for you to race, an official will motion to you. Do a burnout if you'd like, or drive around the water box and get ready to stage. When both cars are ready, you'll stage using the Christmas Tree. At the end of your run, slow down and exit properly.
6. Timing booth: After your run, you'll pick up your time slip at the timing booth to see how your vehicle performed. Then return to the pits to get ready for more runs.

 

Strip Mall

 

strip club

 

While I never took my prius to the strip. I did drag my 94 impala...

do not, ever...unless you have slicks. drive through the water... your treads won't shed the water until you go down the track.. which then makes for rather interesting driving for the guys behind you...

there are two amber lights on top pre-stage and stage. carefully and slowly drive in until the pre-stage is lit. once you you hit the second "stage" light, the tree is then live. you have to be ready to mash the gas

you are not running a pro tree (.4 sec) they will generally run a sportsman tree( .5 sec) tree which means there is .5 second between the lights. basically, when the last light is lit, you need to mash the gas and anticipate the green light.

I woudl think that the prius would be a very consistent runner and would be ideal for "bracket racing" when you dial in your estimate of your time.. the racer closest to his dial-in with out going over (breaking out) wins...

I would expect that you'll take a fair amount of "flak and joking around" from the other racers. Don't let that bother you... you are there to have fun... take a cooler with some soda's and some snack. you could potentially be sitting in the staging lines for a while..
you'll see the serious racing with bags of ice icing down their intakes, or running cooling fans...

have fun and save your time slips...Bring some shoe polish/paint so you put your car number on your windows

Basics of Drag Racing

 

Sounds like fun; Raceway is about 10 miles from where I live. If you go, post back about your experiences. I'd love to try it some day.

 

For those 10 seconds or less I am free........

 

Did you really just quote Dominic Toretto?

 

Glad someone figured it out!

 

Like Marc says, the Prius ought to be a pretty interesting car to drag race since you don't have to worry as much about hooking up, and you're probably going to be pleasantly surprised at how warmly you're received at the track.
Yeah, they're going to goof on you a little bit, but talking smack is all part of the fun and if you leave your attitude in the parking lot you'll learn a lot about you and your car......not to mention the sport of drag racing.
If there's ANYTHING that the Prius community desperately needs is more of our cars at these type of events.
The 'letro-cars are already drag racing.
It's time that the Hybrid community joined in the fun.

There will always be a faster car, but that doesn't necessarily make for a better (or faster) driver.

Good luck!
Buy or borrow a helmet just in case.

 

A helmet for an 18 second car?

 

I think it is for his head, not the car.

 

Ha ha ha... I get that, but you don't need a helmet for an 18 second car... no matter what division you're racing in. Though, I guess some tracks could mandate it for everybody.

 

He will be doing 75 MPH, in a 2500 pound car. Wear the helmet.

 

Should I wear a helmet on the highway? 75 is nothing in Atlanta...

 

Everyone in the other lane is pushing their car to it's limit. Mind you, this is also true on the racetrack.

 

75 is the limit? I thought the PC could go over 100.