By David G. Firestone
As I said last week, the mere word “paperwork” will make any person groan. Nobody likes paperwork. It is just awful. Yet it’s become a necessary evil. It permeates every aspect of life, even in auto racing.
Drag racing has a unique form of paperwork, as compared to other classes of auto racing. After every quarter mile run, a slip of paper is issued to the drivers giving their speed and elapsed time. This is used by the drivers and teams to figure out what their times were, so that adjustments in both car and strategy can be made. Nowadays these slips look like store receipts, but for many years, they were custom designed for the track, or even the specific event. I have a few examples of the variations of these slips. For being as old as they are, they are in great condition.
These first ones are from ATCO Dragway at Atco, NJ. These are slightly larger than a standard business card. 
These white examples come from the Cayuga International Dragway Park in Cayuga, Ontario. They are similar in size to the ATCO slips.
This slightly smaller slip is from the NHRA Springnationals at Columbus, Ohio. The slip is cream colored. It is customized for the event, and is a piece of advertising for Chrondek, a company specializing in drag racing timing systems.
These small thin paper slips come from Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey. One of these slips has “white Vette” as opposed to the car number. A picture of said Corvette was included with these slips.
This slip is from Maple Grove Dragway, and it not only lists Chrondek, but also has an add for SW Race Cars and Components, Inc. on the reverse.
New York National Speedway was located in Center Moriches, New York, and existed from 1966 to 1980. These series of small slips are from New York National. Another photo of the white Corvette at the track is included with this set of slips. The reverse has advertisements for Musclecars Performance Centers.
York US30 Dragway operated out of York Airport in Thomasville, Pennsylvania. It operated from 1965 to 1979. These slips are from that long gone track. The reverse has advertisements for Hartman Automotive Racing Engines.
The last slip is from Great Lakes Dragaway. This is from 1990, and unlike the others, this one has more specific information, such as reaction time, and more complete speed. This slip was signed by “Dyno” Don Nicholson.
Next week, the drag racing theme continues with a parachute.
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