Beginner's Guide to Participating in Drag Week 2019
The first thing to remember, if you are truly serious about attending as a competitor, is that not a single person who has shown up for Sunday registration with their car, vehicle registration and tags along with valid insurance, has ever been turned away. Getting a spot in the 400 preregistered cars is NOT the key, showing up is!
Preregistration usually occurs between late February and late April, is announced well ahead of time and takes place on HOTROD.com. The link will pop up on that website at 9:00 AM Pacific on the Saturday they choose. The link will not magically appear if you sit on the website and wait. You have to clear out your cache and all previous cookies, then open that page AFTER the link has been posted.
This part causes the most consternation and frustration, just getting the link to show up on the screen. The best method is to recruit help, and have as many PCs and laptops in the room as you can. Dale had six people in the room last year intent upon registering two people. The big time gamer of the group registered the first in one minute and 5 seconds, the second was registered forty-five seconds later, and one of the six in the room never got the link to open. It took Darren five minutes and forty-five seconds, and his entry number was one of the last given out before people started reporting that it was sold out.
This is a list of the needed information from a few years ago, there are variations now, as you work through the four pages that must be completed.
WHAT YOU NEED TO REGISTER
– Last Name, First Name, Middle Initial
– Street Address, City, State, Postal Code (ZIP), Country
– Email address
– Cell phone number
– Date of Birth (Month/Date/Year)
– Are you the vehicle owner? (Yes/No)
– If no, what is the owner’s name?
– Who will be racing (driving) the vehicle?
– Racer’s Date of Birth (Month/Date/Year)
– Vehicle Year, Make, Model, Color
– Vehicle License Plate State & Number
– Insurance Company Name (not the agent, the company)
– Insurance Policy Number
– 2017 Hot Rod Drag Week Class you anticipate racing in (note that this can be changed on race day)
– Anticipated e.t.
– Credit Card type, number, expiration date, and security code
In the interest of speed, complete accuracy isn't needed on License plate or insurance info, as they will check that stuff at registration, so you can put ABC 123 in those boxes if you have to. The most important part is each box must have something in it before you are allowed to go to the next page.
The most important info is Name, E-mail Address, and Who Will be racing the vehicle. These are the only person or persons who will be able to use this registration, it's non-transferable to anyone else.
Last year there were two small boxes IIRC that tripped some people up and slowed registration, one asked gender, and another was one of those pesky "I agree to terms" boxes.
Several people didn't get in because they tried to use American Express, which is an option on the site, but it was repeatedly rejected, have a Master Card or Visa ready.
So you got in, gave them four hundred bucks, and have your confirmation E-mail printed out! Great, get to work. If you got the dreaded "Sorry, Were Sold Out" screen, you need to immediately send an E-mail to HOT ROD to be put on the wait list. I would suggest having their E-mail address already queued up on your e-mail and be ready to switch to that tab as soon as you finish trying to get in.
Every year, 15 to 25% of preregistered entries don't make it to Drag Week. Ten or fifteen might drop out ahead of time, and alert HOT ROD that they are out. Hot Rod will then notify the first on the wait list, and give them 24 or 48 hours to register or not, then work down the list. So, from my perspective being between 20 and 80 on the wait list is the true catbird seat. You haven't risked four hundred dollars, you most likely won't get a surprise E-mail asking for your money or you will be passed over, and you are practically guaranteed a spot on registration day, so you still need to finish the car, get to work!
More later. Questions? Ask them!
