The "Hole Shot"

Have you ever wondered what the term "Hole Shot" was in Drag Racing? Or have you ever wondered why the guy in the left lane with the quicker Elapse Time lost to the guy in the right lane that had a slower Elapse Time? Well, this happens and people sometimes don't understand the term. Mainly determined on who got out of the hole first.
The winner in drag racing goes to the first car to cross the finish line. Elapse time does not matter much on final eliminations, but it does matter a whole lot on qualifying day. Usually at the NHRA events, qualifying days are Friday and Saturday where you race against the clock and not the other driver in the other lane. Sometimes on Thursday like in Pomona Ca and at Indianapolis, but mainly just 2 days. Sundays are reserved for Final Eliminations when there you race against the other driver in the other lane.
Ok, so this is how it plays out. A lot of the "Hole Shot" is determined from the drivers reaction time from cutting the Christmas Tree with the best reaction time. I will do this in simple terms so not to confuse you by using whole numbers.
Let's say the driver "A" in the left lane reacts to the tree with a .100 time and goes 4.100 elapse time, but the driver "B" in the right lane cuts a .000 perfect light, and goes 4.150, which is slower. Driver "B" in the right lane went slower in Elapse Time, but was perfect on the line, so he made it to the finish line .050 quicker because driver "A" in the left lane was slow to react with a .100 time. The difference is .050 faster for driver "B" to cross the finish line.
Another version:
A hole shot win is when the car with the fasted elapased time did not cross the finish line first. your reaction time to the green light is where this is figured. .000 seconds is a perfect reaction time. this means you left the stage beam at the exact time the light turned green. the timers don't start counting your elapsed time until you leave the stage beam. So if I had a reaction time of .050 and my elapsed time was 6.60 seconds and you had a reaction time of .000 and your elapsed time was 6.64 seconds this would mathmaticly (SP) put you ahead of me at the finish line by .010 seconds. Since my elapsed time was faster than yours but you took the stripe before I did, that would give you the holeshot win.

Check out this 2009 Hole shot win by Larry Dixon over Cory Mac at the finals in Pomona and watch what both Elapse Times are and how Dixon won on a hole shot.

Larry Dixon wins on a Hole Shot

I hope you can now understand it.