What Do The Street Outlaws Prefer… The Armdrop Or The Flashlight Start?

Ever since JJ Da Boss came to Oklahoma with his infamous Arm Drop Drags on last season’s Street Outlaws finale, there’s been a debate raging about which format is better: Flashlight start vs Armdrop.

While you’ll likely never get everybody on board with one or the other, it is interesting to find out where everybody stands on the debate. Before we get into the answers of the guys from the 405, let’s discuss the differences in the two options.

The flashlight, as pointed out by Daddy Dave, works more like an “instant green” start at the drag strip. There’s no grey area, there’s no wondering or debating a jump or a fair start. If the car moves before the light comes on, its a jump and a loss. If the light comes on before the cars move, it’s a fair start. The armdrop changes all of that by including the “chase is a race” stipulation, meaning regardless of one car leaving before the starter’s arm falls, if both cars leave the line, whoever gets to the finish line first is declared the winner. As you can imagine, this opens up the door for a lot of game playing, especially for slower cars who may not be able to outrun their opponent in a heads-up race. If you’re able to time the drop so that you leave just before the starter drops his arms and your opponent follows suit, you have quite an advantage.

As you can imagine the guys from the 405 prefer the flashlight start, since that is what they’ve always used to start their races.

Only Big Chief, who’s never been ashamed to admit he can hustle with the best of them, says he’s good at both, and so far, that’s proven to be pretty accurate. What do you guys think about this debate? Which format if fairer? More importantly, which format is more entertaining? We are pretty sure what the answer is, but we love hearing from you guys, so let us know what you think!

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