This Friday was the kickoff of Friday Night Drags at the Texas Motor Speedway.
"You're gonna be an outlaw, we just need to have the paperwork," said a man checking in drag racer Tyler Mitchell and his electric blue 1979 Ford Fairmont Futura named "Smack Down."
"This is where I pretty much learned how to drag race," Mitchell said. "It takes me off the streets. This is basically like street racing, the same thing."
That's the goal. Friday Night Drags started nine years ago as a way to get street racers into a safer space.
"It's the same as the street in front of your house," explained starter Scott Garrett. "Illegal street racing, kids and people get killed all the time, and a lot of times it's innocent people that don't have anything to do with it."
Every Friday night drivers line up in everything from SUVs to Mini Coopers, trying to drag race their way to victory.
"I've never crashed out here," Mitchell said. "I've crashed on the street, so that's probably why you shouldn't race on the street."
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Unlike street racing, Friday Night Drags is legal. It runs for six weeks every Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway.
