Pinks

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For the plants of Dianthus genus in the Caryophyllaceae family, see Dianthus; for the restaurant in Los Angeles, see Pink's Hot Dogs. Pinks is also used as an abbreviated plural form for the Pink-footed Goose.

Pinks is a television show on Speed Channel that debuted in 2005. In the show, two competitors compete in a best 3 out of 5 Drag race (although some Series 1 races were 2 out of 3, including a shifter kart race) . After each race the terms of the next race are negotiated. The driver who wins three of the five races wins the loser's car. The results of the race are legally binding and the keys and titles are first signed over to the producer before the race to eliminate the chance that the loser will refuse to forfeit his/her car after the race. A second series of the show has been filmed and began airing in late February 2006, with a third series beginning in July 2006 shot in Gainesville, Florida and Madison, Illinois. A special series, Pinks: All Out, a standard drag race featuring street cars organised by the show producers, has also been taped, and Series Four began February 21, 2007.

The show is hosted by Rich Christensen, who also employs his cousin Kail as an official. Former contestants Charles Hendrickson and Nathan Pritchett (the only person to have won matches with both a car and a motorcycle) are assigned to each team as technical advisors. Gavin Jerome is the roving public address announcer.

There are a number of sources which indicate that the premise behind the show--that the loser "gives away" his/her car--does not actually happen. In those cases a side deal has been struck behind the scenes where the loser pays a nominal amount of money (almost equivalent to the "advertising" dollars of television exposure the driver's cars earn) to the winner in exchange for the return of the signed pink slip.^{[citation needed]} In May 28, 2006 episode of WindTunnel with Dave Despain, the show's producer and host Rich Christensen claimed that some losing racers tried to buy back the vehicle after the race, which Rich tried to eliminate in later season. In one race where a car was eliminated by "catastrophic fault" (part of the engine block overheating), the winners gave the car back because they did not want to win by bad fortune, and promised that they would have a re-match in the future.

Recent shows have been sponsored (with prizes going to the winner such as free Bridgestone tires or several cases of Shell Q Motor Oil), with Series Four featuring NAPA Auto Parts as the series presenting sponsor for both the regular and All Out series, owing to the show's growing popularity. Normally attendance at live tapings is high, with amateur races and concerts (usually featuring The Nadas, who perform the show's ending theme "Walk Away") bookending the televised races. A common occurrence is "set matches", such as import vs. domestic, new vs. old models of a certain make, or races of popular former cars, such as current technical advisor Charles Hendrickson's "Woolly Mammoth" or an altered Chevrolet Astro van that beat several more sporty cars. Other matches feature motorcycles or trucks.

In all cases races are "drop of the hand" style, and do not use the electronic starting system prevalent in drag racing. Show creator and host Rich Christensen drops his arms (For which he has said he holds for 2 - 5 seconds), to start each race and officials, both from the show (since Series 2) and track, observe conditions and tape them for replay in case of false starts, and photo finishes.