Pass Time
| Pass Time |
| Format |
Game Show |
| Created by |
Rich Christensen |
| Presented by |
Brett Wagner |
| Starring |
Kenneth Herring
Paige Simpson |
| Country of origin |
United States |
| Production |
| Running time |
30 minutes (with commercials) |
| Broadcast |
| Original channel |
Speed |
| Picture format |
720p |
| Original run |
Feb. 18, 2008 – present |
Pass Time is an American game show airing on Speed. In this show, two contestants compete against each other and resident expert Kenneth Herring, attempting to predict the pass times (the elapsed time from a standing start until crossing the finish line 1/4 mile or 1320 feet away) of a series of drag racers. Pass Time is hosted by Speed personality Brett Wagner; Paige Simpson serves as the show's "car wrangler".
Gameplay
Before each pass (that is, each run down the drag strip), the racer and his or her car are brought out, and the contestants are permitted to ask questions about the car, such as the size or power of the engine, the type and size of the tires, and the number of previous passes the car has made.
After all questions have been asked, the contestants secretly enter their predictions of the car's elapsed time to the nearest 1/100 of a second. (The display at the track usually indicates the car's time down to 1/1000 of a second; the thousandths digit is ignored.) The car then makes its pass, following procedures of drag racing (burnout, staged, and runs, using the Christmas Tree). The contestant whose prediction was closest to the actual time wins money; in addition to the scores being displayed on the contestants' podiums, host Wagner physically hands the winning contestant the money.
Occasionally, a driver will commit a foul (red light starts do not count, so mostly boundary line violations), or their car will break down in some way as to make a pass impossible or unsafe. These events are collectively known in-show as a "catastrophic failure". When that happens, the contestant who enters the slowest time wins the money.
Ties for individual passes are awarded to the contestant who locked in their time first. In the event of a possible tie in total winnings at the end of the show, contestants are asked to record a guess for the speed of the car in the final pass, with the show win being awarded to the closest guess.
If a contestant correctly guesses the time of a run exactly, the contestant wins a cash bonus. The bonus does not count towards the score, and is the contestant's to keep, regardless of the outcome of the match.
At points in the show's run, minor tweaks have been made to the gameplay, such as allowing contestants to wager double-or-nothing on specific passes,
Round 1
Round 1 consists of three passes, worth $100 each.
Round 2
Round 2 consists of three passes, worth $200 each. The second pass of round 2 is called the "Combo Round", in which two drivers make a pass simultaneously; the contestants must predict the combined time of the two cars, and must direct their one question to one driver only.
Round 3
Round 3 consists of two passes, worth $300 each.
Round 4
The final round consists of one pass, worth $500. At the end of this round, the player with the most money wins the game; the other contestants must then hand over their winnings (except any bonuses won for exactly predicting the time on a pass) to that player, for a total of $2,000. Even if one player has mathematically won the game prior to the final pass, all passes are played out, as a losing contestant who exactly predicts the time on this pass will still collect the bonus, which they keep.
Commonly used terms
- "All motor" – no nitrous oxide or other power adders will be used to supplement gasoline and ambient air
- "Back half car" – the rear suspension has been substantially modified for drag racing, usually involving weight transfer improvements and "coil-over” highly adjustable shock absorber spring towers at easily compressible rates.
- "Big block/small block" -when speaking of Detroit's "Big Three" V-8 engines from the 1950's and up to the late 1990's, big blocks range customarily from just under 400 cubic inches of displacement and with larger bores and increased strokes of the crankshaft might approach 550 cubic inches. Small blocks have less room inside the engine block for such oversized crankshafts, connecting rods, and pistons, having initial unmodified sizes ranging from well under 300 cubic inches to well under 400, with the most well-known size around 350-360 cubic inches, depending on manufacturer.
- "CFM" (cubic feet per minute) – refers to the maximum intake flow capacity of a carburetor (e.g., 850)
- "Clutch mods" – The car builder may have modified the clutch to introduce some slip at lower rpm with lever weights to lock the transmission input shaft to the flywheel speed as the engine reaches a pre-selected optimum (this is done to limit power application at starting line). Also, on drag motorcycles, a typical modification is an air shifter—compressed air is used to instantaneously change gears as the driver presses a thumb button
- "Dana" – a rear truck differential assembly commonly used in drag racing applications due to its reputation for durability in heavy duty MoPar applications.
- "Daily driver" – a driver's claim that the car is used regularly "on the street." Front brakes, turning signals, wiper blades, headlights, and license plates will be visible.
- "Ford 9 inch" – a Ford rear differential assembly used from 1957 to 1981 Ford cars and trucks. It is commonly used in street and racing (drag, oval, and road) applications due to its reputation for durability.
- "Full furniture" – the car has not been lightened through the removal of seats and interior components
- "Gears" – refers to the final drive ratio, which is typically around 3.0 for production automobiles, and up to 7.0 for high-performance cars (the number refers to the number of engine revolutions for each rotation of the driven axle).
- "Laundry" – a braking parachute
- "Moly" – refers to a chassis constructed of high strength alloy steel in the chassis tubing—commonly containing just less than 1% molybdenum
- "Sleeper" – a car where numerous and substantial modifications are deliberately concealed, so as to mislead observers into assuming that it is a much slower car. Easily visible use of hood scoop, roll bars or fenderwell removal are common modifications that are not performed.
- "Spray"/"power-adders" spray is usually nitrous oxide injection, but some drivers may inject methanol, and far more rarely, ethanol or nitromethane to supplement the gasoline use. "Power adders" include superchargers and turbochargers as well.
- "Stall speed" – the maximum rpm that the engine can reach when a car (in gear) is not moving. Builders often tune this number by varying the size of the fluid clutch connection. A typical stall speed for a production automobile would be below 1,700 rpm-—for a racing automatic transmission car, it might easily exceed 3,500 rpm, thus rendering the cars wildly inappropriate for street use where engine speeds rarely exceed 2,000 rpm. A high stall speed converter is also referred to as "loose."
- "Street slicks" – street-legal tires with minimal longitudinal grooving, providing less traction than full racing slicks, which are usually wider, softer, and stickier.
- "Throttle stop" – Some high-horsepower cars have electronic or mechanical devices that reduce the amount of fuel and air available to the engine at the start—with full power becoming available at a preset time, rpm, or distance. They are commonly used to prevent the engine from overpowering tire traction (smoking the tires, thus, almost universally, losing the race) or the car breaking out in bracket racing (which in normal drag racing is a loss).
External links