Pinks

Pinks is a franchise series of television programs on Speed Channel

SPEED Channel

Speed , is a cable and satellite television network broadcast to various parts of North America, but primarily the United States...

based on illegal street racing

Street racing

Street racing is a form of unsanctioned and illegal motor racing which takes place on public roads. Street racing can either be spontaneous or well-planned and coordinated. Well coordinated races are planned in advance and often have people communicating via 2-way radio/citizens' band radio and...

, held at legal closed drag strips with a theme around drag racing. The original aired from 2005 to 2008, with the spinoff Pinks: All Out following in 2006. The name of the show, and the tagline "Lose the race - lose your ride", refer to common slang of pink slips representing a vehicle's title document

Vehicle title

In the United States, the certificate of title for a vehicle is a legal form, establishing a person or business as the legal owner of a vehicle. Vehicle titles in the U.S...

recording ownership, and the derivative street-racing phrase, "racing for pinks," meaning a race in which the winner earns the loser's car. (In California, until recently, the vehicle title was on a pink slip of paper.). Pink slips were common in the Need for Speed franchise, especially under the game Need for Speed: Undercover.

The series airs on the Speed Channel

SPEED Channel

Speed , is a cable and satellite television network broadcast to various parts of North America, but primarily the United States...

in the United States and Canada, and also airs on Fox Sports 3

Fox Sports (Australia)

Fox Sports is an Australia group of sports channels. They are owned by the Premier Media Group, which is in turn owned by News Corporation, and Consolidated Media Holdings. Its main competitors are ESPN, which has little local content and the free-to-air digital channel One HD...

in Australia. The series is produced by Pullin Television

Pullin Television

Founded by Stephen Pullin in 2004, Pullin Television . Pullin Television is currently partnered with the National Hot Rod Association to produce NHRA Unleashed , a series of racing events in four American cities- Atlanta, Indianapolis, Columbus, and Gainesville in 2010. Pullin Television produced...

.

Competitors compete in a drag race (although in the original Pinks, there was a stepladder shifter kart

Kart racing

Kart racing or karting is a variant of open-wheel motorsport with small, open, four-wheeled vehicles called karts, go-karts, or gearbox/shifter karts depending on the design. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits...

race in Series 1, and the original franchise was based more on illegal street racing) in the franchise. The formats differ between the franchise's formats.

In the original series, the illegal street racing

Street racing

style drag race has provisions of the winner claiming ownership of the losing vehicle.

The race format changed slightly through each season:

Early Series 1 (2005): 2 out of 3 races
Later Series 1-Series 4 (2005–2007): 3 out of 5 races
Series 5 (2008): 4 out of 7 races

As the show starts, the host, staff, and contestants sign a binding contract that will transfer the legal title of the two cars in question to Pullin Television, the production company of the show. Since the production company owns the vehicles it guarantees that the show will award the titles to both cars to the winner of the race and eliminates the chance that the loser will refuse to forfeit his/her car after the race.

Negotiations

Each team is allowed to inspect the opposing team's car to attempt to assess its performance before negotiations for the first race, or in cases where the negotiations are not held for the first race, before the second. Each team chooses a negotiator to act as its spokesperson to discuss the terms of each round. In recent seasons, the first round of each match is often held without negotiation except for terms over the use of nitrous oxide

Nitrous oxide

Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas or sweet air, is a chemical compound with the formula . It is an oxide of nitrogen. At room temperature, it is a colorless non-flammable gas, with a slightly sweet odor and taste. It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anesthetic and analgesic...

, and features a heads-up start (each car side by side with no time or length handicap)

Negotiations generally deal with starting position, similar to bracket racing (except it is negotiated in car lengths, not seconds), nitrous use, and other such issues, the purpose being to handicap

Handicapping

Handicapping, in sport and games, is the practice of assigning advantage through scoring compensation or other advantage given to different contestants to equalize the chances of winning. The word also applies to the various methods by which the advantage is calculated...

the perceived stronger car and create an even race. In Series 5, negotiating car setup for bracket racing times were permitted. After the negotiations (which can last considerably longer than what is shown), the cars are sent to the start line for the burnout.

Race

As is the case for a regular drag race, the cars are allowed to perform a burnout, after which they are staged according to the negotiated starting positions (if any). If a track official finds suspicious fluids leaking on the track, he may order the car shut down and the round automatically forfeited to the opponent. If there are mechanical or weather questions, the race may be delayed. In some cases, a show taping may be called off if the weather prevents a full race from being filmed.
Pinks uses a street-race-style arm-drop start rather than the "Christmas Tree" electronic starting system used in modern drag racing. The show's signature start signal was devised by show creator and host Rich Christensen

Rich Christensen

Rich Christensen is an American television producer from New Hampton, IA. Christensen went to school at the University of Northern Iowa. He is best known as the creator, lead executive producer and host of the racing shows Pinks and Pinks: All Out, the number two and three shows on the Speed...

. Christensen points at the driver of the car on his right (left lane), waits for the driver to respond with a thumbs up, then drops that arm. Christensen then repeats this with the driver on his left (right lane). Next, Christensen raises both arms, waits for 2 – 5 seconds and then lowers his arms to start the race, which eliminates a popular tactic in drag racing, the delay box

Delay box

"Delay Box" is a common slang term used in drag racing to describe an on-board timer which is a Transmission Brake Delay Timer. A transbrake forces the race car to remain stationary at the starting line, in gear, regardless of how much engine power is applied. When the visual signal is given to...

, from being used by the car.

Officials, both from the show (since Series 2) and track, observe conditions and tape them for replay in case of false starts (leaving before the hands drop), race infractions (standard drag racing rules apply), and photo finishes. In the case of a photo finish

Photo finish

A photo finish occurs in a sporting race, when two competitors cross the finishing line at near the same time. As the naked eye may not be able to discriminate between which of the competitors crossed the line first, a strip photo, a series of rapidly triggered photographs, or a video taken at the...

, the video tape of the finish is brought to the start line to allow the teams to agree on the result.

Fouls

As in drag racing, the following are declared fouls on Pinks and the offender loses the round:

Leaving before Christensen drops his hands. It is a clean start if the car moves once the hands begin dropping. Officials may use replay to verify the legality of a start. If a driver leaves as soon as the hand begins to drop from its highest point, a driver is said to have tree'd their opponent.
- If both cars jump, the first to jump loses (red light).
- Rich will often point at the offending lane if he spots the infraction.
Crossing either boundary line
Leaking fluid during staging
Breaking down and not finishing the run
In Series 5, if negotiations call for bracket race rules, and one car clearly breaks out while the opponent does not break out, that can be grounds for disqualification for sandbagging.
- Technical advisors will determine time through the timing traps as the scoreboard is turned off, officials still have the ability to observe track timing through the electronic timing system.
- Times will be taken from standard points at the track and compared to the times from the vehicle's earlier races in order to see where the car "breaks out", with the timing of the racer's start taken into account.
- The standard timing points in drag racing, excluding the 60-feet time (which Pinks does not use because of the nature of head starts
  Head start (positioning)
  In positioning, a head start is a start in advance of the starting position of others in competition, or simply toward the finish line or desired outcome...
  
  ), used by officials are at:
  - 330 feet
  - 660 feet
  - 1,000 feet
  - 1,320 feet
- It is important that times be compared all along the track as opposed to merely the finish line as a driver, once he has reason to believe he's going to win the race, can easily "pedal" or "fender" his opponent giving him smaller margin of victory, and a higher lap time.
When racing with skateboards, bikes, or scooters of any type you are allowed to use bodyparts to cross the finish line.

Winning

The match ends when one driver has won the said number of rounds above (2, 3, or 4). After Christensen debriefs the two teams on the previous race, he announces the winner. He then hands the title of both cars to the race winner, and often the winner drives the loser's car down the strip after claiming the car by winning the match. A team may also concede because of a catastrophic breakdown. In the spirit of sportsmanship, such a win will often not include the loser's car and often calls for a rematch on a later episode, believing that they will not take the car unless it was a clear win on the track, and not by default.

Pinks: All Out

The popularity of the original show led to a full drag meet devised by the staff, with this title in 2006. The goal is to take over 400 cars, run them in trial runs to see which 16 cars will provide the most competitive racing, then race those 16 cars against each other, all in the course of one day. The format later changed to 32 cars.

Taping for the show's fourth season (2010) has started and will tape 13 episodes during the year.

Hiatus

Pinks: All out has been put on hiatus for the 2011 season. A letter posted on Speed.com states as follows.

The most recent episode shot at Firebird International Raceway in Phoenix, which premieres in February, represents the 43rd produced since its inception at the Texas Motorplex during Labor Day Weekend of 2006. The PINKS property has been on SPEED since July 2005, starting with PINKS, and extending to PINKS All Out and PINKS All Outtakes.

“PINKS All Out has been one of the most successful television shows in network history,” said Hunter Nickell, SPEED President. “SPEED would like to thank all the dedicated fans, grassroots racers, track management, the on-air team, Pullin Television and its production crew, SPEED affiliates and all the show’s sponsors over the past four seasons for their support; we couldn’t be more thankful to everyone who’s been associated with the show.

“However, after visiting 34 drag strips in four seasons of production throughout the United States, the network feels the current show model needs further evaluation to determine what new direction we want to take the property,” Nickell added. “The PINKS brand has equity within the drag-racing community, especially at the grassroots level. It’s our hope to continue developing quality grassroots motor sports programming out of what everyone has built with PINKS. It’s a process we are currently undertaking.”

The future of the show is in doubt.

Qualifying

As the show opens, a scene shows Rich Christensen discussing how many cars have filed for entry, usually between 250-450, but some Season 3 races feature over 500 cars. The popularity of entries have resulted in the possibility of filing a Pinks entry to be nearly impossible (only 400 cars) that Christensen and the tracks have added "runoffs" weeks before the Pinks meet. Once entries have filled, most tracks will run a special qualifying race to fill out extra entries.

As cars prepare to compete, they are inspected by track officials and technical advisors, including former Pinks contestant turned technical advisor Brian Bossone, and cars are eliminated for problems that may lead to mechanical failure the most notable of which being fluids spilled onto the track, as that can take an hour or more to clean up so racing may resume. Starting in Season 3, automatic disqualification is called for any car that causes a leak of fluids that requires a long delay, especially in violation of track rules.

Unless situations require altering the schedule (inclement weather), the cars take part in one pass per car, using the Christmas tree. This pass uses the Pro Tree (all three ambers light at the same time, then the green four-tenths later) instead of the Standard Tree (each amber five-tenths after the other), and with the track clocks running and scoreboards displaying time.

At the end of the session, the show officials then determine the most competitive field (not necessarily the fastest) by finding a grouping of cars whose race time are very close together. Those cars are asked to return to the strip for an additional timed run to ensure there is no sandbagging

Sandbagging

Sandbagging, hiding the strength, skill or difficulty of something or someone early in an engagement, may refer to: in billiards and other games, deliberately playing below one's actual ability in order to fool opponents into accepting higher stakes bets, or to lower one's competitive rating in...

. This time, the clock displays are turned off so that only Pinks officials know the elapsed time of the cars. For these runs, the "Christmas tree" is turned off, and either Rich or Kail Christensen start the run with the show's signature arm-drop start. Sixteen cars (but more often 32 in recent years although there was a 64-car field once), known as the "All Out 16", are then chosen by the producers to compete in the main portion of the competition. The cars are not formally bracketed, so the producers and technical officials may determine the race by car types (often brand rivalries), driver types (sometimes past Pinks grudges, family members, or region), or any manner which they may choose. However the competition is generally limited to what the technical advisors (most of them racers) decide is the "most competitive" field. In many cases they will attempt to come up with something interesting to further qualify the field, for example a slower class being allowed to earn a spot in the final 16, but in every case the idea is to find a full class of at least 16 cars in which each car is running within a tenth to 2 tenths of a second of each other.

Starting in Season 3, the rules of the arm-drop qualifying pass were changed following evaluations. Cars are now paired by their elapsed time, with officials determining a "floating minimum" time that will be posted as the cars are staging. The cars must run faster than the posted time on the display near the starter to continue being considered. This again assists in weeding out sandbagging.

In both cases, the idea is to once again weed out teams that use the delay box

Delay box

, since the Pro Tree would throw off Sportsman racers whose reaction times are based on using a delay box (.500 or 1.000 seconds delay from throttle to launch), and the arm drop is based on a driver's reflexes, and not anything artificial.

The faster official time that is registered in the track computers will form the basis of the "dial-in" time which will be referenced during the race.

Some sessions (Milan (MI) Dragway and Summit Motorsports Park) require the sixteen cars initially selected to "hold" their positions in 16 drag races where they would race against other formidable opponents. This led to a change to 32 cars for most of Season 3.

Pinks All Out 32 (Some Season 2 and Most Season 3 races)

Starting with some Season 2 races, and in most Season 3 races unless inclement weather or curfew force a condensed schedule (the 2009 Texas Motorplex

Texas Motorplex

The Texas Motorplex is a quarter mile drag racing facility located in Ennis, Texas. Built in 1986 by former funny car driver Billy Meyer, the Motorplex was the first National Hot Rod Association "super track." It annually hosts the NHRA O'Reilly Fall Nationals each September, when hundreds of...

race was condensed because of curfew; two 90-minute delays were caused by cleanup as a result of ethylene glycol coolant spilling on the track, a violation of drag strip rules prohibiting such coolants on the track), a group of 16 cars, dubbed in Season 3 as "Underdogs", will race another group of 16 cars, the "Defenders". Each pair of cars will race a single set of eliminations, using the signature Pinks arm-drop start. The winners advance to the Pinks All Out 16.

Standard drag racing rules apply, with drivers being eliminated for infractions, and a breakout rule applies. If officials discover the winner of the race was running considerably faster than the fastest official time of the 16 cars, that car will be disqualified and the loser advances. Pinks technical advisors will review elapsed times in the timing tower to ensure no violation of breakout rules apply. If a thumbs-down signal is given, the official has deemed a breakout violation, awarding the loser of the race the win. If two thumbs-up are given, the race is declared clean and the winner advances.

For the 2009 race at zMax Dragway

Charlotte Motor Speedway

Charlotte Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, United States 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend and the Sprint All-Star Race...

, the field was started with 64 cars instead of 32. The 32 races took place with half on the left pair and half on the right pair of lanes.

Pinks All Out 16

Season 1 and some races in Season 2 afterwards (starting in Season 3, only if weather becomes an issue) start with just the All Out 16, while some Season 2 and most Season 3 races begin with the first round, leading to the All Out 16. As in the first round, each pair of cars (there is no formal pairing) will race in single-elimination rounds using the arm drop start. In this round, the winner receives $1,000 that may be used as betting money in further rounds, and advances to the Pinks All Out 8.

The races taped April 25, 2009, at zMax Dragway in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, were unique. The 32 winners of the first round (expanded to 64 cars) raced in eight four-car drag races administered like the Pinks All Out 16 round format. The winners of the four-car drag races advanced to the Pinks All Out 8 with the $1,000. A four-wide format is expected for the 2010 round.

Pinks All Out 8 and 4

For each round leading up to the final, the driver's total cash winnings to that point ($1,000 to start Pinks All Out 8) may be used as betting money. Drivers may bet as much of their winnings in each round, but starting in Season 3, the limit is $500. Titles and money that was not awarded for a victory may not be bet. In addition to advancing to the next round, the winner gets whatever money their opponent bet, if any.

During the 2007 round taped at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada near Las Vegas, is a complex of multiple tracks for automobile racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.-History:...

, all 16 All Out drivers agreed to bet all winnings for an "all in" tournament. No other taping has featured the all-in format.

The winners in the All Out 8 advance to the All Out 4, with the same format as the All Out 8 in regards to betting, and the winners of the All Out 4 advance to the All Out Final.

Championship round

After the third round, the two remaining teams determine lane choice and betting. In many circumstances at this point Rich Christiansen will suggest the finalists duel for the prize money only. Then, the cars race in a best two-out-of-three match. Unless requested by a competitor because of a mechanical problem or in case of inclement weather, the cars must be driven back to the starting line on their own power between rounds and be staged for another race immediately. Once the cars are back at the staging area, the process for the next race begins immediately. This is referred to as "hot lapping".

The winner of the finals, in addition to any money bet by their opponent, also wins a $10,000 cash prize and a tool chest with tools valued at over $7,000 from NAPA Auto Parts.

The only exception to this format came during the February 17, 2007 taping at Palm Beach International Raceway. An excessive number of track incidents (oil downs, crashes, debris) slowed the process, where the main elimination rounds started after midnight. With excessively low temperatures when the semifinal rounds were to start after 2:15 AM, the race was called after the second round by mutual consent of the four drivers remaining because of lane conditions. All four drivers split the $10,000 evenly, and one driver, as chosen by the others, won the tool chest.

Sandbagging

The All Out format was created because of Rich Christensen’s displeasure with ‘sandbagging’ - feathering or decelerating to create a false elapsed time and hide actual performance - on the original Pinks. This format, where brothers and technical directors Adam and Nate Pritchett rigorously select a group of closely matched cars, was made to provide the drama associated with closer racing.

To prevent sandbagging, if a car runs considerably faster than what they ran in practice during any elimination round, they are automatically disqualified ("Breakout"). Officials will be standing at the 1,000 and 1,320 foot markers to observe if a driver is sandbagging.

The show was originally to be titled "Ultimate Racer" but was later changed to the current "All Out" subtitle, a reference that the car is running at its maximum during the race.

Quick Eight

During taping sessions in 2007 and 2008, officials grew suspicious excessive sandbagging was taking place among racers. Some racers, the officials thought, were running slower times than their cars could run in an attempt to run "in the pack" where they predicted the crew would choose for the All Out 16.

In response to that, some 2008 rounds added a Quick Eight format, where the eight fastest cars would make one championship pass down the strip. The driver with the fastest elapsed time wins $10,000 and a second NAPA toolchest. In other rounds, the Quick Eight became a knockout round, with the eight fastest cars racing against each other in eliminations before the Pinks All Out 16. A pilot was taped during one 2008 taping for this concept to be split into a separate series.

The format has continued for live events in 2009, with the Quick Eight race (now usually run as a straight-up eight-car knockout format) before the Pinks All Out 32. The Quick Eight has their own prizes.

Motorcycles in the Future

On October 4, 2008, Rich Christensen taped two pilots for future consideration, including a fourth concept of the Pinks franchise, at Maryland International Raceway in Budds Creek, MD.

This version, involving motorcycles, featured two classes (Street Bikes and Pro Elapsed Time) of motorcycles. A Pinks All Out 16 was formed from each class. Each class races, Pinks-style, in eliminations to determine their own winner. The winners of each class will participate in a classic Pinks best 4 out of 7 race, complete with classic rules (negotiations, et al.) where the winner wins a new custom motorcycle.

Staff

The show is hosted by Rich Christensen

Rich Christensen

, who also employs his cousin Kail as an official. Former contestants Charles Hendrickson and Nathan Pritchett (the only person to have run matches with both a car and a motorcycle) are assigned to each team as technical advisors. Gavin Jerome is the roving public address announcer. Former contestant Brian Bossone has also been utilized as a technical adviser. Steve Meade, known as radio personality "Willie B" in Denver, and Clay Millican, NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel driver, join the Pinks staff in 2009 as technical advisers.

Attendance

Normally attendance at live tapings is high, with amateur races and concerts (usually featuring The Nadas

The Nadas

The Nadas are a rock/folk quintet based out of Des Moines, Iowa. Formed in 1995 in Ames, Iowa, the band earned early success on the local college scene, eventually becoming the "house" band for People's Bar and Grill. Their initial success resulted in the first of seven albums, titled, "Not A...

, who perform the original show's ending theme "Walk Away") bookending the televised races.

In the June 29–30, 2007 taping of Pinks: All Out at Milan (MI) Dragway, 33,000 spectators attended the taping with 350 cars attempting to compete for the 16 slots.

On December 3, 2007, the 400 entries for a June 7, 2008 taping of Pinks: All Out at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, were filled in 12 minutes.
On January 6, 2008, the 400 entries for a July 25, 2008 taping of Pinks: All Out at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park

Old Bridge Township Raceway Park

Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, originally known as Madison Township Raceway Park, is an American auto racing facility. It is located on 230 Pension Road in Old Bridge Township, near Englishtown, New Jersey, just off of County Route 527...

in Englishtown, New Jersey, were filled in less than 1 minute.

Production

The show is produced by Pullin Television

Pullin Television

Original music is composed and performed by Max Carl

Max Carl

Max Carl Gronenthal is an American rock singer, keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter. He is the current lead singer of the classic rock band Grand Funk Railroad...

External links

Pinks at EpisodeWorld.com
Pinks Official Page at Pinks.tv
A line of safety products featuring the host of PINKS and PINKS ALL OUT: Rich Christensen's Signature Series

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