Imagine a night of accelerating to breakneck speeds on asphalt without the worry of traffic tickets while dropping the clutch as many times as one could want.

Every Wednesday, The Sacramento Raceway allows adrenaline junkies and thrill seekers to come off the street to live out their high-speed fantasy on the dragstrip.

For as little as $15, dragsters can hit top speed on the raceway while facing off against other speed demons hauling down the quarter-mile track shooting for the best times.

The track is located merely 20 minutes from the Sacramento State campus on Excelsior Road in southeast Sacramento and is open late enough to get out of class and race over for some fast-pace pleasure.

Sophomore sociology student Trevor Howard, 19, is a first-timer spectator to the track and said that he is very excited to be among fast cars and the quarter mile.

“Anyone who wants to race a car here for some cheap fun should totally do it,” Howard said.

For those not sure about taking a brisk ride on four wheels while careening down a long stretch of blacktop, spectators are welcome for $7. The fee will allow fans to hang out in the grandstands or roam the pits while drivers and cars wait to hit the starting line.

Of course, the thrill of reaching high speeds is not the only motivation for racers. The intensity of competition also drives participants to jump on the track.

Bracket racing is a very convenient and fair approach to drag racing.

The idea behind bracket racing is to create a much fairer form of competition by allowing slower cars a bit of a head start to allow the racing to be truly neck and neck. This allows cars and motorcycles of all kinds to be paired in a race against one another. Bracket racing creates a race where either car has an equal chance to win.

“You can run the bracket racing for as long as you want,” Cody said. “If you end up losing the bracket race you’re in, you can do the fun runs, which is no-bracket, for basically all night, until the track closes.”

Intense racing is a major point of interest at the drag strip, but it is not the only form of enjoyment. Being a die-hard fan of anything automotive, socializing with car owners and spectators alike is nothing short of a heavenly experience.

As the evening progresses, you get to make small talk, take pictures and be in your element as a person with a strong interest in cars and motorcycles.. The best part is all these fellow car crazies, are really just a bunch of average joes. Students, nine-to-fivers and anyone with a driver’s license may turn up with their daily rides and take part in head-to-head competition down the tarmac.

One great aspect of drag racing is the variety of cars racing throughout the night. For example, tuner cars like the Acura Integra, Mazda Rx7 and Dodge SRT4 provide a loud high-pitched scream of power. On the other side of the spectrum, there are American muscle cars like Chevy Camaros, Ford Mustangs and Dodge Challengers, which shake the ground with their powerful, rumbling v8 engines. In addition, normal, factory street cars often participate in the festivities.

Dragster Kristen Minuti of San Bernardino and owner of a 2013 Honda civic si, said she always manages to have a blast taking her car down the quarter mile.

“Right now I’m running 15.2 seconds to 15.5 on average,” Minuti said. “It is always a race of consistency. I plan on tuning this car for sure by putting an intake and racing exhaust on it – the usual modifications.”

Cody Powell-McClintick can be reached at [email protected]