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I have a friend who has built a dragstrip. It's shorter than "scale", but is still a lot of fun just the same.
Something that was learned really quick was the need to stop the cars safely once they went through the "traps".
We've been using an old sweatshirt and some gloves to help stop them, and it works most of the time. When it doesn't work, it usually means a loud smack into the door and repairs have to be made to the car... :? :lol:

I've seen dragstrips where cars would run down the track, and could stop within 10' once they crossed the line.

While I'm sure it's hard on the drivetrain of the car, it was amazing how quick these cars were stopping.

So my question is, how is the shutdown area wired in order for these cars to stop so quick?

you could always isolate the track after the finish line, run a cheap power supply to it, and wire for full brakes.

How 'bout some sort of soft netting attached to each side of the track loosely with long rubber bands or something.....
Kinda' like the emergency catch net on aircraft carriers.

As Mark suggested isolate the shutdown from the track but all you need to do is short the shutdown rails together to give full brakes. When running 1/25 cars WITH glue I've seen cars at 80 mph come to a complete stop in that same 10 feet

Ok, understand the need to short across the rails for max braking.
But my head isn't understanding how to wire it. :violence-smack:

The fish net has helped keep them of the wall if the sweatshirt fails

Somebody will come forward with the wiring details, but let me say... keep a pillow at the end of the track. It matters. If those HO rail dragsters I saw need it as a precaution, you do too.

Every comercial drag strip I have seen never has Power in the shut down area. They braid it so the car is still at the same level as the track. They use glue very thick track glue to slow the car's. I was told that if they tried to use breaks it would screw up there gearing. I never drag raced so I do not know if that part is true. I think if you are not running really quick cars that the break idea would work fine.
Mike