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Rear Wing

In the same way an airplane wing works to create lift, a Top Fuel Dragster’s wing works to create downforce. As illustrated to the right, a wing’s shape dictates how the air moves over and under the wing. A wing has a high pressure side and low pressure side. The high pressure side pushes on the low pressure side. So the direction of this push either creates lift or downforce.

The longer it takes for the air to pass over/under the wing, the lower the pressure will be on that side of the wing. And the faster the air moves over/under the wing, the higher the pressure will be on that side. So a Top Fuel Dragster’s wing is designed for the air to move as fast as possible over the wing and take as long as possible to travel under the wing. To create the downforce needed to get the tires to gain and keep traction with the race track, three separate wings are combined to make the one big rear wing.

The top wing is an airplane wing that generates lift. The bottom Wing is an inverted airplane wing that generates downforce.