# Pinks (TV series)

Pinks is the primary television series in a franchise series of television programs on Speed based on street racing, 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 until 2010. 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 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.)
The original was aired by Speed in the United States and Canada, and also airs on Fox Sports 3 in Australia. The series is produced by Pullin Television. The 2016 version aired on Outdoor Channel and Fox Sports Racing starting in March 2016 Produced by Brian Bossone's production company Boss One Media llc.
Competitors compete in a drag race (although in the original Pinks, there was a stepladder shifter kart 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 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, 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 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. 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, 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, 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
** At that point, Christensen will point to the opponent and point him down the track for a bye run and an automatic win.
* Breaking down and not finishing the run
** Although it has never happened, it is unknown what would happen if one car commits a foul start and the opponent crosses the boundary line. In normal drag racing, the foul start driver wins.
* 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), 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.

## 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.