Ask any driver, crew chief or mechanic on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing tour the secret to a "perfect pass" and the most likely response will be, "There's no such thing." Drag racers are like that, always convinced the next pass will be even quicker and faster than the last.

But in the 8000 horsepower realm of Top Fuel and Funny Car, elapsed times have been cut in half and top speeds have nearly tripled in the last 50 years. Technology has played a major role in the remarkable leaps in performance we've witnessed, and yet, the quest for joining mechanical genius with above-the-ordinary driving skill to produce NHRA championships is a never-ending search for perfection and consistency.

What are the key elements in a typical nitro pass that, when executed flawlessly, result in four-second elapsed times and 300-plus mph speeds? Using a sampling of responses from the sport's best drivers and tuners, here are the most critical.

Preparation
Each of the better teams in the nitro pits is made up of mechanics and technicians specializing in a particular area of race car preparation, all under the command of the crew chief. "Sometimes, my job seems almost too easy," says reigning Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon -- who himself served as a mechanic for his team owner Don "The Snake" Prudhomme before moving to the cockpit in 1995.

There will be dedicated crew members assigned to fuel system, cylinder head and intake setup, bottom end maintenance, clutch tuning, ignition maintenance, and a host of other duties revolving around race prep. "They're the real heroes," adds Dixon. "With (tuner) Dick Lahaie working alongside our guys, we feel like we should win every round."

Burnout
In the early days of drag racing, burnouts prior to a run were as much showmanship as necessity. But today, there's a bit more science applied to the popular procedure that never fails to bring fans to their feet.

The burnout serves two main functions: to heat the tires to optimum temperature and to paint two ribbons of hot rubber on the track to allow the enormously powerful race cars to "hook up." With the advent of computer technology, tuners now use their data to adjust the length of a burnout to agree most beneficially to their tuneup. A great example is the current burnout procedure for 12-time Funny Car champion John Force.

"I was having a problem on my burnouts," said Force. "(Austin) Coil told me I had to shorten them up and do them like Tony (Pedregon) because the longer burnouts were hurting our spark plugs, fouling up the tuneup and causing all kinds of hassles. We looked at the computer, compared my burnouts to Tony's and I had to learn how to do them like him. It made a big difference once we got it straightened out."

Reaction time
The new-for-2003 LED bulbs in the Christmas Tree have had a dramatic impact on how drivers now launch. The LEDs have made it easier to foul, since the drivers can see the lights a fraction of a second quicker than with the old incandescent bulbs.

In the nitro classes, any reaction time quicker than .100 is considered OK (.000 is perfect), anywhere from .050 to .075 is considered very good, and anything quicker than .050 is excellent. But a light that comes any closer than .020 to .000 is a bit too risky with the LED's. "No question, the LED's have changed everyone's starting line technique," says Tommy Johnson Jr., the driver of the blue Skoal Camaro. "It's a lot easier to foul out than it used to be so you can't be too aggressive up there."

ESPN analyst Mike Dunn hastens to add, "Reaction time is a combination of how the driver stages -- shallow or deep -- how he reacts to the light and how the car reacts to his throttle foot. Drivers look more for consistency rather than concentrating on being lightning quick. Good drivers stay within a certain window and that usually results in good lights."

Driving ability
Once the staging lights come on, the outcome of every drag race rests squarely in the hands of the driver. If he or she can cut a good light, react to tire spin and keep the car hooked up and in the groove, quickly modulate the throttle -- called "pedaling" -- if the tires suddenly break loose, and handle any unforeseen anomaly with confidence and poise, they are that much closer to a perfect pass.

"It's all about seat time," says six-time nitro champion Kenny Bernstein. "If a driver does what he needs to do more by instinct than by conscious effort, he has a big advantage, especially when the unexpected happens. You can teach a driver so much but knowing what needs to be done almost before it happens is a very valuable talent that can only come with time in the race car."

Has there ever been a perfect pass? It's hard to say, but drag racers who have mastered the above elements of the world's quickest and fastest motorsport -- plus a litany of other necessary factors -- have the best chance of achieving it.

Bill Stephens covers the NHRA for ESPN and ESPN.com.

ESPN and ESPN2 will feature the special informational program during the networks' regular coverage of the NHRA event at Denver: on ESPN Saturday, July 19 from 7-9 p.m. ET; and Sunday from 2:30-3:30 p.m. live on ESPN and 6-9 p.m. on ESPN2. NHRA2Day, ESPN2's weekly news show, will also continue the Information Dragway theme Sunday at 11 a.m. ESPN Radio's RPM Now with host John Kernan, Friday from 8-10 p.m. (check local listings), will feature live driver interviews.