Nine-year study of NHRA drag racing noise

Pomona International Raceway, Pomona, California is the premier venue for drag racing sanctioned by the National Hot Rod Association. Community noise was studied for 9 years from 1984–1993. The project provided a unique long-term study of professional drag racing noise at 14 locations in a built-up community adjacent to the starting line. The object was to establish a basis for documenting the effects of noise mitigation’s planned for a renovated facility. The study revealed startling diurnal variations in noise, year to year variations, and the wide variety of emission characteristics of racing types. The simultaneous community and trackside locations permitted accurate correlation of events and established the basis for predictive models. The large data base permitted creation of a benchmark location by which the construction mitigation measures could be verified in a statistically valid manner. The study also revealed that the data spread is so wide that only multiple event sampling will provide an accurate picture of the community noise levels.