Sign o' the times: When I saw a reference to a drag race, I didn't immediately think of cars.
And I'm OK with that.
Y'know, there's a fun analogy buried somewhere in there. Something about how drag racing started from what was essentially a challenge of "can we build it?" car manufacturing mixed with a little racing (and bravery), to a high tech world of optimizing with science and engineering, to finally come to modern times where the term "drag racing" is all about show and, let's say, characters. And during the exact same time period, D&D started off as "can we kill it?" wargaming with a bit of roleplaying (and fantasy) mixed in, to a world of class builds with options and optimizations, to modern times when lots of people just want to focus more on the story and, let's say, characters.