[JSeery]

I thought this was interesting:

... for years, the colorful and acrobatic "flagman" had signaled the start of each race, but the flag starter system, popular with fans and racers alike, had its flaws. Foul starts were rampant as drivers flinched and left if the starter so much as accidentally blinked his eyes, and each starter had his own unique personality … and his "tells," as Garlits himself pointed out in his book tales From the Drag Strip: "We had all gotten pretty good at reading the flag starter just by watching his eyes. We could read the muscles in his arms and how they tightened up just before he threw the flag. … The older guys hated it when the Tree came in. We eventually adjusted to it, but we really didn’t want it." Plus there was talk, at smaller events away from the national limelight, of starter favoritism in sharing a pre-waving signal and outrage when a starter might inadvertently minutely change his normal procedure. Electronics was the answer.