A fast car in the hands of a slow driver isn't going to win any races. A slow car in the hands of a fast driver will. I've run down plenty of cars with more HP than mine on a road course - does that mean my car is faster? Nope, just that the combination of car/driver was more capable that day.

At the risk of beating a dead horse (this same discussion in another thread) it really comes down to who crosses the finish line first. It's fairly common in a drag race for one car to run a slower ET but cross the line first due to reaction time. It's also common for a more powerful car to trap at a higher speed and still lose, perhaps due to traction issues at launch. So the fastest car does not always win the race, and what sweeter victory is there than beating a car with a lower ET or higher trap speed?

All this talk is just BS bench racing. If you've got a faster car and still manage to lose, then the car needs a serious driver mod. The guy who crosses the line first wins. Period. And what kind of jerk loses a race only to say "oh yeah, well, my car is still faster than yours - look at the time slip sucka". Uh, yeah, you still lost the race, jerk.