Slot car drag racing

We had a guy on our block that had 2 Cox .049 powered fan cars and a drag car. Both ran on a string you set up so it wouldnt fly into a curb. The drag car cut out at the end and picked up a chute with a hook I think. Forgot how they launched. Its been 44 years since then. I think it was like this.
My older brother had a cox vega dragster that would run on a tether back in the 70s. That was really cool.