Difference between Airplane and Car ESCs.
 

What is the difference between an airplane esc and a car esc? The reason I ask is I've seen some very high capacity plane escs that I'd like to try in a dragster. Would it work? Why or why not?

yes, it can work. The fastest 10th scale touring car I've seen(in a straight line) used a high voltage aircraft ESC and an 8th scale motor running on 10s lipo.

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An airplane ESC interprets the radio signal a bit differently than a car ESC. You will need to use a Pistix, which allows the air ESC to function properly with a surface radio. Without the Pistix the air ESC will see 50% throttle even when the surface controller trigger is sitting at the neutral point. So in theory the car would take off at 50% throttle the second you turned it on. But many air ESCs have a safety feature that won't allow it to arm unless it is seeing the 1ms neutral signal, so chances are it wouldn't arm at all.

This is not my explanation, but from BrianG on RC-Monster forums:

"Air ESC signal pulse widths: 1ms neutral -> 1.5ms 50% throttle -> 2ms WOT

Car ESC signal pulse widths: 1ms reverse/brake -> 1.5ms neutral -> 2ms WOT.

These signals are what the radio outputs and what the controller expects to see for each type.

As you can see, the neutral point for air and car differ considerably. Well, not really the pulse stream values, but what they mean to a controller. Also, on an air ESC, the "neutral" point can be a brake, but from what I understand, it is quite abrupt (not much range).

To use an air ESC on a car radio, the pistix device simply translates the car radio signal into something the air controller can use. It would be the same as having a car radio that would return to full brake/reverse when you let go of the trigger."

Aside from the Pistix you will also need to run mechanical brakes, as the air ESC brake function is not at all like a car ESC, it doesn't have near the resolution.