  A quasi-physical model (having both physical and mathematical roots) of
sprint performances is presented, accounting for the influence of drag
modification via wind and altitude variations. The race time corrections for
both men and women sprinters are discussed, and theoretical estimates for the
associated drag areas are presented. The corrections are consistent with
constant-wind estimates of previous authors, however those for variable wind
are more accentuated for this model. As a practical example, the nullified
World Record and 1988 Olympic 100 m race of Ben Johnson is studied, and
compared with the present World Record of 9.79 s.
