Split Second was an American game show.

Split Second had two runs, the first of which was on ABC from March 20, 1972-June 27, 1975. In 1987, a syndicated version was produced and distributed by Viacom.

Tom Kennedy was the original ABC host. Monty Hall hosted the '80s version and produced both versions.

Rounds One and Two
On each version, three contestants, one a returning champion, competed.

Each question asked was a three part question. Contestants would ring in by pushing a button on their podium. The first person to ring in got to pick which part of the question they wanted to answer. If they got it correct, the second fastest got their pick, and if that person was correct the slowest player got whatever was left. If a person rang in too soon (before the choices were revealed), they were locked out of the first two parts and had to take whatever was left.

The scoring system was as follows:

All three answer correctly- $5 on the Kennedy version, $10 on the Hall version 
Two answer correctly- $10 Kennedy, $25 Hall 
Only one answers correctly- $25 and a bonus prize Kennedy, $50 Hall 
The second round was played exactly the same, with the dollar values doubled.

All three answer correctly- $10 on the Kennedy verson, $20 on the Hall verson 
Two answer correctly- $25 Kennedy, $50 Hall 
Only one answers correctly- $50 and a bonus prize Kennedy, $100 Hall 

The Countdown Round
The Countdown Round ended the game. The contestants now had a set number of correct answers to give, and the first person to give all of them would win.

The leader would have to give 3 correct answers, the second place contestant 4, and the last place contestant 5, on the Kennedy version. The Hall version's answer count was 4, 5, and 6, respectively.

The contestants again rang in by pushing the button, but if a contestant got an answer right, they could continue on and answer the other two parts of the question (meaning, on the Kennedy version, a contestant could win just by answering one question in the Countdown Round). An incorrect answer gave the other two players a chance to answer, depending again on how fast they rang in.

The winner advanced to the bonus round, the losers took home whatever they earned and parting gifts.


Split Second's Bonus Round
The bonus round on both versions was played for a car, but both were played differently.

The 1970's Car Game

The champion would pick a key and attempt to start one of five cars on stage (the bonus round on the '80s Hollywood Squares revival was similar). If the contestant started the car, they would win it and a cash jackpot that started at $1000 and grew by $500 every day it wasn't won, and retired. If not, the car was eliminated and the contestant returned. A five-day champ automatically won the jackpot and was entitled to select any of the five cars as their prize.

Car Game, 1980's Style

The Hall version's car game had two incarnations.

One version had the contestant face five windows, one of which said "CAR" on the back of it. If the contestant was successful, the car was theirs and they retired. If not, they would win $1000 and return to play the next day. Like the Kennedy show, one window was eliminated each day, and a five-time champ automatically took the car home. 
The other version had the same 5 windows, but this time three of the windows said "CAR" behind them. The object was for the contestant to pick all three of them (The other two would have another prize, usually a fur coat). Doing so won the car. 

Other comments
The cars on display in the 1970s version were always Pontiacs.

Producers of the 1970s version of Split Second were very strict regarding contestant's answers; wanting the answers to be guessed exactly right...meaning a mispronouced answer would be called wrong. When Monty Hall took the reigns of the 1980s version, he acted as judge himself, giving the player credit for the correct answer if he/she mispronounced the answer or was close enough to the right answer.

Tom Kennedy received huge praise for keeping up with the fast-paced Q&A format of "Split-Second". At one time, Kennedy once said that the pace was so fast, he didn't have time to take a sip of water when off-camera.

In the ABC series final episode on March 27, 1975, a contestant failed to win the car; however, Tom Kennedy, Monty Hall and Jay Stewart all came onstage and told the contestant that the car was his anyway, plus the final cash jackpot.