The phrase "race the clock" is correct and usable in written English.
It is used to refer to an urgent and pressing need to complete a task very quickly, usually before a specific deadline. For example, "I'm trying to finish this project before the deadline, so I'm racing the clock to get it done."
Élite marathoners come in two forms: those who race the clock and those who race to win.
Concrete truck drivers race the clock while navigating the city's congested streets to get their loads to a site.
Rather than race the clock to Bed-Stuy and risk becoming an early bike-share casualty, I stopped at a docking station.
To secure F.D.A. approval, after patenting a drug, drug companies race the clock to show that their product is safe and effective.
But although the PGA Tour's major changes had been discussed for at least two years, Pelley and his aides had to race the clock.
For Lansens, writing of a sweeter, kinder place with sweeter citizens, it's more a case of nobody's perfect as we all race the clock.
17 Days targeted for a race-the-clock closing of the six-lane viaduct highway when the tunnel that replaces it goes live for traffic, currently scheduled for mid-December mid-December 2015
Finding Dory downshifts into a race-the-clock rescue scenario, and while this may not be too original (see Toy Story 2), it affords the animators room to stretch out and have a bit of fun.
It all happens in such a frenzy of momentum and on-the-fly exposition that some of the more preposterous elements in the story will strike you only in retrospect, after the helicopter leaps, the elevator-shaft daredevilry and the race-the-clock flirtation with thermonuclear war.
Mr. Paterson is also racing the clock.
Then they raced the clock.
