My Story - 1st Impression of [bracket racing]

[kdesigns]

In Drag Racing, there are 2 choices*, 2 schools of thought - IMHO:

Heads Up Racing: Build your car to a very tightly controlled set of rules that guarantee parity. Line up and race, first to the line wins. Usually, he who has the most $ eventually wins.

Bracket Racing: Build whatever the hell you want, find a class that has cars that all run with 4-5 seconds of you. Line up, leave when your light comes on, beat the other guy to the stripe. Usually, the best driver, the one who knows his car best, eventually wins.

We still have choices in America. Boxers or Briefs, smoking or non-smoking, kids or no kids, heads up or brackets. Make your choices and participate in life...

*(3 actually - Bench racing/car show - Build sumthin purty, and tell all your friends on mustangforums.com how you can beat John force;-)

 

[Vapour Trails]

I don't like bracket racing. I'll tell you why.

At the local strip guys trailer in 18-20 sec cars, a old Dodge Cort or VW rabbit. They are just stupid slow and very consistent. I mean, when you can't even spin the wheels and you have an automatic tranmission, all you have to is react to the light, floor it and the car does the rest.

So frequently these cars end up winning because it's simply easier to be consistent in some super slow bagged shitbox. A golf cart could win a bracket racing event.

Only time I'd be interested in it is if there was a manual tranmission class and the cars were all within 2 seconds.

 

[DraggnRoush]

^ Now THAT is the way to debate a subject... no name-calling, or chest-thumping, just making your point as clearly & concisely as possible... KUDOS!

 

[TexasKyle]

At the local strip guys trailer in 18-20 sec cars, a old Dodge Cort or VW rabbit. They are just stupid slow and very consistent. I mean, when you can't even spin the wheels and you have an automatic tranmission, all you have to is react to the light, floor it and the car does the rest.

So frequently these cars end up winning because it's simply easier to be consistent in some super slow bagged shitbox. A golf cart could win a bracket racing event.

Only time I'd be interested in it is if there was a manual tranmission class and the cars were all within 2 seconds.

Agreed, but I would just rather see a max time allowable feature to the event. Say, 13, 13.50, or 14 sec being the slowest a vehicle would be allowed to run.

I have an auto car, but more by default that anything else. (deal of the century on this car) so would hate to see a stick only event.

 

[06vistabluegt]

Agreed, but I would just rather see a max time allowable feature to the event. Say, 13, 13.50, or 14 sec being the slowest a vehicle would be allowed to run.

I have an auto car, but more by default that anything else. (deal of the century on this car) so would hate to see a stick only event.

Typically there are min/max allowable times per class. At the track I normally race at, these are the breakdowns:

Super Pro (Electronics allowed) - 0-11.99
Pro (limited electronics, no dragsters) - 0-12.99
Footbrake (no electronics)- 10.00 - 17.99
Street Legal (DOT Tires, closed exhaust) - 11.50 and up

You just have to pick the right class for your car. I will usually run Footbrake but my car qualifies for Street as well.

In my opinion, you usually want to be among the faster cars in the class, it's easier to judge rate of closure when chasing than being chased, again, just my opinion.

 

[06vistabluegt]

Well I'm overjoyed to see all the passion for bracket racing my post brought out

I believe it's now time for this thread to end and another one to begin - I 'd like to see a discussion of "How to" do all the things SD pointed out as the skills of bracket racing:

How to "cut a light" = ?

How to "judge the rate of closure" = ?

How to "judge the finish line" = ?

How to "close it up at the stripe" = ?

And I'm sure there are TONS of other fine points to discuss... so bring it on!

practice, practice and more practice. My finish line racing is my weak point. I've been working on that lately. My goal is to be able to cross the finish less than .02 ahead of the competitor. I'm down to about .03 regularly now.

 

[DraggnRoush]

06, your heart's in the right place, but practice doesn't make perfect... only PERFECT practice makes perfect! Doing it wrong over & over will only give you "muscle memory" for doing it wrong.

Let's hear some discussion of TECHNIQUES for "cutting a light" and the other skills.

 

[kdesigns]

OK, here's some advice...

Once upon a time, a new racer was having a hard time facing a certain opponent, he'd do great in elims until he faced "the champ*" - Then he'd get all nervous and make a mistake. That's how most racers lost to "the champ".

Another "champ" gave him this advice - During test/tune, line up with him everytime! Race him as often as possible. Eventually, he became comfortable lining up with the best and he has won several events, and has knocked on the door of being "champ" himself several times since.

The key - Practice. And, yes, the correct practice.

* "The champ" wasn't SD.

 

[US-1]

06, your heart's in the right place, but practice doesn't make perfect... only PERFECT practice makes perfect! Doing it wrong over & over will only give you "muscle memory" for doing it wrong.

"Muscle memory" does not apply here. Only way to work on finish line racing is to have an opponent in the other lane. Different opponents. Different speeds. Different cars.

Let's hear some discussion of TECHNIQUES for "cutting a light" and the other skills.

Not as long as I'm still racing. Unless you guys want to pay for them.

 

[tjm73]

Most of us here appreciate that SD uses name-calling & a disrespectful tone to great dramatic & humourous effect, however "the squirrel" only has 100 posts and may not "get" SD yet!

Post count really doesn't mean anything. Only that I've posted only a little bit here. I don't post a lot because I spend most my time reading and doing what I can. Admittedly it is not as much doing as I would like, but that's where I am.

As for "getting" SD..what's to get about a person that just flames everyone and treats anyone that asks a question he thinks is basic and every one should just know it like they are dog shit? That's kindergarden. Not even high school. Kindergarden. I left that behind long ago. I refuse to bend on my opinion. He always seems to resort to name calling and lame attempts at putting people down. We differ in our way of seeing things. Pretty easy to see that. He's oil. I'm water. We don't mix.

 

[US-1]

Plus....you're a big doodie-head.

 

[tjm73]

Plus....you're a big doodie-head.

Rest my case....

I don't doubt you have plenty of knowledge US-1. Your behavior just overshadows it IMO. But it's who you are I suppose.

 

[06vistabluegt]

Here is a website done by Luke Bogacki, a very successful bracket racer. This is a great website that teaches you a lot of different techniques on the strip. The only drawback is it's a pay website. I signed up just to see what it was about, it has a lot of good information in it.

www.thisisbracketracing.com

 

[US-1]

Rest my case....

I don't doubt you have plenty of knowledge US-1. Your behavior just overshadows it IMO. But it's who you are I suppose.

Why soooo serious?

 

[DraggnRoush]

I love this place... call me sick. I had to leave other forums as I outgrew them - I realized I was in the company of idiots at the last one because, after working on my car all winter to prep it for Drag racing, I posted pics and they actually said they didn't like the 15" wheels... LOL!

I'm glad SD is who he is, and for that matter, guys like "Squirrel" too; they add a counter-point. I'd love to see them line up their cars... WOO HOO!

 

[1fastpony]

The difference between heads up racing and bracket racing is, a good driver can win in either type of racing but a bad driver can’t. Anywhere, where the margin of victory is less than .010 is what I call competitive. When I started bracket racing in high school back in the 70’s brackets where broken down by a one second index. i.e. (14.0 – 14.99) from >18 seconds down to 12.0 seconds then from 11.99 to 10.00 and 9.00 – 9.99 and so on if you had fast enuff cars. Each bracket would have a winner and that winner would compete against all the other bracket winners for the overall champ for street bracket, 11.99 and below was generally for the sponsored pro cars. So having to run your first round of eliminations against a very slower or faster car was eliminated however, if you win your bracket and moved on to overall you could easily be matched against a slower or faster car but at least all winners were good drivers WITH consistent cars. However, these days the brackets are not always broken down by a one second margin.

I can tell you one thing though, in this car I have beaten 10 times more slower cars 4-6 seconds slower or better than my footbrake/elect/pro counterparts, those guys are evil. Just envision this in your rear view mirror. You’re up against a car that dials in a 8.40 and your dialed in at 12.8…yeah why not sand bag a bit I’ll probably need it and hit a .51x light and still lose with a 12.8. Now that’s what you have to deal with. Guys that can not only drive but tune their car at that level to run that consistent, WOW!

I think that is what SD is talking about. It doesn’t get any closer than that at that speed unless you’re talking about NHRA Pro Stock. This is just a hobby to me but I have won almost all my races with equally quick competition dialed in the same as me and the difference was either I tree’d them or hole shot them. If you have a problem getting beat by slower cars then live with it or go practice like Keith said. Practice and track experience will help immensely and then you will find the addiction, each race is always a little different strategy.


TECHNIQUES on cutting a good light,

1. Pay attention
2. Deep breadth, slow your breathing, maybe a few OHMS to relax.
3. Anticipate the light drop
4. last amber light let off brake or, manual slip the clucth with DR'S or drop it with Slicks.
5. Don't Fart it only will distract you not your competitor.
6. Did we mention practise and track experience?

 

[tjm73]

.... I'd love to see them line up their cars... WOO HOO!

Shit! I'd get destroyed. I race for fun and my car is almost as stock as it can be right now. Sometimes I win. Sometimes I lose. But I always race heads up on a .400 tree.

 

[DraggnRoush]

This thread started as my story of how I got "dragged" into brackets when i wasn't expecting it - I'm drag racing for the first time this year. I'm still learning how to LAUNCH my car correctly! I'm realizing the challenges of driving a really fast car with D/R's and a manual shift... I was simply overwhelmed by the multitude of things I needed to think about last Sunday. By sharing my feelings here it seems that a lot of great info came out... maybe I asked some dumb questions that others were hesitant to ask... GOOD!

I really appreciate the comments & advice - keep 'em coming!

 

[TexasKyle]

My two cents is this...

Break it down. Break the process down into pieces.

1) burnout.
2) roll out
3) 1st stage light
4) 2nd stage light
5) get to launch RPM
6) pic a spot to go on. Just when the 3rd amber lights, etc

Once you break it down, do each step in your head and then with the car. Work on doing it the same, every, single time. It's much easier to concentrate on doing each small thing the same way, then it is to try and run thru the entire process at once.

It doesn't even matter in the beginning what your times or RTs are. Do the burnout to the same RPM. Coast to the staging area the same way. Stage the same way. (1st set, pause, easy in till you tick the 2nd set etc) Get used to what your car sounds like at your launch rpm so you dont have to spend as much time, if any, looking at the tack. Keep your eyes on the tree. Move your feet for launch at the same point in the tree countdown. It seems to me that the steps get progressively more intense. Who can't do a burnout?

Once you get to where all the other steps are engrained in you, all you have to do is try and hit your RT where you want it.

(ok, that was more than .02!)

 

[DraggnRoush]

VERY nice Kyle... that's what I'm talkin' about!