Partly by luck, partly by 1st 3 runs (2 TT's & 1st round) being within .006 sec of each other, partly by average RT of .031 in 5 rounds of eliminations (worst .054 in last round, of course, 1st round was .002 ).

There weren't as many cars out in my class as usual today (kind of a street class - no electronics, no tranny brakes). Normally have around 80 or so, today only 56. So, only took 6 rounds to win instead of 7. That's good for me, the guys who won in the 5th round couldn't go as much more ahead of me that way.

Funny story of the day: 1st round the car ran about what I expected, 14.205 backing off from 14.17 dial. 2nd round I keep the same dial, the other guy bulbs, I run it out and it pulls off a 14.105 from somewhere. 3rd round I wipe off the "17" before going to the staging lanes, we're laddered for this round; we decide on lanes, I check tires, etc., and roll down. As I pull into the burnout box I realize to my horror I haven't finished putting on my dial-in - so the computer has me at 14.00 and I can't change it to my intended 14.09 because I'm already past the tower (Bandimere rule). So, I decide to just do my best - the other guy gives me back a tenth off the line (and then some), and another tenth on ET (and then some). Whew! Good thing, too, because a head wind came up and it slowed down again...

 

sounds like you had some fun. congrats on making it that far. i need to practice my reaction times a LOT more before i could bracket race and go anywhere with it. i guess if i kept my car the same day in day out i would be able to better understand what it plans on running. i assume you have to have the car basically dialed in and tuned for best ET and then try to make it more consistent right? I can't see making jet changes constantly and wondering where the tenths are going to react.

 

I'd guess and say that around 90% of all wins are by pure luck and it still isn't as easy as it looks.

Your opponent red lights giving you the win.
Your opponent breaks out giving you the win.
Your opponent slows down at the end to keep from breaking out and you pass him for the win.
Your opponent falls asleep on the line and you have enough time to let off at the end to keep from breaking out for the win.
Your opponent breaks down and can't even finish the race giving you the win providing you noticed he wasn't beside you and let off to keep from breaking out. Nothing worse than handing someone a win that they can't come back in the next round for.

The amount of races I've had where we both get a good light and both run hard to the finish and neither break out running close to our dials I can probably count on both hands. Those kinds of races, if I lose, I'm not disappointed at losing because my opponent had to work hard for that win and deserved it.

Second race of the season here is rained out. Third race isn't until mid June now and I still haven't been on track this year. I guess I can look at it as another weekend I didn't break anything.

 

You do changes to the car during test and tune days. Once a race day starts you make time trial runs to determine a dial in. You don't want to change anything on the car unless something is really out of whack. Once eliminations start, you want to keep everything the same to try and keep the car as consistant as possible. If you have to dial in a round and just made a jet change, you'll have no idea what the car will run.

Bracket racing isn't about having the fastest car. Get a good reaction time (launch off the bottom yellow bulb) and run consistant enough to guess at an ET and you can go rounds.

 

i'll have to give it a try...Route 66 in joliet offers bracket racing for $35 a night. unfortunately if you lose the first two rounds you can buy back in for $20 a pop i believe. I can't see spending $75 for a night of bracket racing when i can go for test and tunes for $35 total and make just as many passes. Especially when bracket racing for points involves going there once or twice a month costing that much. I am guessing if I won a few rounds it would be easier on the wallet. Is it always that expensive around the country?

 

$75 to race? Wow! I pay $30 on Friday nights, $40 Saturdays. Even Super Pro only pays $50.

Consistency is certainly one key, along with cutting a light. I check air pressure before each run, attempt to get the coolant temp to the same place before each run, have a cool can so the fuel is at the same temp each run, launch and shift at the same RPM each run, etc.

One thing you can't control is the weather. Today started out sunny and warm, a rain cloud moved in before I made my first time trial, the wind shifted from cross-left to head to cross-right throughout the day, the barametric pressure varied with the clouds moving in and out, etc. That's why a weather station is so valuable. Although it was telling me to run slower than I was, so I didn't believe it most of the time - it makes its predictions based on current weather conditions compared to the conditions during runs you've put into it in the past, so not changing things on the car all the time is the only way to build a database.

 

I guess I wont complain about my track anymore! $25 on Saturday, and $15 on Wed. and Fri. for test and tune. They even have street drags once every couple of months on Saturday night from 10pm until 2am, I think that is only $10.

 

Wow guys, you make me feel better. My track is $10 for weds. night bracket racing and $10 for friday night test and tune.

And if you lose bracket racing they still have a 'class' where you can do just test and tune.

 

Here everyone pays $25 for Saturday night T&T. It's an extra $10 if you want to get into the King of the Hill race. You can keep running T&T passes if you don't want to get into the competition or wind up getting eliminated early.

On Sundays it's $25 for the Sportsman class and $50 for the faster classes. If you lose in the first round you can spend $10 to buy into a King of the Hill race. Because the elimination payouts suck, you can usually win more money winning the King of the Hill race. You just don't get any more points for the points series other than your first round loss. Like the Saturday nights, you don't have to buy into the King of the Hill race and can keep making T&T passes but you have to wait for a gap in the rotation which usually doesn't occur until the later rounds when the cars need time to cool down. Then they let the T&T cars run down the track to add filler between rounds. Between a first round loss and the first T&T pass could be 2-3 hours.

On Friday night street legal racing the race cars are allowed to use the track for T&T time. Since the noise bylaw kicks in at 10:30 pm, muffled exhaust is required after that. There's usually no problems getting extra passes before then. The "race cars" have they're own staging lane so they get to make a pass whenever they're ready to go. Unlike a street car, it's hard to hot lap a race car so the track doesn't mind letting them get ahead of the street cars since they know they'll get shut down at 10:30. The Friday night racing is $20 for car and driver but if you pay for the whole weekend during race weekends (me = $75) on the Friday night, you get to run for free for the Friday night and save the $20.

A "typical" weekend for me is usually 10-12 passes down the track in one way or another. Sunday is usually a minimum of 4 passes. 3 time trial runs and a first round loss as long as everything is running smoothly. We've even had 4 time trial runs when car counts are low. On some Saturday nights they don't have enough cars to run a proper King of the Hill or there's a late start and not enough time to run off eliminations so it just becomes an open class T&T. You go up and make a pass whenever you're ready to go. You don't have to sit and wait for your class to be called.

 

I know a couple of guys who have a water tank in the trunk with an RV pump to spray water on the radiator on the return road. They also have an electric water pump and radiator fan. Those guys can hot lap their "race car" a lot sooner than I can my "street car".

 

I can hot lap mine if I want. Running alcohol cools the engine down before I even get back to the pits.