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Glen knows what he's talking about. Thanks to him I understand how the timing system works, how R/T and ET figure into bracket racing, etc.
Last year when I swapped motors from my L48 to my 383, then back again, I couldn't figure out why I was suddenly going red when I put the 383 in it, then was late when I went back to the L48. Understanding R/T and rollouts helped me figure it out.
Now I just have to get healthy again so I can practice and execute .
NO BLOWING-SMOKE up my tail-pipe twice in the same thread (or I'll quit sending checks your-way ) .....
I received an E-mail from a Forum-member, asking questions about deep-staging, and how roll-out effects RT and ET:
I'm NOT'the-authority', but I'll be glad to help-answer any questions as best-I-can to members of this Forum
(I ain't so-smart that "I" can't learn something, too!!!!! )
NOT[/U] 'the-authority', but I'll be glad to help-answer any questions as best-I-can to members of this Forum
(I ain't so-smart that "I" can't learn something, too!!!!! ) [/COLOR][/FONT][/B]
How about helping me... This year has been a disaster from day 1
From: San Diego , CA Double Yellow DirtBags 1985..Z51..6-speed
Sorry, I can't help. My local track no longer supports running bracket races or prepping the track, or having entry fees on par with dragstrips that do.
Watch this weekend's Pro Stock racing Sunday evening from Memphis on ESPN2, and you'll see what is called a 'hole-shot win', which is when a better driver wins with a slower car against a poorer racer with a quicker car.....
last week's Final Round was a perfect example of this:
Dave Connolly had a RT of .013, and an ET of 6.743, beating Jason Line's .052-initiated 6.737.
***** MEMPHIS SPOILER *****
If you DON'T want to know what happened at today's rain-delayed race in Memphis, read-no-further!!!!!
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Jason Line was victimized by another hole-shot loss in the Finals this morning (rain-delayed from Sunday ), this time by Kurt Johnson:
the rest of eliminations will be-shown late-Monday/early-Tuesday on ESPN2 (1AM Eastern Tuesday ), and if you watch it or tape it, you may see how this occurs.
..... if anybody watched, or taped, the eliminations from Memphis Motorsports Park, in the 2nd Round of Funny Car, you saw Phil Burkart 'knock-out' the top-bulb against Eric Medlin, creeping-forward a few inches, as-discussed earlier in this thread:
both cars hit the throttle at almost the same exact time (plumes of exhaust-smoke ) when viewed in slow-motion/freeze-frame (in-fact, Medlin's headers spout flames slightly-before Burkart's ), yet Burkart had the better RT, .068 to .097.
'ASSUMING' all things were equal between both cars (front-tires, chassis-flex, etc. ), the difference in RT was Medlin having to 'drive' forward those few inches, to the point that Burkart had staged his car to begin with (rear-edge of front tire just in-front of the Pre Stage beam ).
Against a 9 second car: Dial a litle bit quicker than you think it'll run, so you can keep the throttle pinned to the floor the whole way without having to worry about breaking out. Only lift, if you are ABSOLUTELY SURE that he's not going to catch you. You really can't judge those cars when they're coming at you at 140 MPH. IMO, the best thing to do is dial hard and cut the tree down.
Sandbagging: Only sandbag against someone else who sandbags.
Sandbagging: Only sandbag against someone else who sandbags.
I've never had much-success the few times I've tried 'bagging' against a bagger..... I feel like I am letting my opponent 'establish the ground-rules', by encouraging me to race him Left-footed.
A 'known' bagger, dialing .02-soft, is .02-closer to running-under than me if I dial dead-on honest, making him .02-seconds more-susceptible to losing in the event of an all-out, *****-to-the-wall run:
if an opponent is THAT-talented (able to judge the stripe THAT-closely ), he should just hit the tree .02-or-better every run, which few are able to accomplish.
Excluding disqualification via safety, cheating, or crossing the center-line, there are 4 basic reasons for losing a bracket-race:
#1 - red-light/foul-start
#2 - poor reaction-time
#3 - break-out/run-under
#4 - running-off your dial
A 'bagger' is increasing his chances of losing via Reason #3 BEFORE he even enters the water-box.
Excluding disqualification via safety, cheating, or crossing the center-line, there are 4 basic reasons for losing a bracket-race:
#1 - red-light/foul-start
#2 - poor reaction-time
#3 - break-out/run-under
#4 - running-off your dial
A 'bagger' is increasing his chances of losing via Reason #3 BEFORE he even enters the water-box.
However holding .02-.04 will help on #2 and #4 if you can drive the top end. I don't consider holding .02-.04 bagging. Holding .1 is. When you dial very hard you better be sure your car will run the number dead on. A little slip of the line, a little headwind, or whatever will cause you not to make your dial. As far as holding or not you should be on the brakes on almost every round. The only time you run it out the back door is when you can't tell who's taking the stripe. You did post tons of great info. I just giving another view point to consider. Bottom line is that you need to have a strategy that works for you. Keep detailed logs and find the root cause of you losses.
NO BLOWING-SMOKE up my tail-pipe twice in the same thread (or I'll quit sending checks your-way ) .....
Sheesh, i JUST noticed I did that. I forgot I had even replied to this thread! Shows ya my current physical/mental state.
You can learn a lot about R/T's and rollout by watching the NHRA events in slow motion. A few weeks back when Dave Connolly cut a .000 light you could see the prestage light go out first, then the stage light go out just as the green light was coming on.
Last edited by isosceles; Aug 25, 2006 at 10:22 AM.
I'm only consistent within a tenth or a bit more. I can usually get em off the tree though. Last time out I ran a .500, .502, and .503 reaction time.
His main problem is he can only dial in within a tenth. If I had those RT's I could not be beat.
I mean who really runs that kind of RT. Not that I don't believe it but that is extraordinary.
Anyway you need to be able to predict your ET better. Do you have a wx meter that can give you DA or temp, humidity, and barometer? That should help your dial in.
You need to be able to predict within .04 to be a consistent winner. If you are really running those kind of RT's you would win every night with a good dial in.
I calculate my dial in and subtract .02 usually so I can blow it out the back door if needed. The end game is complicated, depends on what is going on at the end of the race. But if I was running your RT's in stock class I would be letting off most of the time, guaranteed. With basically three dead on RT's you should be giving us advice.
Thanks to Glengages for point me in this direction. Great information the I will re-read several times between now and next spring when the track opens again.
Maybe the moderators could make this a sticky for a while.
I thought this was such a good thread that it might be time to bring it back up...we are now getting to our racing season down here and there will be a lot of events between now and next June...you folks up north can do a bit of bench racin' if your tracks are closed...
even-if you'd run .010-under, he'd STILL have-to run .031-under, and you still win.
Wait, I'm not so sure that's true. In a double breakout, both RT's are thrown out and the lesser breakout wins. It happened to me last week, I treed my opponent by .032 and broke out by .054 taking the stripe. He broke out by .048 and he won by virtue of the smaller breakout.
In other words, if you slip up and not realize you're on a breakout run, it doesn't matter how good your light was, he only needs to be closer to his dial +/- doesn't matter anymore.