Is the best RT .500? And why is 60' so important? Please help a middle aged crisis guy learning to drag race.
The track in my area (RT 66, Joliet, IL) says it uses the perfec-pro tree with perfect is .000. Is this the new math everybody complains about?

 

Here's a reference that explains it pretty well:

http://www.staginglight.com/guide/react.html

60 foot times are critical because the biggest reduction in ET is obtained by maximum acceleration early in the run.

 

Yes but it depends on the type of tree being used in that particular event and that's where it can get confusing.
Just this past weekend I learned so much more about the tree, a scary thought considering that I have over 19 years and 250+ passes under my belt. That's what I get for going ONLY for best ET (shallow staging (aka: just barely tripping the 2nd yellow bulb) and going all out the entire pass) instead of focusing on the entire run collectively and how the numbers add up on your way to the finish line.
I'm ready now though.

 

60' times have an impact to both ET and RT. When I'm bracket racing in the mustang I try to keep the 60' in the 2.15x to 2.17x range. This tells me that I'm staging in the same spot for each run and allows me to dial the car ET wise, and puts me .020 RT wise. In the firebird I'm looking to 60' 1.70x - 1.73x for the same results. I put both cars in the same spot and hit the same spot on the tree ie both .020 RT. Both cars react the same even though they 60' a lot differently. The mustang runs 14.0s @ 98 and the firebird runs 12.0s @118. I run off a .500 sportsman tree and deep stage both cars.

The deeper you stage the slower you will 60', slower ET (1.5 - 2X the change of the 60' number), and will result in a quicker RT.

 

The .500 means there is .500 of a second from each yellow light to the green light. So if you breack the starting light beams at exactly the time it comes on that would be a perfect light. Now some tracks will list that perfect light as .500 or as .000. The tracks that use the .ooo system you just add what ever number they show to what the tree set up is. such a .020 light is a .520 really. Some tracks and most all faster classes use a .400 time which is much harder to trun the red on. Also reaction time has nothing to do with what your car will run at all no matter what you may hear, it only shows when you started the timers.

 

Well yes and no. You are correct that the clock (ET) doesn't start running until you break the starting line beam. What about everything that happens behind the beam. Rollout???? My 60' times directly effect my RT's. Its almost a one to one relationship. A +.020 in my 60' results in a -.020 in my RT and a +.03 in ET. In that respect its all related. The original question was about reaction time, 60', and drag racing. In bracket racing its extremely important to maintain consistant 60' times in order to consistantly cut good lights and be able to predict a dial in for the car.

 

I am confused by your relationship between short times and reaction times...I have never heard of this before...some of my best short times (60') have been in situations where I was just practicing at a private rental or test n tune...I have sat on a green light for a second or two and had wonderful short times..why?...because I got the car to hook effectively...certainly not because I had a great R/T...

Conversely, I have had some great reaction times and spun off the line to a terrible short time...I recall a particular run where I had an .000 R/T and had a 2.12 short time spinning when my normal short was 1.84........

I will say that short times definitely tell you what you are going to run at the big end so the more consistent they are the more consistent your ET will be...I guarantee if you have a career best short there is a 99% chance you will have a career best ET....

To the OP...most tracks have switched their timing systems over to the .000 R/T being perfect...it was .500 in the old days..there are a few tracks still using .500 but not many...down here there is only one track I know of in the entire state still using it...an old timey 1/8 mile outlaw track...

 

RT, reaction time is how fast your brain perceives the green light. Or more correctly how good you guessed and how close you just missed a red light.. Many drivers go on the last yellow to achieve a low RT. Unfortunately the lights are constant. If they were not, whereby the last yellow goes out and the green would vary from say from 1/2 second to a variance of 3 seconds, there would be red lights all over and those reaction times would really be a RT and not a close guess to a red light....
I hated the lights when they first came out. There were flagmen to do the wave offs and actually competition between them from the different divisions. They would purposefully try and trick you. I remember some of those starts. Hiding the flag behind there back, Setting it on the ground between their legs, turning their back and then pull the flag, and various other tactics. Now that was alll reaction, no guessing. It was still who got to the end first and very few sleepers [those with slow RT} would win.

 

Well what I believe you are seeing is the difference in stagging deep or any where else will and can change you 60' and it will and can change a good light verse a bad one but a good light or a bad light has no effect on a 60' time but in the end what ever you believe works for you thats all good. I may not be any great expert but I have been running the dragster in my avastar for a long time and have won many races understanding for my car how the light work. But like I said if it works for you cool.

 

If you want to see a "REAL" reaction time.. try running off an INSTANT GREEN... no .400 or .500 pro tree.. just GREEN.. I bet most would be .200 I know on my practice tree the best I can do if I set roll out to 0 and 0 delay.. "MY reaction is around .190" but that releasing a button, not mashing the gas in a car..

 

true but what is called an unstant green at the tracks is one yellow then green. .500 or .400 from yellow and green. besides the release of the button you also have the cars reaction time to consider. in my case I run on an instant green and a .400 tree and pull .410 light most of the time, the car will also run usally .980 60' and feels GREAT