This might sound strange, but years ago I was listening to an interview with John Force the 13 Time NHRA Funny Car Champ. He was discussing bracket racing in a 'slow' or under performing car. Anyway he went on and on about 'shallow staging', picking an E/T and sticking with it. Also he said run as hard as possible every run.

I live here in Bowling Green, KY and about 5 years ago with the Labor Day Corvette Celebration underway, I wandered out to Beech Bend Raceway.

Anyway, I also have a 1988 C4 with an 'automatic'. Nothing special. K&N and straight duals. Anyway after some regular line up and go racing, they said that a Corvette Bracket Race would commence. Well I had to ask the rules and then based on several of my previous runs that day, I decided on an E/T of 15.4 seconds. I know, a real screamer.

At that moment, I had a brain storm or gas, I am not sure which, but anyway I remembered the John Force interview and I knew I was the slowest Corvette out there. So I committed to 'shallow staging' and off I went.

Because I was staged shallow, I realized that I could leave when the last yellow light came on. I was never waiting for the go green light. Anyway, I had several folks do the monkey-see/monkey-do thing and they left when I did and they red lighted. That was kind of cool.

Anyway, I made it all the way to the finals. The other folks kept red lighting or breaking-out. I didn't even know I had won race after race until the lady in the E/T Hut would laugh and tell me I won. I was amazed and absolutely had no flipping idea what I was doing.

We lined up for the finals and I choked. I staged shallow and realized the light had turned green and I was still sitting there. Apparently the other 'finals' driver knew what he was doing. He was also in a C4. I remember as we got near the lights and he had about a 6 car lead, I was surprised to see his brake lights come on. I was confused. After the race they did an awards deal right there in the water box area with the announcer and the whole deal. It was kind of a unique experience.

Interestingly, I just went looked at the "Second-Place" trophy and confirmed it was for the year 2004.

Here is my question to those of you that are knowledgeable of this type of racing, please explain why 'shallow staging' is a legitimate race strategy and how in the world did the proverbial 'blind squirrel' find the 'trophy-nut'. Also, does anyone have experience with it.

What I am saying is, I have absolutely no idea why I remembered the John Force interview and 'shallow staging'. But I did put it to good use that day because my C4 being an automatic made it easy ro repeat my E/T's but I am still baffled about how this strategy worked.

Oh yea, apparently John Force and I have a personal habit in common. Know what I mean ??

 

I always stage as shallow as possible, leave on the last yellow, and keep my foot on the floor all the way down the track. If a sandbagger wants to risk trying to beat me to the line without breaking out, they're welcome to it. I haven't been to the track nearly enough in the last couple years, but almost every time I go I'm in the semis, so I must be doing SOMETHING right. Plus, it makes it easier to dial in if you're running all out all the time.

 

With all do respect there a lot of mis-information in this thread. Please take some time and read the stickey Bracket Racing Strategy. Pay attention to the posts by Jesse Adams.

Usually you deep stage a slower car. I already made several posts in the other stickey thread and not going to state here.

 

Kaz is right.. to the OP "IF" by any chance you have the time slips from that race it would be VERY interesting to see what your Reaction times were and the ET from run to run...

A few years ago ( I cant remember how long) but a "PERFECT" reaction time was .500 now its .000 I guess just to make it easier to understand..

There are 3 bulbs that come down and there is .500 between each bulb.. so by you leaving on the last yellow, you were hitting the "Tree" pretty good..

However I don't know "How Experienced" the other racers were who you raced.. In our Corvette Challenge it usually takes about 6 or 7 rounds to win the event.. and if you cant cut .050 lights most of the time you won't get past 2nd or 3rd round..

YES of course you/me or any racer can have a .250 light and win, but it is very rare unless all the racers are inexperienced.

If as you say your car ran 15.40 if you DEEP staged it would run slower by about .10 so it would be a 15.50 ET..

In Bracket racing ET don't mean much as long as you can "Cut a good light" & RUN THE # you put on the window...

A lot of guys stage DEEP (putting out the top bulb) this will slow the car down but their reaction time will be quicker as the car is actually (app 10" closer) to the start beam...

Not trying to be a wise ***, but if as you say you won like a blind squirrel finds a nut you were lucky... is the bottom line... I would LOVE to see the time slips to see how much your RT (Reaction Time) and your ET (Elapsed Time) varied throughout the event...

No matter how you did it.. you got Runner Up.. and in my book that in itself is a great accomplishment!

 

I really was not kidding about the lack of experience. I would love to say that it was all a planned strategy based on years of experience. No. I made a decision based on a person I held in high regard and stuck with it. Interestingly it worked. But you are correct, my reaction times were all over the place. Some of the early runs were gimmes because of the monkey-see deal.

Now that you mention it, it would be interesting to see what kind of information the run slips would show. I will try to remember (senior moment) where I ratholed the run slips and report back.

One other thing I noticed was that while I was frustrated because I was piloting an 'automatic', I distinctly remember noticing that my E/Ts were reasonably consistent. Even to my untrained eye, the times were 'grouped'. I am betting that with a manual shift I could possibly come up with one or two VERY good E/Ts, however I feel sure there would most likely be some "slip-ups". The old adage, if a human hand can touch it, etc....

I appreciate the closing comment that was made. Interestingly, I look back on it and fondly remember the excitement that I felt. Right, wrong or indifferent, it was a memorable event and luckily I hauled home some 'hardware'.

Oh I just remembered, I had the Targa Top off the Red C4 that day. No telling how much faster I would have been had I not had the drag coefficiency of a loaf of bread............... But I had FUN....

 

Believe it or not... if you had a manual you would NOT have run quicker on any runs... a Stick car can (& usually will) run better MPH (all else being =) but an automatic is better for ET and consistency...

When I bought my C6 (used or do I say "Pre Owned") they had another car almost a twin to mine but it was a 6 speed manual... I got the Auto because I knew I'd be Drag Racing it and "Consistency" is what wins races! I think a 6M is more fun on the street or is better if you are Road Racing on a road course... but for DRAGS its an Auto always...

 

I have switched my starting line routines to a deep stage and With lots of concentration on a .500 pro tree I'm cutting .040 to .050 lights and finally win rounds Because of being CONSISTENT and Running your race to the stripe
Once you have learned to dial in your car to this DEEP Stage, fast or slow does not matter as long as your run your Dial-in or Index number.
It took me about three events to get it straight now I'm being Very competitive and that makes the racing a ton of Fun
I agree It does scrub off time from your best ET BUT Reaction time number counts almost as much as being close to your dial in ...
I was getting tired of beating my self during rounds , Now as long as I run a good race it's up to the other racer to be better.
Last weekend in Open Comp. I lost by going .002 under after a hole shot one of the top qualifier's and beating him to the line, Then knocked off few in the Index class by hole shots and running 11.91's on a 11.90 index nothing wrong with that... Too bad its freezing up here with frost this morning or I would be heading to another Big Year End Event..
Thanks and have a Blast at the races....

 

REad what Kazman said fro a good explanation...the short version is where you stage the car has everything to do with cutting a good light...folks who are a bit slow on the tree or who have cars that react slowly generally deep stage...in bracket racing, your ET is unimportant except that you want to run as close to the same number every time...slow or fast ET makes no difference...

That said, you always leave on the third yellow no matter where you are staged...it is true that when you shallow stage you will run a bit quicker...this is because you have a few inches rolling start before you trip and start the ET beam...it does not seem like a few inches would make a difference but it sure does...when you stage deep you lose those few inches rolling start so you run a tad slower...

The point is if you dial your car a bit faster because you shallow stage or dial a bit slower because you deep stage does not matter one bit as long as you run on or close to that number without going under it...

AS fro your success that day in BG, you were just lucky...that and something else...don't take this wrong but I have raced in one of those events...typically you get a lot of folks who are not experienced racers...bracket racing is a whole lot more than putting the hammer down and never lifting until the finish line...that is for heads up type racing...

In the final your opponent lifted off the gas and hit his brakes for one reason...he knew he had you beat so all he had to do was make sure he did not "break out" by running under his dial in...that is why you saw him tap the brakes...

Drag racing is a strange deal sometimes...I raced in a corvette challenge once at Bradenton...one racer won the event going 6 rounds...he never once won a round with his car or driving ability...he won the event via 4 red lights and 2 break outs by his opponents...it happens every now and then.....

Read that tutorial and you will be enlightened...

 

See there, I knew it had to be all the 'strategy' (grin). Like they say, luck can beat skill.

Thanks for the responses.

 

The more you particpate at this game, you'll find the better you are, the luckier you get.


besides, 'strategy' is part of skill

 

Luck is where skill and preparation meet.