Marc and I went to the Outlaw Street car shootout at Cecil County raceway today. Dodging rain clouds all day and they finally got the best of us.

But, not before.....

Marc hits the #1 qualifier in the 11.50.

I entered two classes - a Pro Dial bracket and Super Street bracket.

12.067, 12.067, 12.072, and 11.980 were my time shots... not really sure where the 98 came from. But that's what I decided to go with for my dial in all day...

Round 1 super street; treed the crap out of my opponent - tapped the brakes and win light! yeh!

Round 1 of Pro Dial; my .037 to his .097 made things a little bit closer for me. Tapped the brakes - ran 12.007 on the 11.98... win light!

Round 2 of super street; get a car dialed 10.32. as a beginner, I'm still learning how to judge distance when I'm being chased by a much faster car - it's tough, and I fail again. I did notice that they were not going to catch me I stab the brakes - but too late - and run under - 11.972 - ugh .008 under...

Round 2 of Pro Dial; Opponant dials 11.23. We're off and running I know I've got him at the stripe and tap the brakes - 11.983! win!


Rain came... they call the race and with 5 cars left in pro dial, I collect a check for $140. A great day.

I really need to learn how to judge where my opponent is when they are faster. I've managed to lose a lot of races, but it seems this is becoming a thorn in my side...

Marc, on the other hand, got a bye in the first round of the 11.50, second round a comp single, then rain came and time to collect a check... nice job! Pays to qualify well...

Also, it was a nice gesture - they had a moment of silence for Mike Conway before the race.

 

Great day for you man. Very happy for ya.
Marc is doing well with that 11.50 and yes it does pay to qualify well.

 

Congrats Pete. I'm glad you guys had a great day of racing.

 

11.98 on an 11.98 dial, VERY nice.
Congrats to you and Marc on a great day.

 

Glad to hear you guys had a good time, that's what it's all about.

 

Real nice job...here is a tip that may help you while you learn to play the finish line...pick a spot on the track where, when you take a certain action, you know what the result will be...

For instance, if you lift at the first MPH cone you know you will scrub X of ET...or if you tap the brakes once you will scrub X or twice...you get the idea...

This way if you dial above that number by the say, 1/2 the scrub amount, you know you can guard against the breakout and not worry about your opponent...

Once you take your on track action, keep looking over to see how much you lead your opponent through the stripe by...too much and you can tighten it up a number of ways...too little and you can loosen it with dial...

Some call this spot dropping or holding and some call it sandbagging...lol...the point is it may help you win some races while you learn the stripe...good luck...

 

It was a fun day...Pete was really on his game and deserved the pay day. I on the other hand, feel like I stole $233 not having to earn a win, but I'll take it.

The highlight tho came in between rounds during the 1st rain delay. Pete and I are talking about how Vette's trap so high relative to ET and I tell him that's a big advantage racing these old school race cars because they catch you real quick, dump too soon and give up the stripe. Sure enough, that's what exactly happened. Pete runs a big tire Nova and after winning, the guy comes running up to us asking if the car had a turbo! He couldn't believe how he caught Pete so quick, lifted early then realized he couldn't catch him

Good advice. The toughest part for me is deciding if/when to give up the stripe. If you're only holding a couple and it's obvious the race will be real close, do you cut your guy loose or run it out and hope the car slowed down a tick or a double breakout. I've lost a couple this year by going under .00x and it hurts bad.

 

Thanks guys.

Thanks for the pointers, Dan. I know I need practice knowing where I am on the track as well as knowing where my opponent is. As it turns out, I must have crossed the stripe before even hitting the brakes. my MPH was 123, no way it would have been that if I had hit the brakes when I should have. When I ran the dead on pass, it was 119.

Still lots to learn in this sport. Sure is fun though...

 

is it possible that when you tossed the anchor, the chin 'dropped' into the beams, giving you a quicker ET & faster MPH, by in-effect 'shortening' the 66' speed-trap
(i.e. - your front tires were still 18" from the stripe, yet you stopped the clocks)?

just an idea

 

Very good possibility... My car is lowered on the stock bolts. I haven't measured it, but it's pretty low. Under power, I'm sure the nose is up somewhat, not sure how far up though. I'd love to see a picture of my car crossing the beams at full throttle vs on the brakes.

So many things to think about...

 

Doesn't the nose trip the beam Glen?

 

I think it depends upon how-much the body rises under power, how-much it lowers under braking, and how stiffly-sprung the particular car is

Red69 took this picture of my '82 at-speed 3 years ago, and I was surprised that the chin rose so-far from the pavement:
note that the apron of the front-spoiler is higher than the lip of the wheel, approx 6" (27" tire on 15" wheel = approx 6" sidewall)



I am unfamiliar with the characteristics of the C5/C6, which are markedly-lower, but it might-be a possibility:
I recall Ralph saying that he thought his C4 'dropped'-itself into the beams when spiking the binders.

 

Glen ....

A few year ago Ralph was using my car in the Division 1 Finals .. and we thought he was dialed HARD... and in this race he had a nice lead on the faster car in the other lane. so to be safe, he let off the gas & tapped the breaks going through the traps.. it was one of the fastest (ET not MPH) run the car made that weekend...

I had a very soft leaf spring in the front to allow it to "lift" on launch for better weight transfer... & "YES" it worked well, my almost stock 96 LT1 (3400 converter & 3.73) would lift the front wheels on launch (1.58- 1.63 60' times) with an almost stock motor.....
well that soft front spring also let the front end "dip" at the top end breaking the beam with the air damn & "NOT" the front wheels...

Bottom line on the breaks he ran his quickest ET and broke out...because of the soft front end...

 

Way to race guy's

 

When I'm racing a much faster car, I'll dial hard and run it out (unless it's obvious he's not going to catch me). It's hard to take a car by 1 or 2 hundreths when he's wizzing by at 30+mph. As we all know, the only thing worse than redlighting is giving the other guy the stripe when you've got him covered.

 

Yup, it takes a long time to play the finish line properly...the first thing you need is a relatively consistent car....only then can you really hold some numbers and know the outcome of a particular action...

When racing a much faster car we all dial hard...I know I can't judge the stripe worth a flip when my opponent catches me at 30-40 mph faster...very few can...just about the time I whomp, the much faster car blows my doors off and takes the stripe...no more of that...lol...383 has it exactly right...

When you play the finish line you will give back the stripe on occasion by a few thou...happens to all of us...the best shoes I have seen consistently tighten the stripe to within .002 to .009 for the win....

The general rule on giving up the stripe is to do so when you know you cannot take it...if your opponent passes you or you cannot catch him, dump and feed him the stripe...it is all you can do at that point...then you just hope for a mistake on his part...

Conversely, if you are leading your opponent through the traps you should never give back the stripe with any overt action...tighten it up so as to avoid the breakout, yes, but not so much as to give it back...

Sorry for being long winded...

 

Good stuff as usual.

Running Street Eliminator with a minimum ET of 11.50, I am always the faster car and, until this summer heat came on, had to lift and stab to keep from breaking out. Not that hard in time shots but when your bearing down on a 17 sec car that cut a good light, it gets tough. Not to mention, I've been dumped more than once by slower cars dialing soft and feeding me the stripe. Perhaps they knew I was holding a tenth plus by necessity.

 

Always pleased to read about a fellow gear jammer, rag top guy going rounds. People forget we have a few extra things to worry about at the tree!

Great write up.

Btw I'm pretty certain my car will trip the lights with the spoiler on the brakes. I get better et's on the brakes than I think I should. I also will often light the bottom bulb first when pulling up...I know to keep going and light the top light with the tire instead. A lot of my vette buddies do this at our three tracks around here.

 

Here is a vid of one of the best sportsman racers in the world playing the finish line...Dan Fletcher...

http://youtu.be/AZR6um5KVmc

And Jesse Adams...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzGsjFFSB8w

And W. Miller...

http://youtu.be/VVo3FP1gy3s

 

Nice videos Fuzz. It's no wonder these guys go rounds.