( its illegal to sand-bag) like to here how you run with a sand-bager that has to spot you i have a hard time with this they run you down and stay beside you can they be beat?????? like to here from all you drag racers i try to run on my dial with a good light but ???
Oooh. Ooh. Let me field this one first! I push 'em through the lights. Like you, I try to do everything possible to be consistant. A) Heat the engine up to 'finals' temperature. A lot of guys I see are pushing their cars to to the lanes during time trials. When you get to the finals, you're pretty much hot-lapping the car. Hotter car = slower e.t. (normally) = unsure dial-in. B) Same burnout duration every time (after the first revolution of the tires, I count one thousand one, one thousand two, ..... until I reach 8. Then let the car pull out of the burn-out. C) I light the pre-stage bulb, raise my rpm's to what I want to launch at (usually 1500 in my case). D) As I'm looking at the THIRD AMBER - NOT THE SECOND YELLOW (or "fully staged") light, I 'bump' in 3 times (near 'deep staging' - which is not allowed in our street class). I say the third amber because we can see the second yellow in our upward periferral vison. ALL concentration goes towards the third amber. A must for me. Note: At night I only bump in twice (versus three times). I used to red-light by ever so slightly at night. I thought about this long and hard and reasoned this: The lights seems to 'flash' quicker to my eyes moreso than in daylight. To account for my seeing the light hundreths of a second quicker than in the daylight, I only bump in twice (to prevent red-lighting). I still go on the third amber. Another note: No one I know can consistantly 'go' between lights. There has to be a definitive action take place to trigger the mind. If it takes it, adjust the number of 'bumps' into the lights, compensating for the launching at third amber - a definitive action. E) I "TRY" to run my race without considering who I'm running - even knowing that some are sandbaggers. I have that attitude up until the moment I launch. F) Once I launch, and I am not braggin, just telling it like it is, I ususally know if I've cut a good light or not. And, usually they are mid to low .5's. G) Too many more 'constant's to cover in this thread. Now, to the "pushing them through the lights" part. As I am confident my car is dialed in correctly (I usually subtract -.05-.07 off my best time trial for fear of breaking out and taking into consideration cooler weather, etc.), I'm going to keep my foot in it all the way to the floor through the traps - EXCEPT under the circumstance you're describing. If I'm way ahead, I obviously brake hard to keep from breaking out. That's the easy "W". If I see a guy coming on strong near the finish line - I STILL keep my foot in it. USUALLY, the sandbagger is going to keep his foot in it also. MOST of the time, I get the white slip, because the other guy broke out. I've "pushed" him through the lights, in a sense. Now, if I have to run down a known sandbagger: If I KNOW that I'm going to lose (as I get very near the end of the track, I will brake HARD. Just in time for him to NOT have time to react to me. He's going to stay in it thinking I'm coming on strong. When I brake hard at the last second (or less), I KNOW that I haven't broken out. Odds are HE HAS BROKEN OUT. Again, 'pushing' him through the lights. It doesn't work all the time, but I'm confident enough in my (slow) car's ability to run my dial and that I'm going to cut a good light, I will purposely REQUEST to run the known sandbagger. I've knocked more than a few out by pushing them through the lights. The sandbaggers will 'usually' go into the late rounds, but in my experience, rarely do they wind up winning the event. More often than not, it's someone who is running very near their dial-in (within .01 -. 02 second). Whew! I'm not even going to proof-read my novel. I probably haven't told you anything you didn't already know, Ivy, but you asked how we, personally, deal with it. And I added the pre-race info to somewhat qualify the balls to post a reply to your Honor's (you) request. Right or wrong, as you could tell, I like talking racing. I'm wondering if your plight took place at Ennis this weekend during Fun Ford Weekend? I heard it was a miserable experience to some (lack of track personnel, safety, un-organized, etc). Always a pleasure typing to ya, Ivy. One of Your Biggest Fans, Rick
I here about guys sandbagging all the time, hell, I got buddies that do it. Bracket racing is hard enough. I think that sandbagging would be even harder. I know they say that the faster guy as the advantage, but I feel like I was more competitive when my car went 7.70's. I have a buddy of mine that raced a stock truck once. the truck dialed in at a 13 something, my buddies car ran 6 teens. My buddy put the exact dial in on his car that the truck had on his. I thought my buddy was screwing up, but he won the race. He just stayed beside him until they got to the speed traps then he gased ahead. I have had two .001 packages put on me in the last 3 weeks. One was a .000 green light and .001 off his dial and the other was a .001 green light and he ran dead on his dial. The first race I had a .039 package(.039 light and a dead on dial) and the other I had a .021 package(.017 light and 6.554 on a 6.55 dial). I guess I do not have a point, other than bracket racing is TOUGH! All you can do is cut a good light and try to run your number and hope its good enough.
THANKS RICK & MAVERICK 5946 THAT HELPS no more fun ford baytown was my last one i ran this year with the baytown boys n/e going to ennis next week i had a lot of fun this year at baytown the track & racers are tops i am honored to go with them to the fInals at ennis thanks ivy
Just thought about something.... The track champ in bracket 2 a couple years ago used to do something like running them through the lights. If he was running against a faster car, he would dial a 7.51. Which his car would not run that! And if he was running a slower car, he would dial a 7.53. " He always had the 7.5 on his car until he found out who he was racing, then he would put either a 1 or 3 to finish his dial. I ask him why he did that. and he basically said the samething Rick did aboout pushing them through the lights. Thats to much thinking for me.
I agree with maverick5946 in the situation when you have the faster car and the bagger is slower . Just dial in the same et as him and make him run his car out . Cut a good light and you will probably win .
Rick Book... you and I must have taken the same drag racing lessons! Your novel was my style of drag racing word for word you just wrote them all first. (good job) Us Maverick-Comet owners must be a tough group to beat at the track!! My second wife TOLD me it was either her or that WHITE BITCH of mine (my Maverick) and I had to make a choice. Give up my car! So I TOLD her DON'T let the door hit you in the ass on the way OUT!! I now have to pay her 800.00 a month for child support but I'm still drag racing. I love my car and I love to race!
Sheesh, I never knew any of that stuff with the lights. When I am staging here are the things I am thinking about. 1. Wonder if the beer is still iced down? 2. Wonder if I will get any tonite? 3. Wonder if my brakes will work when I shutdown? 4. Wonder if I will miss a shift? 5. Wonder if that kid who beat me up in 5th grade is still in prison? No wonder I cant ever get a good light!! Dan
Maybe you guys can fill me in on a couple things. First, our track here, Pittsburgh Raceway Park (formerly Pittsburgh International Dragway) is an IHRA track. It is run very professionally with a great track manager, who I know now personally, and safety is paramount. They are now rated as one of the top 10 IHRA tarcks in the East. I'm a bit fuzzy as to the differences between the NHRA tracks and IHRA, other than it is two different sanctioning bodies. I'm a bit of a recent convert to drag from circle tracks and, truthfully, I'd like to get started driving myself as soon as I can afford another car that goes fast enough. Right now, I just need to get a bit better educated. FYI, the owners are planning a large meet in the spring, date and time TBA, that will combine drag racing, a cruise, and a swap meet. I am supposed to be involved. I'll keep you all posted as it develops.
As far as a difference goes, I am not sure other than, in my opinion, the NHRA enforces their rules more than IHRA does. My home track just switched to NHRA sanctions a couple years ago and they(the track) really started cracking down on the rules as you were going through tech.
Heres what I think about.... 1) Did I check the tire pressure? 2) Do I have enough gas? 3) Wonder what the other guy is thinking? 4) Do I have enough beer to race all night? 5) It sure is dark down at the end of the track. 6) Hey! Check out the girl by the fence! wooo woooo! 7) Hey! Look at the pretty lights.....yellow, yellow......O SHIT! its green! I luv racing!
Heatin Up the M/T's Hey guys, luv bench racin too! Thought I would throw in a pic of Mavman's deeds. 351, glide, 28x10.5
The track that I used to race at was NHRA sanctioned . They were so anal about the rules that a lot of people were turned off . I wish there was a IHRA track around here .
Hey Old Guy? I see a PTC sticker on the car. Are you still using them? I have one in my car and I really like it.
