Bracket Racing Basics

Bracket Racing, also known as ET racing or Handicap racing, allows almost anyone to race, on a fairly even playing field. It places much more emphasis on the driver than the car itself. The cars are split up into classes, depending on how fast the cars run. Safety requirement rules vary throughout these divisions. The track itself, consist of several key parts. Just before the starting line lays the staging lanes, where racers line up their cars when they are ready to race. From there, they proceed to the "burnout" box. This is simply a part that has water supplied to aid a driver's burnout when racing on slicks. The driver drives through the water and spins the tires until they get very hot, and thus, very sticky. The driver then proceeds to the "Christmas tree" to stage at the start line. The long straight lines of asphalt hide many photocells that electronically record a car's time as it makes its run down the track. After the finish line, the track continues straight to allow the cars to slow down, and then it turns back toward the pit area. Along the way back to the pit area or at the tower, each driver can pick up his "time slip," the piece of paper that has all the vital information on it concerning the times that the car ran.

All right, here's the real basic principles of bracket racing. At a race, you are given several time trials, which are used just as practice, and to see what times your car runs. In eliminations, which are single tournament style elimination's , it's you against one other racer. You select a time that you think your car will run. That's called your dial-in. When two cars compete, they subtract the dial-ins, and the slower car gets that much of a head start. The theory is that if both drivers get identical reaction times, and both run what they predicted, they will meet right at the finish line... a tie. In practicality, this never happens. Reaction times will differ, and the car may run quicker or slower than predicted.

Reaction times are a huge part of winning (or losing!) races. They are also perhaps the most difficult part of drag racing, although it seems deceptively simple. In order to get good reaction times, we must understand the tree. The tree is made up of three major parts. At the top of the tree, you see two sets of double yellow bulbs for each side of the tree (each lane). The top set is call the Pre-Stage bulbs. This is an indicator for the driver that he is approaching (and near) the starting line. The second set is called the Stage bulbs. They indicate that the driver is actually on the starting line, and presumably ready to race. The next section is the three amber starting signals. These bulbs will light in sequence, a half-second apart. The last two lights then, of course, are the green and dreaded red light... a foul start. The green will come on after the amber bulbs if the driver has not left the starting line too soon. The reaction timer starts when the third amber comes on. Since there is a half-second (or .500 seconds) delay until the green light comes on, a .500 reaction time is perfect. The reaction timer stops when the car leaves the starting line. The difference between the dial-in and the actual run is added to the difference between the reaction time and a perfect .500. Whoever has the smallest difference without red lighting or driving faster than their dial-in WINS that race and continues on. If you lose, as we say, "it's on the trailer!"