I've been thinking about winning strategies for bracket racing. I noticed that comp eliminator cars, using throttle stops, make a lot of mph for the ET's they run. Pretty much the same with Stock Eliminator cars (no TS, though).

I currently run in the 11.60's at 114 mph. I was thinking that maybe increasing the ET to about 12.3 seconds and running 114 mph might help win more races. I'm not sure how to go about doing this or if it would even be very effective.

Any thoughts? Advantages, disadvantages?

once you figure it out..let me know... The bigger MPH is a huge advantage. I hate running them 150MPH cars against my 114mph slug

You could try it with nitrous and timing retards.
Use the retards to slow the car down at the launch
and the nitrous for the top end charge.

Emil Dusek:71 SS-502

Cut a light,run your number, winningest strategy I know, aint no way you're gonna judge a 130mph car coming up behind you. I've had the fast cars catch me,bump the throttle only to lose cuz it was so close. I've often wanted a nitrous bottle in the car for those times when you know you spin off the line to catch back up.

Practice and run a lot is the best advise I can give, for both the tree and running at the stripe.

Run your own race and you will win. Get so you can hit .010-.030 lights every time and dial within .01 and you should win a lot of races without doing much to the car. Tune the car and yourself to achieve this.

In a lot of bracket races, someone doesn't win, the other guy just messes up and loses.


Running a tigher converter will slow the ET down, but you don't want to compromise launch consistency.

Most stock elimator cars run low MPH for the ET, the gear and converter the heck out them them and run out of cam and head on the big end.

Pat,

I have to admit running 11.1x's at 123 this year was fun. Next year my class goes to 12.00 low ET, so I am working on trying to figure out if and then how I am going to do that and keep as much moh as possible.

There is always a tight converter but that limits me from running 10's when I race on a Sunday..

Once you have your car reasonably consistent, it's all about cutting a light and driving the stripe.

I get the impression you are much more experienced than me, so maybe this is old news to you, but I learned a lot from reading stuff by this guy...

http://www.dragraceresults.com/article.cfm?id=422

There's also some cool stuff here...

http://www.prestage.com/community/Topic.aspx?topic=Drag+Racing

Pat,

I will tell you that running faster is harder than I thought.

At the Div7 Summit Finals I was racing in the first round against a diesel truck, he went through the lights at 76mph and myself at 127mph. Let me tell you that I came up on him so fast I didn't even know how to start judging the finish line. I hit the brakes hard as I could about 1 car length behind him and still beat him by a car length at the finish line. Extrememly tough. I acutally like playing catchup, but not that extreme typically at Irwindale (1/8)when I am running 103mph, I like to run cars in the 95mph range..Alot easier to make judgement calls that way

Mike I agree,

The most important part IMHO is the Light. If you cut a better light, you control the race. BUT You must also be able to drive the stripe as well AFTER you cut a better light.

One of the toughest single rounds I had this year was racing a 19 second slant six Dart. He had an 8 second head start and I had about a blink of an eye to judge the stripe, I tapped the brakes and just nipped the stripe. Honestly it could have gone either way as I just barely didn't break out.

I much prefer running 12 to 14 second cars when playing catch up.

In a perfect world you can say, "cut a light and run your number" well as that will win almost every time, it is the times when everything doesn't go close to perfect that having the faster mph car can be an advantage.

The reason I was thinking about MPH vs ET is because a buddy of mine won a lot of races that way. He had a 69 Chevelle wagon with 3.08 gears. The car ran mid to upper 14's but at 108 mph. He left like a turtle and faster car would pass him just past half track. They would lift then his mph would come into play and he would fly past them. Most times they couldn't catch him again.

I usually cut a pretty good light in the .515-.560 range. What killed me the last two outtings was the car ran way off the dial. At the Div 7 final, it ran it's best ET (11.59), up to that time, on the brakes. This after running consistant 11.65's in time trials and the first round. At the PSCA, it ran way slower (11.76) than it ran all weekend after running 3 11.64's in a row during time trials.

Thanks for all the thoughts on this. Keep them coming.

Biggest single factor on my car was engine temp. I knew exactly how much it would vary based on this number alone. If your doing quick laps and can't keep the temp consistent, you'll never win. For this reason, I always hit the starting line at full temp.

I think one of he biggest things in your favour is your reputation. Once you start to beat guys consistently it becomes easier and easier to win, because you force them to make mistakes. The other advantage comes if you're completely unknown and you run a good number in the first round.

I agree with that. If a guy knows you are a .010 light kind of guy, he may go red a lot. Then it is better to be second out of the gate.

Once they know your car is faster down track, they will catch on quick and can start playing their own games against you.

I agree with TJC...this last year people were redlighting against me left and right. I had on average of about 1.5 redlights everytime I was at a race. When people recognize you this is to your advantage. That is what makes the real racers...I always say don't worry about the guy in the other lane run your race.

I raced the points champion in our class twice before once when I was worring about who he was, and the second time not.

1st time I cut a .580 to his .525, and lost
2nd time I cut a .533 to his .530, and it ended up with a double breakout with both of his trying to make the other one take the strip. I ended up losing...but it was a drag race...not a gimme.