Bracket Racing vrs Heads Up Racing

Since when is bracket racing NOT racing? Some guys back in '48 came home from the war, built a couple of hopped up cars, and raced each other. Others followed suit. You know what? One of them said, "You scared? I'll spot you a car length!" -bracket racing was born...

 

I like the idea of the dollar limit, in other words claimer classes. Lots of guys will huff and puff and say "I ain't lettin some guy buy my motor for 3 grand!" or 5, or10, whatever the class limit is, but think it through. Heads up racing at whatever level you can afford. You'd be putting your ingenuity on the line. If you can build an engine for 3 grand that can be competitive in a class with a 4 grand engine claim, every time some one claims it you make a grand. How many of us are racing for 1000 buck purses? certainly not me. I watch some of my buddies race bomber class oval track claimers and they're all having a blast. They have a $1000 engine claim and they get to keep their carb. It puts the brakes on the rule bending, protests, teardowns, accusations of cheating etc. If you think someone has an unfair advantage, you pul that envelope full of cash out of your pocket and step up. Simple. Whenever I mention this as a possibility at our local drag club meetings, I just butt heads with people who refuse to even try to understand, and the discussion goes back to electronics, etc. Drag racers are a stubborn bunch, no wonder they only ever want to go in a straight line.

 

Some of ya'll seem to think that all handicap racings is bracket racing, it isn't. Bracket racing is a form of handicap racing, but all handicap racing isn't bracket racing.
Larry T

 

See, below... that's a handicap and is even popular in street racing. But the thing is the first one to the line still wins, period. No worry about going to fast. That's the big thing I don't get, being able to go to fast. I do not understand that. Or keeping yourself from going faster, i.e. throttle stops. Sorry but it does not compute.

yep, Larry nailed it, but I'm still a fan of "run what ya brung full on heads up racing"... If I get the jump on you then you obviously suck

 

Heads up = The biggest wallet wins.I hate electronics too.Hell,,I don't even have linelock in the car.Two footer for life.

 

That's why there are classes. And I have to say I see people spending just as much on a bracket car as a heads up car. For years I raced motorcycles and the biggest mistake I have seen over and over is to start to build before reading the rules. Figure out what class and buld for that class. Personally as far as drag racing goes it'll always be a street car for me. But if I was building a purpose built race car I'd definitely plan it out before starting. You can do quite well that way. With motorcycles I always built a bike to run multiple classes to maximize my track time. You can sometimes race up a class as well as the class you're in. Of course this was roadracing and not drag racing.

 

I like to race...I am thankful for our local tracks..........only thing I dislike is racing the 1/8th mile.........but I will tell you what.....I have won on our Wensday night @ Thompson, racing in the Animal Eliminator class which is a bracket class..It would have been hard to wipe the smile off my face driving home w/ 50 bucks and a little trophy, knowing I beat a 80's something turbo Grand National that tuned his car w/ his laptop computer in the staging lanes before we both drove into the burnout boxes....and beat him w/ six 94 carbs w/ a foot brake reaction time in a 1930 Model A Pickup..........That guy won practically every Wensday night...but that one...........So be thankful that you have a place to race....and actually go and race to support the track....Or you can just go to the local cruise spot and pretend your hotrod is fast, because if you did go to the track a modern stock 5.0 Mustang would probably serve your hotrods ass on a plate. Like so many of our local cars. Some have the look...and it stops their..Too many people have forgotten what a hotrod was supposed to be..........That's my two cents...if it's even worth that....Littleman

 

yep I wish we could stop calling it bracket racing

and dial in a handicap to even out the uneven cars
about a car length per second is what it seems like to me
or start the cars, car lengths apart witch the lights do now same thing

I run as fast as I can run every time I go down the track I have no desire
to sand bag or race a car that is three car lengths quicker then mine

thats not a race! thats bad math.

 

And never ever see an actual payout (?)

 

I don't want to see cash payouts at "casual" get togethers like Nostalgia Races. Cheap trophies would be more than enough. Racers are pretty competitive anyway. Cash turns it into a whole 'nuther deal.
If you wanna run for cash, there's always ...................................................................................bracket races. And I've never understood the "make money" mentality in drag racing anyway. How many races do you have to win to cover your expenses, let alone pay for a racing operation?
Larry T

 

I've been trying to get a friend of mine (yes I have one) to race in the VAMP series at KCIR. It looks like a good series that could be adapted to Nostalgia Races

http://vampracing.no-ip.com/nuke/

they ran this series at MOKAN too

 

Boy I got great timing LOL

 

Littleman says it all right there. x10.

I went to our local 8th mile track and lined up with a 5.0 mustang with a big NOS stick his back window. I said OH shit and prepared myself to get embarrased and guess what??? I smoked his ass. he he he. When I was driving back to the pits everyone line up on the fence was looking over my fenders to see what the hell I had in there. It was great. build your car the best you can and go run the track. It's a blast win or lose, I just enjoy running in my car and seeing all the other people run.

 

SHOCK...the truth of the mater is the car club, event holder, or dragstrip will decide how and why. YES? we'r all just explaning our viewpoint, that's it in a nutshell. no foul no harm. so let's disagree without being disagreeable...POP.

 

Man im begining to like you .Your absolutly right about people spending as much $ or more on a bracket car than a heads up fun car.People are always quick to say that heads up costs too much.How much does all that shutter and delay box crap cost ? Thats a great point you brought up ...

 

Ryan please understand that i am not trying to turn the Hamb drags upside down ,because i think its great .The atmosphere ,the cars ,the people ,all couldnt be better every time i have went ,just like the DOTD's and Whitewalls at Ardmore ,etc.I was just trying to give some ideas of how to make it closer races without the bracket racing thing is all.Never said it had to be 100 classes of confusing rules ,but there could be more than just 2 for most of us is all.I wouldnt care if there were only 1 class i'd still show up every year that i can afford to go ,but there is nothing that thrills me more than going 113 mph and watching another car out of the side window as we cross the stripe and not knowing who won ,till i see which color my time slip is.A few more classes could make this happen more often ,IMO...

 

There will never be a good answer to what works the best . problem is if the little guy like most of us wants to race you go home fast just because your's wasn't as fast as the other guy they set you up to race . Unless you have very deep pockets and lots of HP you will loss most of the time .
This is why so many street race . It's run what you brung and that's that . Now at the race track you need something for the little guy to pop the hubcaps and have fun . there just needs to be a good medium for someone that wants to drag race but doesn't have deep pockets to buy the biggest and best set up .
I did both street and drag racing back in the early 70's ! They were both fun and got the same rush but the safety factor was all different . I had good times and not so good at the race track bracket racing . I saw many great cars in the brackets and most were fair races . When they change the bracket racing to the faster cars the track closed due to no one racing anymore .
There just needs to be something for the kid on the street with little to no money to have the same thrill drag racing as the ones with the deep pockets . It's getting to be if your car doesn't have 800 HP and run 10's your screwed !

We all can go on & on forever but we all love to drag race with what we have to race with and can afford . Heads up is still the best even with a 14 sec car !

RetroJim

 

I've had more fun on a test n tune night than a regular race night, you get more passes down the track and get to adjust your combo without fear of breaking out. Our local track has a grudge night cruise night, 5 bucks a pass, run who ever you want.
To me the fun is going down the track, not worrying if you get beat you can't run anymore that night. Believe me too, everybody knows who beat who and the following week challenges are made.

 

Frankly I don't care because I don't take the competition all that seriously. I just enjoy the experience. The more laps I can get under my belt the happier I am. If it ends up being a bracket race I still try and line up with guys who run similar speeds.

Running door handle to door handle is the coolest. DW and I ran a couple of years ago and he must not have had his tune up just right yet because we were close. I got him on the line but when I shifted he jumped ahead and when he shifted I made a jump on him... till the end. He beat me but frankly I didn't care. That race Rocked!!!

I ran Metalshapes a year or two before that. Another door handle to door handle but I won that won. Just too much fun.

Even if I can't race someone similar in et's it's still a good time. The whole drag race thing is an experience that, for me, is a time machine. Pulling out of the staging lane onto the track and all of the sudden it's 1960.

If the fun stops because of the competition what's the point? I guess I just chase my own dreams. Look at the digger I'm building. A cool but kind of pointless car. Watch me make some passes with it and watch the grin on my face on the return road and then you'll understand what I'm in it for.

Then there is the smack talk between friends. The first year FlamedAbone and I had the blowers I'm pretty sure I had him worried before the race. It was fun messing with his head and watching him check out the coupe. I knew he had way more HP than I did but it didn't matter. Now I'm gunning for Chicken in his T with my digger. :-D

 

But the fact is our event promoters have a difficult enough time providing us with great events to get together and share some fun times.

Sure we all have a opinion what would work better but the bottom line is the promoters make the call and we should do nothing more than thank them and ask what we can do to help them.


dont take the easy way out and bang on your key pads, set up another event and we will thank you also.

So Thank You event promoters.[/QUOTE]

Well said, it does take alot of effort, especially a nostalgia event, The main thing is everyone is having fun for me, heads up, bracket, whatever it may be, I have fun watching, running, etc. Its the whole picture that i like. Drag racing down a track is just awesome!!!!

 

Couldnt agree more Rusty .Nostalgia Drags are the best and i am gratefull to have them to go to however they are structured ,but without imput and opinion the world would be a boring place .These are only peoples 2 cents here ,and the ones that put these events on can do with them what they wish .There is a difference between whining and constructive imput ,so lets not get the two confused ...

 

I love drag racing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Does anyone know if a bracket race, a heads up race, or a index style race takes longer in a day of say 100 cars going down the track with one buy back?

Just wondering if it is harder to run, organize,etc

 

rusty we ran index at ours and had 165 cars and took from 9 am with about 5 hours of open time trials and then eliminations to 6 pm to finish , might help, sam

 

Don't think that how a race is run(bracket, heads up, index) would change the amount of time it take's to run it.
Buy back's would add to the time, but it all depends on how many buy back.

Tim

 

I really lost any enthusiam I had for bracket racing when they started buy backs and multiple tech cards.
Larry T

 

I'm with you, ya get beat ya go home.

 

I originally hated buy backs. thought they were the liberalism watered down version of racing. When I lost, I would not buy back, but stay out honorably, Then, I changed my tune a little. I began to view it economically.

If you loose in round 1, everyone has the ability to buy back, i thought, when else would i get to buy into a bracket race for reduced price and no added transportation costs because I was already at the track.

once I started winning races, and I was in quarter finals or better every time out this year, I began to view the 1rst round as just another time trial but run as a bracket pass, and the winners in that pass got to race cheeper...

Ironic isn't it? you would think my opinion would have gone in the oposite direction once I started to win...

 

Agreed on the buy backs are not good thing.You lose ,you lose ,thats life ...