Bracket Racing vrs Heads Up Racing

Seriously?? Every cell phone today is way more complicated than any "computer" used in today's bracket racing. No one says you need to have a "computer" in the pits or in your car to be competitive either. Reality is you don't. As for "computers" in general... where would the HAMB be with out them??

 

What do you think of the idea of number of cylinders (easy/quick to verify) divided by weight, no blowers/turbos or spray? Any fuel system allowed----multi carbs, mechanical or electronic FI. Gasoline only.

a) Now, you may be saying there's too much lee-way. RIGHT! EXACTLY! Then you are going to do what you have to do to GO FASTER! (what a concept?)

For example, if the rules to go this way i'm immediately going to drop this small block stuff and go big block----unless i have a special 4 or 6 cyl combination in a very light car which i don't. Practically speaking the largest big block you can get commercially is around 540 cubes. Yes, i realize you can buy 700+ cubes but realistically it would not be practical---will explain why in a sec.

b) Limit purse to $1000 first place, $500 sec, $250 semis, etc. etc. ----equivalent to whatever fri, sat, sun brackets are paying---because this(brackets) is what we are trying to replace. Would it then be practical to buy a $40,000 engine to compete for these purses?

c) There has been alot of, "the guy with the most $$$ will win." The problem with this is? The guy with the most cash also gets the biggest boat, the biggest house, wider choice of daily transportation, eats better, kids go to better schools etc. Should the real concern be, "how can i make more $$$?" rather than complaining about big bucks in racing?
cc) This is how teams start---if you can't beat them alone, gang up.

d) Its drag RACING; This means that the first car to cross the line wins.

 

Some of the most fun we ever had racing was at tracks before the day they had clocks.
A single flag man on the starting line and witnesses crowded around the finish line.
In the day, we really had no idea how fast a car went unless it was stock enough to still have a speedometer........... all we knew was either it was flyin' or it wouldn't fall out of a tree.
Trophy's were lined up in the tower, all the money was won or lost betting underneath, and accuracy was measured with a yardstick.
Who can relate; Tom S. in Tn.

 

Won't work. Been tried. Cream rises to the top. Guy with most money wins again.

Are you a former lottery winner? Maybe you can just switch from small block to big block at the drop of a hat but that would take me out of racing completely. As well as just about everyone I know..

First off... to pay back $2000 to the top 4 cars in your example, the track needs to have probably $2600 MINIMUM in entry fees to break even? How much is you entry fee for this heads up race and how many cars do you need for each race?

I don't disagree... I really really like heads up racing. However, in today's real world, it is very difficult to get enough people that love this type of sport to show up at the same time at the same place to make it work. People today cannot afford to pay for parts, fuel, entry fees, etc to show up and know before they get there that there is a 99% chance someone is going to out money them because their car falls into a class that does not give them the advantage that they want/need to get into the money. This is the very reason drag strips were nearly extinct before bracket racing came along.

 

been followun this tread for a time now. lik wat u guyz hav been sayn bout geeteng back to the rootz of drag rasin. dont giv a hang for brackets or computerz or nun a dat sheet. hell i dont even need a strip for that madder. farm to markit workz reel good over heer in sardis. best to do id at nite tho cuz u ken see a sum bitches lites comin if ur hedun into a cornur. itz safer at nite i find

 

Cornurs in drag rasin is a new one to me.
Larry T

 

English a second language?

 

itz jus bout got thet way Rick. you rite bout thet. stil the best cuntry n the werld tho

 

English please.

 

See???

One guy starts to spell Custom with a K,

Then you have a bunch of guys writing stuff down like Rodz and Nozz, and this is what you end up with...

 

we try to get you to run with the cars at ardmore in an index style format 4 tenths tree and you wont????

 

ha! good one zman. thet made me laff man

 

Further thought:

Brackets=masturbation

Headsup and/or handicap no breakout= the real thing


Much more on this later.

 

I like the run what ya brung-heads up thing, but I understand both sides. If you are gonna have classes or brackets I would at least mix in a time for guy's to pair themselves up, street racing style, no rules other than safety, & just run for the hell of it, maybe with a flagman. If you have a flathead go talk to another flathead guy & see if he's up for it. It's the nature of racing to need alot of rules to keep things even, but that gets to be a little too professional & too much like work & everybody starts to nitpick the crap out of everything. I like the keep it simple, fun nostalgia thing vs. every other track in the world.

 

Brackets=Dragstrips viable as a business

Anything else=Dragstrips turned into mobile home parks.

 

got to go with ray-jay and bad banana. Believe it or not folks--bracket racing saved many small dragstrips and it's here to stay. In 99% of our cases, it's what helped to keep us in the sport whether anyone wants to admit it or not. Pairing up fairly even is a good way to put on a show and keep everyone happy.

 

(DOTD 11 )(mine N/A SBC ) against a blown helix style unit ,moster ci ,32 fiberglass body , as close to a pro mod style nostalga car. dont get me wrong the car was cool , but i never had a chance. tubo cars , 671 blowers, helix, n 20, center steer alterds ,rails ,need to be paired together most everyones combo will make same power in car classes. heads up rules. makes for better spectators too.

 

Most of the people here whining about bracket racing wouldn't come out regularly even if the local track did offer heads up racing.

There IS heads up racing available all over the country. It's called NHRA Divisional events. Just check out the results and find the Stock or Super Stock class with the highest number of entries and build yourself a car. You will be guaranteed some serious competition.

 

Don't Stock and Super Stock (and Comp) end up racing handicap indexes after the class eliminations?
They used to run for trophies off class records in the 60's too. It wasn't all heads up run what you brung.
Larry T


Just thought of something one of my friends told me at the drags one day (in the 60's). He was running a Tri Power GTO and had to race a LOWER class early Olds. His quote was "Hell, I have to spot him 1/2 mile and we only race a 1/4!"

 

If you want to see what happened to heads up drag racing like ray-jay said go to a NHRA div or national event & go thru the pit area & look at the "comp class cars" & then you will see what heads up racing ended up being. If you have the bucks build a comp car & go racing. There is only one viable way to have drag racing & that is brackets.

 

You are right but for class bragging rights it's heads up. That's why I said build a car for the biggest class. This way you get to actually race for your class trophy.

 

I'm not suggesting bracket racing be abolished from the planet. I agree that brackets are the way it's done, every weekend, everywhere, and that's how it will stay. It works. However, I & alot of others kinda enjoy the street racing vibe of no clocks & wildly different ideas & combinations of ways to go fast without a dial in displayed on everyone's windows. Years ago, I watched a guy at a local track bust everyone's but for a few weekends in a row with a dead stock 6cyl automatic Fairmont, left in drive and launched off a delay box rigged thru a line lock to the back brakes. It worked. Kudos to him. But the other guys who were trying to be quick, that actually cared about their cars got stomped. It was no longer a drag race but a math class. Why build a cool, fast car to catch a guy in a Fairmont that left 29 seconds ago? And throttle stops just kill me. Again, I am not against bracket guys. It's just not my thing, even if it means getting a bunch of friends together and renting the track for a few hours or showing up on test & tune days.

 

Traditional Hot Rods & Customs.