Event Coverage Gasser Reunion 2013, Changes more Hamb Friendly!

Just saying, you did mention GRS (Gasser Racing Series) and I'm not bitching about the rules. I'm saying my car doesn't fit the height rule so I won't attend, nothing else. I'm not going to set up a burn barrel and have a sit in protest about it, it's not like I go to only one race a year or something.

 

All cars must have an appearance that is consistent with the spirit of a
‘Gasser’. Cars that do not meet ‘Gasser’ requirements will be moved to HOT ROD classes. While this is subjective,
GASSER MAGAZINE and/or its appointed representatives(s) will make the final decision. If there is any doubt of your car
meeting these requirements, it is your responsibility to get approval prior to the being allowed to race in this class. You may
email a description of your car and photo.


These are the published rules. Have you checked with Team III wheels? To answer your correction, no specific rules for wheels, but some companies still make new wheels that where made back in the day. What size and offset are you looking for?

 

Well that's why you're the Boss!

You have the fortunate (or unfortunate) task of delegating that task. However, I'm sure that if you put the word out, you would have capable volunteers. The difficult part I see is that most that would know what to look for will be racers and those guys may be too busy to do it. But then, maybe not.

 

My own AA/G Austin poject is still just a shell in the barn because I have a problem with both groups rules or lack of, enterpretation, spirit and enforcement. Just need brakes ( and an income ) and My friends and I could start laying pipe. May just end up on the street at this point.

 

Okay, I stand corrected. But then not everybody knows what GRS stands for. They do now!

 

need 15x10, 6" or 6.5" back spacing and 4.5 bolt pattern

Thanks
Derrick

 

They have you covered with the 5 spoke and the dragmaster in 6" backside spacing. Don't know if those styles work for you. I've had good luck with the 5s. Been running them for almost 10 years.

http://www.team3wheels.com/classic_v.html
http://www.team3wheels.com/dragmaster.html

 

I lost count of how many times you have asked this. “Index” or “dial your own” ? Honestly, what is the difference? It’s all bracket racing no matter how much you sugar coat it. You are paying a purse and there will be people there that will do what it takes to win that purse because at the end of the day someone will be paid that purse. Because of the money and because someone has to compete and win to get the money, there will be game playing. It is how it is. If you think differently, you are incredibly naïve.

Here is what I see:

“I wanna see heads up racing so we should make everyone run an index”

Ok… but next you want to make it fair so you can’t “break out” (pssst… guess what? This is a bracket race). So competitors pick the index that they know they can run and devise ways of slowing down to not break out. If they don’t do this, they are first round runner up every time.

Then the whining begins when guys slow cars in various ways. So next there is:

“No sandbagging, we want guys to run all out”

What??? But you just said we all have to run a predetermined index (dial in) but you want everyone to run all out? Ok… we’ll try to mask the “sandbagging” in a way that is not obvious. But now the car is not at its full potential and fans think it is boring to watch and quite honestly in my opinion boring to drive (i.e. ton of weight, retarded timing, mechanical throttle stops under the throttle pedal, etc).

My next question is how many “heads up” races really occur in these “index” races? I can’t remember hardly any because different class cars end up being lined up with each other. So.. does it really matter that there is exactly .5 or 1.0 or 1.5 second handicap or not? Would spectators know by watching the race from the stands that there is .3 or .8 or 1.3 seconds handicap? I doubt it. But… I’ll drink your kool-aid for the sake of argument that there is merit in .5 second indexes. So what you end up with is two cars of different capabilities racing against each other at indexes that are not what either car is capable of. Is that what the masses really want?

Guess what folks, you just created another bracket race that not only limits who can enter based on what their car looks like but also limits how fast the cars can run. Congratulations. Hope you are proud. At least in a true bracket race you can run your car all out if you choose and still have a shot at winning each round.

So… To me these are the only options (these are my opinions and I am quite sure others will differ):

1. Every entry must be pre-approved to run the Nostalgia class by whoever is in charge based on what they want period. After all, they are paying the purse and it is their sandbox. All others run the “other” class. Bracket, index, dial your own…it is all the same…pick one. Everyone grow up and play by the rules set forth or stay home. I believe this is how it currently is.

2. Have folks submit pictures, video and descriptions (and maybe time slips) and pay the ones you want an individual fee to show up and race each other (put on a show) and not pay a winner’s purse. Rules are run all out and run heads up and hopefully you can get equally matched cars and they must meet the “look” or stance” you think the paying public want to see. Winner gets a trophy or a kiss from the beauty queen and/or maybe their picture taken with somebody famous (Don maybe?)

3. Take the money away completely and have a trophy only class. That will keep the folks out that are trying to win the money and allow the true “hobbyists” a class that is not cluttered with professional bracket cars. Add a rule that former winners are not allowed to enter again (at least for a period of time). Once you win this class, you must move to the “money” class the following race/season etc. Or something to this effect.

Let the flaming commence… I’ll go make popcorn.

 

Maybe you could do away with the 60' clocks so that there wouldn't be any reaction times. Then you could average the drivers elapsed times based on the number of time trials run and make them run the next half second quicker index where they'll have to run all out or lose.

 

Waht???

The 60' clocks have nothing to do with reaction time... Reaction time has nothing to do with elapsed time.

 

That didn't come out exactly the way I meant. I would eliminate reaction time as a tuning aid. Didn't exist on the scoreboards or time slips back in the day. Other than that I'd still average the et's and bump into the next quickest index. Your first option already exists as you stated. Your second and third options are highly unlikely. It doesn't matter to me if a racer is a pro or hobbyist. People are going to be corrupt or try to discover some unfair advantage no matter what the prize is. In the old days a local racer always tried harder when racing a touring pro. It made for better racing. Especially if the underdog won.

 

No flaming, you make alot of valid points. I put this out there for these opinions. I am not any different than any of you, and if a better idea comes along, I am all for it! I am dissapointed when someone says they are not going to come because of one new rule. It really will not change that much!

 

Cool idea but probably asking the track operators to do too much! Also, folks would make all their time trials slow, then let it all hang out like at Pinks All Out!

 

I really wanted to see the paint!

 

And this is why we have bracket racing today!

Call it anything you want, it does keep the cheating to the bare minimum.

As far as taking the reaction time out of the "cheating factor", go with arm drop or flagman. It don't get anymore traditional than that.

 

Relax. Take deep breath. Watch gasser video. Carry on. Remember this is supposed to be fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mEZA8u_kFAs#!

 

now that was cool

 

Hey Dave thanks for the video!

Being conservative, I'd say that 60% of those cars wouldn't qualify for these new rules and another 5-10% would only qualify when they are launching or under power. Standing still those wouldn't qualify either.

As HMD mentioned, "this is supposed to be fun"!

 

This has been a pretty decent discussion so far. Nothing has gotten solved yet, but so far we only have had one guy who is mad at the GRS and one guy is mad at everybody else. Ironically, the only flamer was the same guy asking for the flaming to commence, and Don handled him pretty well.

 

Ha Ha!

Well.... Even congress doesn't get things done till the 11th hour.

But yes, a good, somewhat civil, hardy discussion.

It can't (or shouldn't) always be the Hatfields and McCoys!

 

Don... you and I have traded PMs and I hope you know my post was not directed at you. I said before you have a thankless job and I hope you can make it successful. It was directed more toward anyone that is reading this thread and thinks index racing is different than bracket racing.

I am not "angry" and sorry if it came across that way. The written word sometimes is hard to distinguish the emotion behind it. It was meant to be my attempt at a tongue-in-cheek reality check. Not as funny maybe as I thought it was...

I may be a little "frustrated" rather than angry. Bracket racing has survived at least twice as long as the original class racing AT THE LOCAL LEVEL and shows no signs of going away. Reason is, no one in 40 years has been able to come up with a better way for the average guy to go to his local track and compete agaist everyone there and have a real chance at winning. But for whatever reason everyone thinks that they have a better solution than all the drag strip owners in the world.

I think most guys on this message board don't like bracket racing because they don't truly understand how it works.

I assume you are still having trouble getting your thoughts across. I am sorry if you thought I was flaming anyone.

 

No apology necessary Bad Banana. My thoughts seem to have gotten across just fine. Don certainly seemed to get it, even if he didn't agree with it. I think that when people want to see gassers, they want to see inconsistent and unpredictable passes. That's exactly why I like to watch the ADRL cars. They are the closest thing to how the gasser racing used to be. There were many AA/G cars back in the day that made 8.60 something passes at 160 plus miles per hour. But those passes were rare. They more often made nine second passes. Now people don't dislike bracket racing because they don't understand it (some don't) they (we), don't like bracket racing because IT IS BORING. We don't like to see cars leave the line under power and then hear their engines cut out momentarily, drop cylinders or rev up to the rev limiter before resuming full power. And we don't like watching drivers slam on their brakes at the finish line only to have the car that crosses the finish line first lose. We understand full well why it's done, and we hate it. That's why you only see friends and family and alot of empty bleachers at the bracket races, nobody wants to pay money to watch it. This is exactly what I think people here are trying to avoid.

 

The bracket racers keep the tracks open year after year !..........So events like this can even take place....too many tracks have locked the gates forever..........They are the real racers...not the once in awhile attending guy....Below is a pic of the last time this very event was held at Thompson...From that weekend to the present...I think something went wrong accompanied w/ several bad decisions..I have never seen this many non racers at a gasser event since...except for Bowling Green, and that is more a car show, and maybe you get a couple of passes in if your lucky....Not enough time to tell ya what I think, other than I am thankful for the tracks that are still open so I can go play...Littleman



Maybe this could be the next event shirt,,....sorry Don....I could not resist, thought it was funny.....Dave

 

So... what is the goal here? To please racers or spectators? If the racers won't show up, you ain't gonna have any spectators. Sounds like you want happy racers and happy spectators.

I explained about the money and purses on the last page and how that effects racers. You are not going to convince racers to ignore how to win to put on a show for the spectators. There is no way to fairly run an "all out heads up first guy to the finish line wins" hobbyist drag race in 2013 AND pay a purse. No offense but.... You are dreaming.

Maybe the answer is to let the spectators decide who wins based on the run. That is how drifting works. Purely subjective from the spectator's voting. Kinda like a beauty pagent or car show. Now what you have is a popularity contest that has nothing to do with racing anymore.

I'm not trying to throw water on your parade. Don asked for real input into how to make the race successful. I am only trying to be a realist here. I would LOVE for your fantasy of all out heads up gassers running for a big purse but the reality is... I can't really come up with a real scenario that can make it work and not make someone mad. Next best thing I know of is to "piss off the least amount of people as possible" I think that is where it will end up.

Good luck Don! You'll need it.

 

That event shirt is hilarious. My wife used to make kids crawl across the living room floor and kiss each other to make up. Had the same look on their faces. Ok, back to discussion.

 

Priceless!!!

 

Lacaster Speedway used to pack their bleachers like that every Friday night into the early seventies. Their weekly bracket program hosts pretty much empty bleachers these days. Same deal with Empire Dragway.

 

Yes Bad Banana index racing is a form of bracket racing but a much better form of bracket racing in my opinion; especially with a protree!
With this type of racing you tend to get much fewer red light losses (race over before it starts), a lot less games at the finsh line (hitting the brakes) and with a lot of gassers in the 10.0-11.50 range you end up with quit a few heads up matches when index's are indexed to the .50 (much more enjoyable for fans to watch).

Keep up the great work Don!

Just my 2 cents
Cheers
Derrick

 

I don't take any of this personal...(ok except for the guy telling me I can't drive, that just wasn't nice) and I posted this thread, so I knew there would be feedback good and bad. This thread has been very good so far! Hey we have 2 gasser classes now! That is something very new to the Reunion! Index racing is not, it has been that way since day one except last year for the nostalgia gas class. I would still like more feedback (from others) for index vs. handicap for the Modified Gasser class. Are we leaning towards handicap to placate the racers? Yes, all racing for the reunion will be pro tree!

On a totally different topic, does anybody know of a band that may be interested in playing friday night at the track? I looked at the schedule and the track has us done at 4 on friday...A band at the track would help the party! Also, the local Friday night racing will be going on for all you bracket racers if you want to keep racing! NO Drinking and Racing!

Nobody is talking about the club vs. club shoot out for saturday night? We will let the clubs decide on how they want to run that!

I think the coolest addition hasn't gotten any mention at all, the show car race? 1/8 mile heads up fastest wins! ( maybe I should start another thread for this?)

 

Check it out:

http://www.streetlegaltv.com/news/video-killer-old-school-gasser-action-from-beaver-springs-dragway/