bracket racing

How to Participate in a Bracket Race:

In drag racing, a bracket race is a race in which one of the
competing cars is handicapped by having to start from a further
distance from the finish line than the other car or by having
the drag racing staging light set at a different interval.
By correctly estimating the acceleration rates of the two cars
and by calculating the precise distance needed to make it a fair
race, you will be able to participate in a bracket race and judge
the winner by driving skill alone.

Things You’ll Need:
Stopwatch for calculating dial-in time
Drag racing staging light or flagger
Two drag race cars
Participate in a Bracket Race

Step 1:
Figure out the correct dial-in time for your car. The dial-in time
is the average claimed speed, measured usually in seconds, of a
particular car through a quarter-mile race.
It is important to be accurate with this number, since your car can
be disqualified from the race if it turns out to be significantly
faster than the dial-in time indicates.

Step 2:
Use the dial-in speed to determine the difference in the drag-racing
staging lights, or the distance between the starts of the two cars,
and make the appropriate adjustments.

Step 3:
Participate in the bracket race heat. Remember, if your car exceeds
its dial-in speed significantly, you will certainly be disqualified.
If both cars exceed their dial-in speed, however, the car that exceeds
it the least will be declared the winner.

Step 4:
Change your dial-in speed if you consistently exceed it in each heat.
You are allowed to do this. In fact, it is a very common part of bracket
racing.

Step 5:
Practice your reaction times to the drag-racing staging lights or flagger
(the person that may signal the start of a bracket race). If you are
1/10th of a second slower than the other driver, this may translate to an
entire car length by the end of a race in which the drivers reach speeds
of 100 mph.

Step 6:
Make appropriate corrections if your dial-in speed or the elapsed time if
your races vary too much. Strive for consistency in each race, and focus
on the same routine over and over. If you are still having problems in
maintaining a constant speed on the track, find out whether external
variables, such as wind, are having an effect on your car.

Tips & Warnings:
Manipulating the dial-in time of a specific car so that it appears to be
slower than it really is is known as sandbagging. This is one of the
leading causes for a car to be disqualified during a bracket race.

Article by ehow_sports-fitness_writer
No longer working Link: http://www.ehow.com/how_2084719_participate-bracket-race.html

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