Tips and tricks

All right, here's the real basic principles of bracket racing. At a race, you are given several time trials, which are used just as practice, and to see what times your car runs. In eliminations, which are single elimination tournament style, it's you against one other racer. You select a time that you think your car will run. That's called your dial-in. When two cars compete, they subtract the dial-ins, and the slower car gets that much of a head start. The theory is that if both drivers get identical reaction times, and both run what they predicted, they will meet right at the finish line... a tie. In practicality, this never happens. Reaction times will differ, and the car may run quicker or slower than predicted. Reaction times are a huge part of winning (or losing!) races. They are also perhaps the most difficult part of drag racing, although it seems deceptively simple. Now you say, "Why don't I just dial-in at 18 seconds, and I'll get a big head start and win?" There's the trick. If you run quicker than your dial, you lose! This is called a breakout. Basically, this means that you want to guess exactly what the car will run. If you guess far quicker than what the car can run, you won't be able to run fast enough, and your opponent can easily beat you to the finish. If you guess far slower, a practice called sandbagging, it is very likely that you will break out and lose. There are many complex situations that arise from these handicapping rules. What happens if both cars break out? In this case, the car that runs out the least wins. How can someone win if they didn't cross the finish line first? If the other car breaks out more than you do, or he runs out and you don't, you win, no matter how much he beat you to the line by. Because of the possibility of breaking out, there are actually many instances where you will hit the brakes to win! To be successful in this sport you need to know your car and have the skill to try and run as near to your time as possible, and to do that consistently. This can all be irrelevant if you leave too early and trip the red light on the Christmas tree. (starting lights) When that green light glows you cannot react faster then 0.500 of a second, any quicker and the race is lost as you leave the line. Drivers develop their own ways of reacting fast to the green and psyching out their opponent, maybe even force them into red lighting. All this can lead to very exciting and close racing. To be a winner you need too refine your skills and know your car. It's a lot of fun and you will be building up the skills needed to make it to the top in ET drag racing.