Getting Started – Bracket Racing

Among the things that give me excitement in this world, nothing compares to the thrill of hitting the drag strip and tearing it up. Whether it’s banging those power shifts like mad man (or woman) in your near-stock T-5-equipped Mustang or speeding up those amateur drag strips with your turbo-charged muscle car, there’s always a place in this sport for everyone. But of course, you have to start somewhere. You can’t just go out and spend big bucks on a nitro burning car to compete with the pros right away.

It is also important to remember that not all of us were born in the staging lanes. Based from my experience, most wannabe racers are afraid to ask the expert thinking that they’re going to look stupid in front of their peers. The important thing is that you start from scratch. Ask your way into knowing the ins and outs of this industry and be mindful about every detail. The good thing about drag racing is that you can get to compete in the same surface as the pros do. Imagine trying to rent Madison Square Garden for a Wednesday Ball game with your buddies. Of course that prospect might seem daunting for the novice driver. But don’t get discouraged though, millions of people go drag racing every year and you can too.

Preferably, you should go try the sanctioned strips first. With the rise in popularity of illegal street racing, you may wonder why you need to bother going to all the trouble of participating at a sanctioned strip. Yes, it can be exciting, but sometimes for all the wrong reasons. Based from what I saw in my trips to Southern California and even the ones here in Miami, the underground and illegal strips are mostly full of hustlers and wannabes trying to earn a buck for each race. Unfortunately, many people get killed in street racing every year, including a lot of innocent bystanders. I’m sure you’re not really up for the prospect of facing manslaughter charges. Besides, even if you wreck and only hurt yourself, you don’t want to get injured at the side of the road without an ambulance in sight. At the track, there are precautions taken to help ensure your safety and that of your competition. In a best case street racing scenario, you "only" get a summons from the police. And this wouldn’t bold well with you and your insurance agent.

Bracket Racing is always a good start for novice. Of course some you might not be familiar with the term. In a heads-up drag race, the first car to the finish line wins. Each car chooses a dial-in time before the race, predicting the elapsed time the driver will take his or her car to cross the finish line. In bracket racing, it really doesn’t matter how fast or slow your car is. The slower car in the race is given the green light before the faster car by a margin of difference between the two dial-in times. If the car goes faster than its dial-in, it gets disqualified. This eliminates any advantage that faster cars have from bending the rules by putting a slow dial-in time on the windshield to get a head start.

Bracket drag racing rules are implemented to place a premium on the consistency and performance of the driver rather than the raw speed of the car, which in turn makes victory more dependent on the mechanical aspect and the driving skills. Reactions times, shifting abilities and the ability to control the car are the skills being tested in bracket racing. So basically, the golden rule in bracket racing is, the more consistent you are, the more you’re going to win races.

On my next post, I’m going to touch on the safety requirements and other rules in drag racing.

From 1,320 to 1,000

So okay, from 1,320 feet, they made it to a thousand. This is a good idea by the NHRA, but will this actually change anything? As the inquiry continues about the tragic accident that took the life of renowned dragster Scott Kalitta (may God rest his soul), the National Hot Rod Association announced just a week ago that starting at the Mopar Mile High Nationals in Denver, Colorado, both the Top Fuel and Funny Car Classes will race to 1,000 feet from that traditional 1,320 feet or a quarter mile. NHRA is making this change as an interim step to analyze and determine whether a concrete change should be implemented to build upon the sport’s long stand safety record given the natural risks and dangers that will always be associated with the sport. NHRA believes that racing the top Fuel and Funny Car classes to a thousand feet will give the racing community the proper time to evaluate, analyze and implement potential changes based on their own set of safety initiatives.

Aside from the change of proximity, it’s nothing major rally. Fans will still be able to enjoy the sights, sounds and thrill of NHRA nitro racing with speeds around 300 mph and quick elapsed times to 1,000 feet. This stop-gap procedure is, after all, a part of NHRA commitment in implementing many incentives to enhance safety measure to limit speeds from enhancing protective gear, vehicle improvement and race track modifications such as sand traps, catch nets and concrete barriers in the entire length of the strop.

What happened to Scott Kalitta is indeed unfortunate. In that wake of the tragic series, Fastmachines.com wrote that the following technical issues are currently under inspection from the NHRA:

1. What might be done to reduce engine failures

2. Parachute mounting techniques and materials as well as identifying a parachute material that could be more fire resistant

3. Exploring weather there is a way to increase brake efficiency when cars lose down force.

4. Analyzing additional methods that might be developed at the top end of the race track to help cushion runaway race cars.

5. Considering whether current speeds should be further limited or reduced to potentially improve safety.

As for me personally, looking up in those factors is a good step towards preventing these mishaps from reoccurring. Engine failure is always a possibility. That is why auto manufacturers put this on their top priority so at least this could be controlled right away. A faulty parachute that wasn’t fire resistant is what caused the downfall of Kalitta, that’s why enhancing the mounting techniques and coming up with a fire-resistant chute are great ideas to prevent flames from engulfing the whole chute. An increased break efficiency is apparently a concern for auto makers, that’s a given. But one thing that might alternately affect the whole sport is whether the current speeds should be reduced or not. It is without a doubt that people pay to watch these speed demons zoom up to 300mph, something lesser might probably prompt these fans to lose a bit of interest.

As it is, the NHRA implements this temporary change and they themselves recognize that it isn’t that total answer. For now, they will carry on in working hard to evaluate these different methods of making Top Fuel and Funny Car competition a lot safer. I personally applaud the efforts of NHRA for being open to these change that might affect their popularity and fan base. It just goes to show how they prioritize the safety of their racers and their dedication to make the strips a lot safer to use, that of course, without sacrificing the excitement that the sport gives. Kudos to NHRA and as for Scott Kalitta, may you rest in peace.

When it all Started

What started as wild and crazy activity by some gangsters and hoodlums in hopped-up automobiles became one of the most popular motorsports today. Indeed, drag racing has gone a long way. After the Second World War, dragsters and other muscle car enthusiasts gathered on military runways and speed runs. It all started in sunny Southern California. Yes, SoCal. The responsible racers who created the first hot rods and raced on the dry lake beds prior to W.W.II could no longer direct the young crowds, those who were driving and racing on the streets. At places like Muroc and El Mirage, cars raced one another a dozen at a time. When Muroc became Edwards Air Force base the racers were forced to move. The first "dragsters" were little more than street cars with lightly warmed-over engines and bodies chopped down to reduce weight.

Wally Parks, a military tank test driver for General Motors who served in the military in the South Pacific of World War II, helped organize the Southern California Timing Association in 1947.

Many recognize Goleta Air Base north of Santa Barbara, California as the site of the first organized drag race in 1949. The first drag strips were temporary facilities with no safety barriers or grandstands. It’s all just a mesh of people, fast rides and the pavement of course. The Santa Ana Drags is just one of those early strips and it began operating on a airfield in SoCal in 1950. A great number of spectators turned out to watch these pioneers run 10-second elapsed times on the measured quarter mile – which is around the length of a city block. Open Trailers were the name of the game as most cars were driven into these pavements. At that time, sponsorships and all the other good stuff weren’t even imaginable.

Parks was basically the godfather who started organized drag racing. When he became the editor of Hot Rod magazine, he had the forum and the power to form the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) in 1951 to basically create some order from in the whole thing. Parks instituted safety rules and performance standards that helped legitimize the sport. If it wasn’t for Big Daddy Wally, there wouldn’t be any NHRA and drag racing would still be in its dark ages.

NHRA held its first official race in April 1953, on a slice of the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds parking lot in Pomona, Calif. Four decades later, that track has undergone a $6-million expansion and renovation and hosts the NHRA season-opening Winternationals and the season finale, the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals. The aggressive upgrading of facilities to 'stadium' quality, with fan amenities, VIP towers, and tall grandstands, was the passion of NHRA President Dallas Gardner, who took the reins in 1984 when Parks became Board Chairman. In 2000, Tom Compton became just the third president in NHRA history as Gardner ascended to the role of broad chairman and Parks became chairman of the NHRA Motorsports Museum. In 1955, NHRA staged its first national event, called simply "the Nationals" in Great Bend, Kan. Six years later, as the Nationals hop-scotched around the country to showcase the growing sport before settling in Indianapolis in 1961, the Winternationals became NHRA's second event.

Racers then began to beef up bigger and newer engines and dropping them into Model Ts and other older bodied cars. Some were using pre-war V8s in striped down street cars, porting and polishing the manifolds, changing heads, cams and carburetors. Some were using newer cars, stripping off body panels for weight savings right down to the frame rails, giving the word "rail" a new meaning.

Safety and innovation paved the way to rear-engined Top Fuel cars in the early 1970s, and once drag racing legend Don Garlits - himself a victim of the front-engined configuration when his transmission, which was nestled between his feet, exploded in 1970, severing half of his right foot - perfected the design, the sport never looked back. Today's Top Fuel dragsters are computer-designed wonders with sleek profiles and wind-tunnel-tested rear airfoils that exert 5,000 pounds of downforce on the rear tires with minimal aerodynamic drag.

As racers became smarter, the speed barriers fell: 260 mph toppled in 1984; 270 in 1986; 280 in 1987; 290 in 1989: and the magic 300 mph barrier fell before the wheels of former Funny Car champion Kenny Bernstein on March 20, 1992. Just seven years later, Tony Schumacher became the first to top 330 mph in February 1999, in Phoenix, Ariz.

Drag Racing has truly become of the most popular motorsports across the world. It’s so popular that there are even underground drag racing circuits to cater to its horde of enthusiasts. It’s something we will always appreciate for the excitement and the rush it gives.