Match Racing is where two cars that are
considered to be close to equals of each other leave at the same time,
and the first one to the finish wins.
Class Racing is where the cars are in a
class that generally (but not always) covers a span of time, like a 1/2
second. For instance, in Nostalgia Super Stock A/NSS is 10.0-10.5
seconds, B/NSS is 10.5-11.0 seconds, C/NSS is 11.0-11.5
seconds, and so on. When practical, they try to compete cars of the same
class against each other. Often there are not enough cars of the same
class to do this, and so an A/NSS might race a B/NSS car.
Since the A/NSS car is a 1/2 second faster, the B/NSS'
light will turn green 1/2 second sooner so he receives a head start. The
first to cross the finish will win.
Bracket Racing is where cars will post
their Elapsed Times (ET) on the car to the 1/100 of a second, and the
slower car is given the difference as a head start. For instance, if one
car says he'll do 11.25 seconds, and the other car says that he'll do
11.51 seconds -- then the 11.51 car will get a green light 26/100 of a
second before the faster car. The first to cross the finish will win.
The above was the nutshell version, but
winning is not quite that simple, as there are other factors that will
be factored into a win.
Reaction Time (RT) is a big factor in a
race. It is basically added to your Elapsed Time (ET) to determine the
win. So while a car that went 11.25 is faster than a car that went 11.50
-- if the reaction time of the faster car's driver was more than 1/4
second slower (their difference in the ET) than the car with the slower
ET -- then the slower car will win because his driver's RT difference
was better than the car's difference in ET. It use to be that a perfect
ET on a regular tree was .500 second and on a Pro-Tree it was .400
second. That took into consideration the filaments in the bulb to get
bright, the brain to foot, and tire to starting beam movement. Now that
most tracks have gone to LED type of light bulbs (that light quicker
than filaments bulbs), time is corrected by the computer to where
perfect is .000. To achieve a perfect RT, the driver will start his
racing during the last amber bulb -- before it goes green. More on that
will be in a driver tip page.
Breakout is when a car and driver go
faster than his class or bracket. If their class or posted ET was 11.0
and they went 10.999 -- they broke out by 1/1000 of a second, and will
have lost unless the other car broke out first. If both breakout -- the
first to breakout loses.
Red light is when the car's front tire
crosses the start beam before the green light. The race is over as soon
as someone red lights, and the win goes to the other driver. If both
drivers red light, the race would have been over before the second
driver red lighted, and so the second to have red lighted will still
have won the race.
I hope this explains drag racing. It
really doesn't matter what type of vehicle you have or how fast it is --
if it is safe, there is a class for you to race in. Diesel pickup trucks
that take 20 seconds to cover a 1/4 mile can still race in the street
class that virtually every track has.
If you aren't racing -- you don't know
the fun you're missing. Go to your closest drag track's web site, or
call them for the nights they race street cars. Give it a try. Elsewhere
on this site you will find enough instructions on what to do and expect,
that everyone will think you're a pro on your first pass.
