The difference between Winning or losing most
drag races between similar cars will be determined by three factors:
1) The preparation of your Mopar Muscle Car
2) Your reaction Time
3) Your 60’ interval time
Understands the “Christmas Tree”
“Christmas Tree”: The Tree, as it is often called, is the electronic
starting device between the lanes on the starting line. It displays a
calibrated-light countdown for each driver.
Pre-Staged: When a driver is approximately seven inches behind the
starting line, the top-most small yellow light atop his or her side of
the “Christmas Tree” will begin glowing.
Example of White Road Runner that has “lit” the Pre-Sage light:
Staged: A driver is staged when the front wheels of the car are right in
the starting line and both small yellow lights, Pre-Stage and Staged
lights in his or her side of the Christmas Tree are glowing. Once a
driver is staged, the starter may begin the calibration counter at any
time.
Example of both cars Staged. Both the Pre-Staged and Staged lights are
lit:
”Helpful hints”
Tire Pressure: Inflate your front tires to the maximum allowed by the
manufacture. This will reduce rolling resistance allowing you to
accelerate faster. Your rear tires should be adjusted to the highest
tire pressure that allows a full contact patch with the track. You can
test this by practicing Burnouts before going to the track. Practice,
practice, practice…
Burnout: Spinning the rear tires in water to heat and clean them prior
to a run for better traction. A Water Burnout should precede every run.
When using treaded street tires, Do Not drive through the water, drive
around the water and Back into the water with just your rear tires!
Before starting you burnout, roll Forward out of the water. Why go
through all this trouble?
1) Treaded street tires will “carry” the water between the treads if you
drive through it. Your front tires will be dropping water right in front
of your rear tires severely limiting your traction.
2) Rolling forward out of the water will eliminate the possibility of
you throwing into your wheel wells to have it fall back down on your
nice hot sticky tires. Dropping water on your rear tires severely
limiting your traction.
3) Use the water because it will be much easier to break your tires
loose greatly limiting the possibility of damaging driveline parts.
“Pre-Stage” & “Stage” with your Front tires! Believe it or not, some
first timers roll right through the “Pre-Sage” & “Stage” lights and
stage with there rear tires. Look like a “Pro” and roll in with your
front tires!
Do Not Spin your tires when you leave: Our Mopar Muscle cars are quite
capable of spinning the tires from a standing start putting on quite a
show for the people in the bleachers watching the action. This may look
cool on the street, but will ruin your chance of winning a drag race!
You must practice and understand how much throttle you can feed your car
during the first 60’ interval time. The Only way you are going to know
this is to Practice, practice, practice…
Launch routine: Weather you have an automatic transmission or a manual
transmission, you must have a consistent launch routine. This routine
may vary from track to track depending upon the traction available on
the starting line and the weather. Example: After I perform my Water
Burnout, I put my automatic transmission in neutral and clear the
carburetor by revving the engine a few times to make sure fuel hasn’t
slouched into the secondaries. I then bring my Rpm up to 1500Rpm and
ease into the “Pre-Stage” & “Stage” lights. Now I’m ready to go!
“Pre-Stage” & “Stage” ignoring the guy in the other lane: Believe me,
you have enough to think about with your own car without having to worry
about what the other guys is doing. Develop your routine and stick to
it! Practice, practice, practice…
Full tree: Used in Competition, Super Stock, Stock, and Bracket Racing,
for which a handicap starting system is used to equalize the
competition. The three amber bulbs on the “Christmas Tree” flash
consecutively five-tenths of a second apart, followed by the green
starting light. A perfect reaction time on a full tree is .500.
Pro Tree: Used in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, Pro Stock Truck, Pro
Stock Bike, Federal-Mogul Dragster, Federal-Mogul Funny Car, Super Comp,
Super Gas, and Super Street, which feature heads-up competition. All
three large amber lights on the “Christmas Tree” flash simultaneously,
followed four-tenths of a second later by the green starting light. A
perfect reaction time on a Pro Tree is .400.
Instant Green Tree: Used in simulated Street Racing at some drag strips
across the country. NO amber lights are used on the “Christmas Tree”,
instead, the “Christmas Tree” flashes from the
Staged position to a green starting light. A perfect reaction time on an
Instant Green Tree is .500.
Reaction time: The time it takes a driver to react to the green starting
light on the “Christmas Tree”, measured in thousandths of a second. The
reaction-time counter begins when the last amber light flashes on the
Tree and stops when the vehicle clears the stage beam.
Foul start: A foul start is indicated by a red light on the “Christmas
Tree” when a car has left the starting line before receiving the green
light, or starting signal.
Deep staged: A driver is deep staged when, after staging, he or she
rolls a few inches farther, which causes the pre-stage lights to go out.
In that position, the driver is closer to the finish line but
dangerously close to a foul start. This technique is often used to get a
better reaction time.
Sixty-foot time: The time it takes a vehicle to cover the first 60 feet
of the racetrack. It is the most accurate measure of the launch from the
starting line and in most cases determines how quick the rest of the run
will be.
Interval timers: Part of a secondary timing system that records elapsed
times, primarily for the racer's benefit, at 60’, 330’, 660’, and 1000
feet.
Speed trap: The final 66 feet to the finish line where speed is
recorded.
Elapsed time: An elapsed time, or ET, is the time it takes a vehicle to
travel from the starting line to the finish line.
Hole shot: Reacting quicker to the “Christmas Tree” starting lights to
win a race against a quicker opponent.
Eliminations: After qualifying, vehicles race two at a time, resulting
in one winner and one loser. Winners continue to race in
tournament-style competition until one remains.
Breakout: Used only in handicap racing, the term "breakout" refers to a
contestant running quicker that he or she "dialed" his or her vehicle
(predicted how quick it would run). Unless the opponent commits a more
serious infringement (e.g. red lights, crosses the centerline, or fails
a post-race inspection), the driver who breaks out loses. If both
drivers break out, the one who runs closest to his or her dial is the
winner.
Reaction Times
One of the most important aspects of drag racing is your reaction time.
There are actually a number of factors that affect reaction times, the
time it takes you to react, the car’s reaction time, and rollout. Each
of these need to be understood in order to get good, consistent reaction
times. When you take all of these factors into account, it’s easy to see
why you need to leave when the last yellow light begins to glow, you
can’t wait until the green light comes on to leave the starting line. If
you wait for the green light, you will surely lose the race.
Your reaction time is the time that it takes for your eye to see the
light, your brain to react and then to hit the gas pedal or release the
clutch. Studies show that most people have a reaction time of around
.200 - .250 seconds.
Your car also takes a certain amount of time to react. The car has to
release the brakes, rev the motor a bit, and move the suspension around
a bit before it starts moving forward. Again, this takes a little bit of
time. Your vehicle’s reaction time is difficult to predict because there
are so many factors, but there are things that you can do to speed it up
or slow it down in order to fine tune it.
The next thing is rollout. Rollout is the distance that the car must
travel in order to actually break the starting beam, or more accurately,
to un-break the starting beam. When you get your car staged, your front
tire is blocking the starting beam. The ET timer actually starts when
your tire clears the beam.
When you shallow stage (Just barely light the stage light) your ET will
improve because you get more of a rolling start before you break the
starting beam. Conversely, when you deep stage your ET will slow down
because you are closer to the starting line and get less of a rolling
start before breaking the starting beam. Make sense?
So, putting this altogether you can see why you need to leave off of the
last yellow light in order to get close to the perfect .500 reaction
time. Practice, practice, practice…
Why is the 60' ET so important?
If you've done any drag racing, you've probably noticed that racers seem
obsessed with 60' ET's. There's a good reason for this. The first 60' of
the track set the stage for the rest of the run and has a huge effect on
the ability to "run the numbers" when racing. Many beginning racers seem
more concerned with top end mph thinking that if the car goes faster at
the end of the track they'll pick up ET. However, top end speed isn't
really as important as it first appears.
Here's why – let’s measure the percentage of time spent traveling the
first 60' & 330’ interval times and compare them to the last 320' from
the 1000’ interval time to the end of the ¼ mile, 1320’. Let’s look at
one of my time slips where my car ran 13.499 @ 102.25Mph in the 1/4
mile.
60' = 2.031 or a total of 15% of the total ET
330' = 5.730 or a total of 42% of the total ET
So far, I’ve required 57% of my total ET to travel that first 25% of the
track!
Now let’s look at the 1000' to 1320' time compared to the 330' ET:
1000’ = 11.304
1320’ = 13.499
To get from the 1000' timer to the 1320' timer it took 2.195 seconds
(13.499 1320' ET - 11.304 1000' ET) for a total of 16% of the total
time. As you can see, I spent 16% of my total ET to travel the last 25%
of the distance!
As you can see, it takes almost as much *time* to travel the last 320'
as it does the first 60' of the track and it takes 2.6 times longer to
travel the first 330 feet as it does to travel the last 320' feet!
This is why you gain ET by concentrating on the first few feet of the
track. You spend a proportionately greater deal of *time* in the first
few feet and since ET is *time* it's easier to gain ET by concentrating
on the launch, sticky tires.
