A "Racing to the stripe" question

I agree with a lot of the responses here. It's a constant battle to play in your head before hitting the tree. I feel that if you dial what you think the car will run, minus .01 (example, car will run 10.98, dial 10.97.) you should be safe. If I cut a good light, I'm usually in good shape. I start looking over my shoulder before getting in high gear (I'm usually the slower car which I feel adds more of an advantage due to consistency). I will very rarely touch the brake pedal, as I feel I do not have to. If I lift gradually I can usually scrub some ET and stay safe doing it. By finding your competitor early in the run, you can do a constant evaluation on where they are compared to you. You need to keep looking back toward the finish line to make sure you are going straight, hitting your shift points, and looking for the stripe.

Being a machine, the car will do the same thing over and over again if all the conditions are the same. If your launch RPM is the same, shift point is the same, tire pressure is the same, engine temp is the same, and the car doesn't spin/bog/break, and the weather doesn't change, and noone spills fluid in your lane... it should run the same number over and over. There have been plenty of rounds where something above didn't happen the right way. If that happens, you KNOW you aren't going to run the number...So keep it to the wood and hope they break out.

Also don't be afraid to keep it to the wood if you feel it is going to bee too close to call. I heard an old drag racer say once..."I'd rather lose than lift". I think that he meant somewhat of a slam on bracket racing, but it holds true for the scenario above.

Take that for what it's worth. I am by no means good at the sport, but I believe in the program. The old "Bracket Racer Magazine" had great tips on index racing. If you get a chance the "Mr Dirt" series is especially good.

The biggest aid to a bracket racer's off-season regimen (to me anyway) is the use of a practice tree. You can run thousands of runs at night, in the rain, in the snow...whatever using a practice tree. Who wouldn't want to improve their chances on race day by buying a little device to put in the corner of the garage. I'll hit it while walking by over and over. They help more than anything else I have ever used, yet I hear of more racers that don't use one than I hear racer's that do. I guess that's better for us and maybe I shouldn't say it on here.