Heads up is a term that came about when cars are leaving on the same bulb. Leave and "heads up" look to see who moved first. To me and to a lot of guys I know, if the starting line is the same it's "heads up".
Never been my interpretation of the phrase. It's always meant starting at the same time, no breakout, first to cross the finish line wins. Maybe it's just me, but I don't consider an index race with a breakout as grounds for losing as "heads up". But maybe I'm just too old to understand...
