if you think owning a 75,000.00 bracket car should give you perks i'll bet it crushes your ego when a low buck car puts you out.more money doesn't make a better racer,usually just makes spoiled brats.

Here in Div One deep staging is allowed, I personally don`t but several guys in my Class do. The guy who finished #1 in Points at my track, Won the Bracket Finals and went to Pomona deep stages. His routine rattled me at first, he does a quick short burn out and stages real fast, it throws a lot of guys off. After losing to him a couple of times, I just block him out of my mind, ignore his staging routine and do my own thing. I`ve raced him a few times and Won a couple. We both run 11.50s ( slowed down from 10s) but he has a slow 60ft( high 1.70s) and big mph (120) I have a good 60ft ( 1.52-54) and not so big mph ( high 114)its fun to race him, I`m out on him by 2-3 car lengths and at the stripe he`s right there next to me.

I had a young guy, driving his dad's car, double bulb me. (I'm sure he was coached)
I took a little longer to get staged than usual.

He went red. The only people to ever NOT congtatulate me on a win, after losing.

Chevy guys.

Here's another good one.......

"That's an awful lot of time in your box."

the whole game thing cracks me up. i race my lane. i have my procedure. i do my burnout, and as soon as the starter directs us to the line, i go. i almost always light the top bulb first. if not, i don't care. if the other guy thinks i lit it to fast, and wants to make me wait, i don't care. i'm happy to wait all day if he wants. if he deep stages, i don't care. if he double bulbs me, i don't care. probably 9 times out of 10, they'll approach me after the run and sheepishly apologize for double bulbing me. i don't care. i gladly accept their apology. "how come you're not mad? some guys get real mad." I DON"T CARE. play away, and have fun. i will, too. have fun, that is.

I think what sc301v was referring to was that you must not travel much to races that pay $5,000K or more to the winner. If you did, you would see a LOT of racers that hold numbers or sandbag as you call it, at high dollar races.

He tried to talk me into setting my car up like his, big converter instead of an 8 inch like I have now, I considered it but I just finished my best year of racing ( in 25 plus years) with 5 Wins so I have the car were I want it plus I like the hard leave.

I don't deal w/ DB at the lights or play games. Do your burn out and get in the beams. If you wait forever I'll go deep, if you try and go in real quick I will too. I have a slow car, so it's not going to kill me. I do my burn out creep up light the 1st wait if needed light the 2nd....at my track if you take forever they start the tree no matter if you are staged or not. Like wise if you bring both bulbs up quick they will back you out or make you wait. The only time I played agame is when some dude almost took my fender off because he wanted near lane..I took my time in the box and staging. He lost.

GIR if you double bulb me ,I have the starter back him out or just take my time ,no timer starts till I get my 1st bulb on .He could back up if I don't have a bulb on .
Or if I think its a mistake he might be too deep leave him alone .
Depending on what class I'm racing and who put dial on let them crossover and change it ,Of course before the do not change dial in pass this line .
I've learned also i stay with my opponent even if he says go ahead while he is getting ready
DR

one of the best grudge races i've seen,last yr englishtown nj..no lie was about 4 min's to stage a yellow beast of a duster against a big $ capri looked like a stang,,ne ways duster wins $ but flips on top end...capri complete total do to an engine fire! whatta game a chicked!

speaking of dragsters...go the 10 grands at norwalk and watch the games they all pull at the starting line...they all back into the beams to light the prestage, then make the other guy stage first and wait 8-9 seconds to stage, does'nt bother me to race them, because I do my own routine, but gets annoying to watch, because it seems they all do it

I am the only car on the starting line......I burnout and stage.....if his light is on mines next.....doesn't matter to me 1st or 2nd or last to light'm up.....I am the only car up there.....no rush.....just do my thing

Rickster

After reading all this, I finally have a valid reason for getting my Concealed Weapons Permit

Normally I don't pay much attention to the other lane when staging, I light the pre stage & stage when I'm ready and then just stare at my bulb until it comes on.

I got in a pretty good burn down once because this dude was lipping off all night about how he never stages first, EVER. I happened to get paired up with him later and decided since I'm on alcohol and he wasn't, I'll just sit there till he goes in. Really pissed the starter off too.

I don't even remember who finally went in first or who won. I just remember I let that guy get to me. Never again. What do I care if the other guy stages first or not?

Most times I never really know what car is in the
other lane... I look at the board when I'm in the box
to see who leaves first and see what color the other
car is thats about it... I run my lane and my race
weather I need to lift or not based on my dial

All is fair from the burnout box to the finish line. Any tendency or weakness, anything that will lead to my opponent being less sharp, or making a mistake, it's my duty to exploit it.
This usually pertains to points racing, either on the local or Divisional level, where I know my opponents, and we are out for blood. I'm at a Mopar, or specialty race, or just a friday night deal, I race straight up, plain vanilla, could care less what happens.
I've never understood the "just race my lane" crowd...I'm not trying to cut a perfect light, and make a perfect run, I'm trying to beat the guy beside me, sometimes that means being better, sometimes it just means being less worse!!!

I'm statistically much better on the tree when I stage last (pro tree, heads up) and more than a few of my competitors know that, so they try to wait, and a burndown ensues. I MUST defend my right to go in last, if I gave in and staged first, everyone who saw that would say, 'I'm gonna hang Billy out, and make him go in". When they see me in a long burndown, and see the starter in my side glass more than once...then they decide, "it's not worth it against him, I'll just stage".

I'm no different than a batter who studies, and keep stats on pichers, to get an advantage, and know what's coming. I don't play games, everything is pre-meditated, based on who I am racing.

I'll give one example:
There is a Super Street racer from Nor-Cal, who is deadly on the tree, just amazing. Doesn't always race the big-end well, but the best leaver in Division 7. While watching him with my buddies, we discovered he always lets the other racer turn on the top bulb first, then double bulbs. So we decided to force him to turn his top bulb on first then have to wait for us to turn on ours (courtesy stageing), it was weird, having a burndown before the first bulb was even on, but it worked!! He lost to 3 AZ racers, 3 division races in a row, with sub-par lights...he even approached me and made the comment, "Man, you AZ guys take a long time to pull up to the tree!!!"