Red light STANDARD POLICY NOW ?

the worst red light is the loser ?

Yes, if they are using Tru-Start on the tree.

Thx slanT ... so no potential bonus anymore for a car leaving last ?

Thanks to the snow flakes wanting it their way NHRA started aborting the first or worst rule with who red lighted the worst rule several years back, stupid
I use to wait for the last yellow light to start to come on when the other car got the head start and red lighted so I could catch them by mid track and fender race them the rest of the track to confuse them before we got reactions times on the time slips
That tactic kept a lot of Pro bracket racers from lining up with me for a while in SO CA

Tru start has been used at Bristol (Tennessee) for several years now. I could argue that it cost me a championship. Two races in a row, near the end of the season, I red lighted in the finals, worse than the other guy (-.009 to -.011 & -.004 to -.006). Both of them went red first (I had to spot them). One of them was the eventual champion, which was a two round swing in points, and more importantly a race win in his column, not mine. I lost the championship by 3 rounds. Those two finals would have tied me for the lead AND given me the tie breaker (most wins). Under the old rules, there would have been a different champion. So, no, I am NOT a fan of the tru start system. I think that it is fine for the super pro class(they both leave off of the same signal at the same time), but no box/foot brake classes should have been left alone.
Just my thoughts,
Brian

Personally, I like it, but I'm usually the slower car.

Steve Taylor would be so happy his "pink light" rule finally made it.

It was always an advantage for the faster car as the slower car has the first chance to red light, and still does, but now you need to be more careful. If I was still racing and saw red in the other lane I would just wait for green on my side.

A friend of mine has been dominating the class I run for years , Sportsman (11.50 -19.99 ) resulting in multiple track championships and a Bracket Finals win resulting in a trip Pomona ,he has a fast car 11.50 at over 120 mph, he counts on his opponents being intimidated and going red so he can back off on the tree a little. Well since Tru-Start he isn't as dominant and has to concentrate on the tree more since he doesn't know if his opponent went red. He lost his edge resulting in himself red lighting and since Tru- Start hasn't won a class championship or done well at the Bracket Finals. I myself have a fast car in the class Tru-Start took some getting used to but I am okay with it.

With Tru-start, the slow car redlights, you are the fast car and red light worse, does the red bulb light for him or you?

My understanding is that the car that has the worst red light gets the bulb.

I think the tree shows green until the fastest car leaves. Then the redlight is "awarded" to the racer with the worst red light.

I have yet to go to a track that runs Tru-start.

IT'S ABOUT TIME!!! I had much discussion with NHRA back in the early 90's about this to include developing a simulation with over 1,000,000 passes which showed explicitly that the slower car was disadvantaged. After providing all data to NHRA their response was: "after review of many national and division races we do find this to be the case". What a cop out!! Glad to see something happening in this regard. Since it's been happening at some tracks in the past few years I anticipated it would come around eventually..

tru-start takes away one of the incentives to have a faster car.

In the past when i was usually the faster car, I wouldn't have liked tru-start had it existed then, but now that a lot of cars are faster than me the tru-start idea looks a little better........more of that everyone the same, level playing field nonsense.

Yes, if the slower car goes red, his green light comes on until the fast car leaves. If the fast car is safe, the slow cars red comes on.

Yes, this is correct. Everything work like it always did, EXCEPT when the slow car leaves first and goes red. His green light comes on first, then the faster car leaves green (OR, less red than the slower car) and at that point the red light comes on in the slower cars lane (and also win light in fast cars lane). If they BOTH go red the same amount (not likely since the clocks count a LOT more decimal points the the printer prints), then it reverts back to who when red first.
\I have had to spot slower cars as much as 5-6 seconds and watch them obviously go red, but have to wait to leave. They could be 100' or more out when their light goes red and they never see it.

Brian

True start awards the best racer, not the most wallet.
The idea of bracket racing is to cut a good light and run the number. The tree is very important. Why should the faster guy doing a worse job on the tree be rewarded just because his car is faster?
Norwalk has went to this as well.
I love it. The idea of bracket racing was to take the money out of it so all can play. This system seems to me a very sensible extension of that
Whoever breaks out the most loses,whoever goes red the worst should too

The slower car doesn't have two shots at the tree like the faster cars, do they
We don't need crap like that
Maybe guys like me, leaving early after the slow car redlighted, started this whole deal years ago
Maybe some NHRA guy or gal got a monetary rewards or some other stimulus to introduce this and force it on all of us

I agree

I am OK with the new Tru-Start red light method.

firesuit ON
For electronics classes it is the right thing to do.
But for footbrake it does put an added burden on the car leaving later (quicker dial-in). That racer sees the first car leave, and if they left really early then it is a distraction before his tree starts.
In footbrake both cars are leaving on the bottom bulb, rather than the top bulb in electronics.
firesuit OFF