Racing the stripe if you have the lead

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RockinRobin

RockinRobin

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What tips or tricks do you have to not take too much stripe when you are in the lead?
When I am ahead I'm always worried about breaking out. I try to put the other guys windshield in the middle of my door window. I figure that ought to give me about 2 feet of stripe.
This is a technique that I failed to follow last Saturday and had about 3/4 of a car on him at the stripe and guess what? You got it, breakout and he wins! :BangHead:
 
I've rarely had the faster car, so that hasn't been an issue. LOL Back in the 70's, I had a 72 Barracuda 340 that was the most confidence inspiring bracket-car car I ever owned. It was slow [15.30's], but ran the same number pass after pass. Whatever the weather or track condition...whatever it ran on practice runs, was what I dialed it at. It would always run within 1-2 hundredths of the dial...so all I had to do was kill the tree. So many guys at the end of the night with fast cars, had to run me down. I raced it in DRIVE, and let it do the work. If I knew I had a good light, I'd laugh as the really fast guys would be on and off the gas to keep a 1/2 fender on me. I saw lots of guys throwing helmets in cars at the time-ticket shack. I was in the points for the whole season, always took money home.....and was in National Dragster a couple times.

Like an idiot, I wanted to go faster the following season, and added parts. It was horrible. Mid season, I put it back to stock. The magic was gone.
 
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Ignore the other guy and learn your car and the time it takes better. Let him break out. You concentrate on perfect times, time and again and again.
 
fishmens67 said:
Hit the tree and run the dial, heck with fender racing.
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I guess I'm not as good at you guys at going down the track and feeling if my car is running .01 faster than my dial. I see no point in being ahead, staying in the throttle, taking the stripe and losing if I can prevent it. So, back to the original question, for those of you who do know how to race the stripe when necessary, how do you do it?
 
Practice. Look at the other car every run down the track. Don’t look at the win light on the guardrail. Fender race slower cars during test and tune days. Then you can see on paper how much you took the stripe by just after you looked out the window at it.

Look at the front end of the car you are racing. Long overhang or not? The finish line beams are higher than the starting line. The 83-late 90’s Camaro/firebird takes the stripe with the bumper not the tire so you have to adjust for that.

look how long the front ends are compared to the front tire on the roadster and vet.

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Ripping the throttle is a very popular way to drive the stripe. I would say it’s one of the most popular ways to be honest. If you watch any bracket racing on motor mania tv, usually every round, one of the cars, if not both, are ripping the throttle.

My game plan used to always be “Ahead? Hit the brakes. Behind? Hit the brakes. Close? Keep it floored”. For some reason last race of the year I started ripping the throttle (which I swore I would never do) and the stripe got tighter and tighter. I got lucky and it worked for me. Ended up going 9 rounds. Will it work this year as good? Who the hell knows. But I tried it and I saw why guys did it. I’d say just don’t be afraid to try something new and see how it works for you.
 
Your car needs to be consistent, and you need to be consistently good on the tree. If you’re dialed hot and the other guy has a decent light (and consistent car that they trust) they’re going to let you take stripe every time because they can see they’re not going to get there…so, you can tighten it up some, but mathematically they’ve probably already got you with a better package.

You need to get the car consistent and be consistent on the tree, which takes a lot of test passes to get to. Track your runs with weather conditions to get an idea of how those changes will effect your runs. You may benefit from dialing down a number or two so you can run it out the back until you get a feel for track position. Most people struggle to judge stripe when the discrepancy is more than 1-1.5 seconds.

Also, try looking to your side when you’re staged so you get an idea of what the cars should look like at the stripe and get as close to that as you can.
 
I know one thing for sure. Most of you guys either take bad weather info or no weather info. Every pass I make has temp, humidity, barometer reading, corrected alt, and sometimes Dew point. Headwind, tailwind if significant. Written within seconds of every pass and checked again as I leave for my next pass.
 
Couldn’t agree more, consistent car is key.

And like you said John, weather means a lot. I’m with you. As soon as I get out of the car I get my weather station.
 
pittsburghracer said:
I know one thing for sure. Most of you guys either take bad weather info or no weather info. Every pass I make has temp, humidity, barometer reading, corrected alt, and sometimes Dew point. Headwind, tailwind if significant. Written within seconds of every pass and checked again as I leave for my next pass.
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I do the weather checks as well. It's very easy to say make sure your car is consistent. Easier said than done, but if you are on a new build or tune it may not be consistent but you would still like to win the round, so once again back to the original question...
 
If you can drive the finish line a person can win with an inconsistent car.

The best cars and drivers always have an error factor, so drive the stripe!
 
Well speaking as a person who's car was all over the board last season, I had to play the stripe. I used to just rip the throttle a few times but it just didn't take enough out of the car. A wise older racer told me that basically I had to make a decision to either stay on it or put on the brakes. I started to put the brakes on if I was 1/2 car ahead near the stripe and have had very good success with it. I don't like doing it and I am making changes in the off season with the hope of making the car more consistent. A word of caution: if you have good brakes on the car be careful how hard you hit the brakes because I have locked them up at the stripe before
 
When you both are prestage look over at your competitor and line something up to use as a reference. For me I use my passenger side mirror if I'm running the left lane. If I'm running the right lane I have a piece of black electrical tape on my driver side window. Typically depending on how wide the track is those marks need to be just in front of my opponent's front tire. Take note of your opponent's car in the staging lanes as some cars have stripe takers, while others have a lower valance or may have a really low nose like a Late 80's camaro/firebird that trips the finish line stripe with their nose and not their tire. If I remember correctly at my local track that starting line beams are 1 9/16" high while the finish line beams are 3". Some of the drivers with cars like such even if they don't typically trip the beam with their nose if they jab the brakes could, so just something else to consider. As far as making it closer at the strip, you can whomp, drag the break, ease out of the throttle or jab the brakes.
 
If the car is consistent, then I’d rip the throttle if ahead. See how that goes.

Depending when you start looking for the opponent, you may lose sight of the stripe. I usually wait til car is in high gear and take one look (at 330’ marker usually), then look again when close to the MPH cone. Then make decision.
 
73smallblock said:
if you have good brakes on the car be careful how hard you hit the brakes because I have locked them up at the stripe before
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I've also seen guys wreck their car hitting the breaks too hard. One guy had to be life-flighted to the hospital from Texas Motorplex a few years back.
 
I am too inexperienced with the avatar car yet to know how consistent it can be and what I need to do to win. More work required on this one.

But back in the day (early 90's) when I raced my 69 Charger (mid 12's), it was very consistent and would run within .02 all day. So I always raced the stripe. On brakes when ahead and knew I could get there first, or tried to push him out the back door then get on the brakes if I was behind. Worked well enough to average exactly 3.5 rounds in eliminations the last year I raced it with I recall 3 appearances in the finals that year. Car has drum brakes and weighed over 4400#'s with me in it so not too many worries about being on brakes too hard lol!! However, have to be careful with avatar's 4-wheel disc brakes as lots more whoa available in this car!! I do know that simply lifting does not do much if anything as the difference in et is almost nothing by lifting as the acceleration rate isn't much in the last little bit on the big end.
 
I love driving the stripe and playing mind games (sorry to those in the other lane). My advice starts with the must haves....must have a consistent car, and you must be pretty good on the tree. With that said, I spent a lot of time collecting data on my car like:

1. If I rip it once, how much time does that drop.
2. If I rip it twice, how much time does that drop.
3. If I drag the brake at the MPH cone, how much time does that drop.
4. If I lift at the MPH cone, how much time does that drop.
5. If I spot drop at XXXXX location on the track, it will kill 0.xx ET.
Etc. Etc. Etc.

Once you have the data you can make a game plan..... depending on the situation, and your level of comfort, you can mess with the driver in the other lane (like dialing it soft, making the opponent catch you, then dump him at the stripe)....or just dial it "honest" and know that if you are way ahead at the stripe you can (for example) womp the gas once to kill 0.02 in ET.

I've had a lot of fun with this type of thing over the years. One of fairly recent (2 years back), I entered my car in Pro and Sportsman....Pro dial was 6.4x (lost fairly early), and in Sportsman dialed my car 12.1 (with my low 10 second car, lol). Employing a combination of 2 spot drops, I was able to run consistent 12.1's.....Some guys got mad, some thought I was nuts, but most who know me knew I was just having fun and would be fairly easy to pick off IF you and your car on on it......long story short, I lost in the final in Sportsman to a guy that I beat 2 rounds earlier (he was double entered). I had fun, and I don't take this stuff that serious....its just a fun way to break up the monotony some times. :)
 
flyfish said:
I love driving the stripe and playing mind games (sorry to those in the other lane). My advice starts with the must haves....must have a consistent car, and you must be pretty good on the tree. With that said, I spent a lot of time collecting data on my car like:

1. If I rip it once, how much time does that drop.
2. If I rip it twice, how much time does that drop.
3. If I drag the brake at the MPH cone, how much time does that drop.
4. If I lift at the MPH cone, how much time does that drop.
5. If I spot drop at XXXXX location on the track, it will kill 0.xx ET.
Etc. Etc. Etc.

Once you have the data you can make a game plan..... depending on the situation, and your level of comfort, you can mess with the driver in the other lane (like dialing it soft, making the opponent catch you, then dump him at the stripe)....or just dial it "honest" and know that if you are way ahead at the stripe you can (for example) womp the gas once to kill 0.02 in ET.

I've had a lot of fun with this type of thing over the years. One of fairly recent (2 years back), I entered my car in Pro and Sportsman....Pro dial was 6.4x (lost fairly early), and in Sportsman dialed my car 12.1 (with my low 10 second car, lol). Employing a combination of 2 spot drops, I was able to run consistent 12.1's.....Some guys got mad, some thought I was nuts, but most who know me knew I was just having fun and would be fairly easy to pick off IF you and your car on on it......long story short, I lost in the final in Sportsman to a guy that I beat 2 rounds earlier (he was double entered). I had fun, and I don't take this stuff that serious....its just a fun way to break up the monotony some times. :)
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I always liked racing sand baggers ... I could always cut a light.. Sand baggers worst nightmare... To answer the OP QUESTION , dial the car what it will run. If you can get on the brakes , if you cant see him. If you can see him ,run it out the back. Index racing , you have to have your car on point , The key to it all , you have to cut a light . Most of all , have fun . I've always enjoyed racing the guys like playing games with me . You race your race, dont worry about the games, you cut a light, and your car runs the number , that in its self is game player worst nightmare .
 
Rmoore said:
I always liked racing sand baggers ... I could always cut a light.. Sand baggers worst nightmare... To answer the OP QUESTION , dial the car what it will run. If you can get on the brakes , if you cant see him. If you can see him ,run it out the back. Index racing , you have to have your car on point , The key to it all , you have to cut a light . Most of all , have fun . I've always enjoyed racing the guys like playing games with me . You race your race, dont worry about the games, you cut a light, and your car runs the number , that in its self is game player worst nightmare .
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Do you bracket race at Xtreme? Maybe I'll see you up there.
 
RockinRobin said:
Do you bracket race at Xtreme? Maybe I'll see you up there.
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I haven’t been in a car , racing since getting sick and being diagnosed with Parkinson’s approximately 5 years ago ! I am out at XRP most weekends with our group of racers ! We generally have 10 or 12 in our group ! No Mopars though !I am the lone Mopar guy ! But, I love them all ! I am working on 72 Dart with a big block ! Great bunch of guys we have in are group ! All of us have been bracket racing or index racing for years ! I’ll look for you next time I’m out there and introduce myself to you !
 
Rmoore said:
I haven’t been in a car , racing since getting sick and being diagnosed with Parkinson’s approximately 5 years ago ! I am out at XRP most weekends with our group of racers ! We generally have 10 or 12 in our group ! No Mopars though !I am the lone Mopar guy ! But, I love them all ! I am working on 72 Dart with a big block ! Great bunch of guys we have in are group ! All of us have been bracket racing or index racing for years ! I’ll look for you next time I’m out there and introduce myself to you !
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Come over to the trailer and say hi next time there is a bracket race there, I'll be there!
 
Rmoore said:
I always liked racing sand baggers ... I could always cut a light.. Sand baggers worst nightmare... To answer the OP QUESTION , dial the car what it will run. If you can get on the brakes , if you cant see him. If you can see him ,run it out the back. Index racing , you have to have your car on point , The key to it all , you have to cut a light . Most of all , have fun . I've always enjoyed racing the guys like playing games with me . You race your race, dont worry about the games, you cut a light, and your car runs the number , that in its self is game player worst nightmare .
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Haha, yeah, oddly enough if doesn't bother me when some people call me a sand bagger....it just makes me smile. There are times though that holding a few numbers and driving the stripe can win you a race that you would have normally lost if you had dialed what the car would run flat out. There are also times when I lose a race I should have won because I was messing around.

I posted a timeslip of this a few years back (I'll have to see if I can find it) where I was behind on the tree a little (we both had good lights) but I was holding 2 hundredths.....I was able to back out of the throttle before the stripe and eeek out a win with 0.0001 stripe....my friend saw what I was doing (and knew full well what I was try to do), but had no course of action because he was dialed to run it flat out....After the race he said I got lucky, which is partially true....I just smiled as my friend shock his head, because he has seen me do this before.....and we both know that isn't just luck, it takes practice and finesse.

I fully agree with your statement "you run your race"....do your own thing, and have fun :) .
 
Driving the stripe is perhaps the hardest part , I was in two finals with in a month 003 ( deep staging / .500 pro tree ) on the tree to an 009 and an 027 and lost at the stripe both times by poor driving as my program moves towards pro tree and index racing only I definitely have to up my game at the stripe. In 11.50 index racing almost everybody including myself is set up to run a few hun quicker and drive the stripe to run 11.50 . A few years ago I " sandbagged " against a guy I really wanted to beat ( long story ) it was a pro dial race (.500 pro tree ) the previous round I was dialed 11.39 , the round I had to run him I dialed up to 11.50 like he was , I was better on the tree and just paced him all the way down for the round win . It was fun and a payback of sorts.
 
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