TruSTART looks to level the playing field.

[Spring Fling]

TruSTART TO DEBUT IN VEGAS

It’s a controversy that has been brewing for a number of years. Now K&N Spring Fling Million presented by Optima co-promoters Peter Biondo and Kyle Seipel are going to fix it once and for all.

“Kyle and I always ask ourselves ‘how can we bring more fairness to our Spring Fling events?’,” Biondo says. “We strive to maintain a level playing field for all of our competitors who are in fact our customers. So last year, Kyle and I started talking with Bob Brockmeyer from Compulink and that’s when TruSTART was born.”

Biondo and Seipel were passionate about the concept while Brockmeyer of Compulink, the most widely used timing system in the world, quickly agreed and started working hard into turning the idea into a reality. Simply put; in a handicapped race where both drivers go red, TruSTART will change the game by giving the win to the racer who red lights by the lesser amount. The worst red-light loses, period, regardless of if a driver leaves first or last.

Quick example: The slower car is dialed a 10.00 and the faster car dials an 8.00. The 10.00 car leaves first but with a red light of -.005 while the 8.00 (faster) car also red-lights but with a worst red of -.015. The 10.00 car loses because he was the first to red-light. The -.005 red driver loses to the -.015 red driver even though the -.005 red driver was closer to the target reaction time. Has always been that way… until now.

“The Compulink name speaks for itself and we can’t thank Brockmeyer enough,” adds Seipel, “The way TruSTART will function will be exactly how we imagined it thanks to all of Bob’s hard work. To keep things fair within TruSTART, the slower car lane will always show a green light until the faster driver launches. At that point Compulink will ‘show’ the worst red where applicable.”

“We actually tried this back in 1986,” says Brockmeyer, “but for whatever reason it didn’t take off. When Peter and Kyle talked to me about it last year, it just made sense now. Prior to TruSTART, the advantage in the red-light department went to the faster car. This helps to make it just that much fairer. Just like whoever breaks-out the most loses, so be it when it comes to a red-light.”

TruSTART, a product of Compulink and the Spring Fling, will be introduced to the bracket racing world at the K&N Spring Fling Million in Las Vegas this year. Undoubtedly, it’s the truest way to determine a winner in a double red-light race, and the fairest as well.

For more information, visit for a video explaining TruSTART.

[FireSale]

So, using a .5 lead for my example, I jump the gun by -.002 and my opponent nails the tree at .001. Does my side skip green and go right to red or do I still see a green then red in .503 when my opponent leaves? Seems to me that the tree would have to "hold" my red light until my opponent gets his green. Then the system would effect all red light starts, not just double reds.

I get that I can't sucker the faster car into giving me the win by jumping the gun by a wider margin.

Dale

[Dwight Southerland]

I agree. Hold the red and green on the starting line until both cars have left. Otherwise, the faster car could see the red in the other lane and wait.

[Jim Caughlin]

This ought to open a can of worms...

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by Jim Caughlin

This ought to open a can of worms...

Oh boy. You got that right, Jim

[7423]

And we're off.......................in 3, 2, 1

[Herbie Null]

Just like the double break out rule, its not who breaks out first but who breaks out the most under their dial in. A double red light should be treated the same way, make it fair on both ends of the track.

[tpoh815]

Whats gonna suck is when the driver of the much slower car leaves the line thinking he
"killed the tree" only to find out he was -.0001 red 3 seconds later. Like a fart with lumps its the true definition of surprise.

[Michael Beard]

While it does happen, the instances of both drivers red-lighting aren't super frequent. On top of that, the majority of races will have close enough handicaps that the red-light would be displayed (if applicable) before the slower car even got to the 60'. Stock is an outlier anymore, with larger handicaps than we see in most bracket racing these days.

The rule certainly makes sense for Box classes, since both drivers are reacting to the same light, at the same time. For bottom-bulb racing, I'm ambivalent towards the idea. As long as I know what the rules of the playground are, and they're the same for everybody, I'm happy to play on it.

I applaud Peter & Kyle being able to accomplish what they wanted to get done. Many people had begged Compulink for years to implement changes that would allow AutoStart to recognize Deep Staging, to no avail.

[Herbie Null]

Ok people, did anyone read the article before going red!
“The Compulink name speaks for itself and we can’t thank Brockmeyer enough,” adds Seipel, “The way TruSTART will function will be exactly how we imagined it thanks to all of Bob’s hard work. To keep things fair within TruSTART, the slower car lane will always show a green light until the faster driver launches. At that point Compulink will ‘show’ the worst red where applicable.” Yes the car leaving first shows green until the last car leaves. Why would it be any other way, Great job Peter and Kyle!