What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

Ok so you've made your first qualifying run in Stock (or Super Stock, Comp, Top Dragster, Top Sportsman, or hell even Snowmobile!) and you would like to know who your potential first/second/fourth/sixth round matchup is. The old fashioned way of figuring such a thing out would involve either waiting for a qualifying order to be sold at the DRAW tent or get to the nearest online device and check dragracecentral.com for session 1 order. After doing this, your next step is to pull out your blank ladder sheets or book and start handwriting in the qualifying order. Here is where your A.D.D. kicks in, you've missed a few names, lost your place, can't remember which member of the Ficacci family you meant, and still haven't figured out how to correctly spell "Bongiovanni." You need the program!

What the program does is allow the user to go straight to DragRaceCentral, copy the qualifying order, and paste it into a Microsoft Excel workbook. It then automatically generates a ladder pre-filled with competitor names and what kind of car they race! Now you can see how the entire race will pan out. It doesn't stop there, after observing the ladder you decide you want to avoid your friend until a final, stay away from or take advantage of a heads-up run, put yourself in the path of a bye run (or in some cases two), or keep your comp car from racing Bruno Massel until Armageddon. In order to do any of these you will have to "position" yourself on the ladder by running a certain ET range in the next qualifying session. Simply enter your index and what slot you would like to qualify and the ET range you need to run will be automatically calculated for you. It's that simple!

The program also features the blank ladder sheets for those who don't have internet. Just type in how many cars and BOOM - a blank ladder is generated for you to print out.

The program can be tried FREE for 7 days with no payment info required. Anyone running Vegas this weekend or running the Pomona race in November are welcome to try it free for those races as well. Please visit www.dragracetrans.com/laddersoftware.html to download . You will then need an activation code from me. Microsoft Excel required. Not compatible with Mac.

Call me at 610-996-8784 or email me at bobby.fazio@gmail.com with any questions.

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

I understand the reasoning. I realize people try to do it. I just don't know how successful someone can be in getting to a certain position. Fairly easy to move a couple positions to avoid someone. You have a 50% chance of being on the opposite side of the ladder. But if you are trying for a certain position, as you said, you try for an ET range that gets you into that position, but if someone runs quicker and moves ahead of you, you are now shooting for a different ET than you thought, but you don't know that because you are rolling thru the staging lanes. This can even mess up trying to just get to the other side of the ladder.
Seems like people try to do it. I'm just curious how successful they are when they can't control what others do.

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

Stewart thanks for your feedback. Your question is the most common one I get whenever I mention the word ladder and it is a very valid one as well. Let me start off by saying anyone who knows my car and my good friend Jamie Schoenly's '72 Maverick knows that both of us do not have much ET to play around with. We are incapable of qualifying in the top half of any field wherever we go. Our number one goal is to avoid each other until a final. Having said that, we have raced at 5 divisionals and 2 nationals together this year and have only once ended up on the same side of the ladder, and in that scenario we would have been a semi final matchup. And this is with 2 cars who go under the index by very small margins. The quicker your car is, the more ladder possibilities open up.

Where my program really becomes beneficial is in a matter of about 5 seconds you can find 12 different ET ranges for 12 different qualifying positions and choose the one with the widest window. For instance, If qualifying in the number 25 spot requires me to run 10.305 to 10.308 and qualifying in the number 45 spot requires 10.905 to 11.08 well then I am shooting for number 45 because it has almost a 2 tenths window rather than trying to hit a .003 window for the number 25 spot.

http://www.dragracetrans.com/screenshot.jpg

As with racing in general, there are no guarantees. You still need to cut good lights and run your number to be a successful racer. However, this program can increase your chances by putting you in a more desirable path to the final round.


Bobby Fazio SS/L 1373
bobby.fazio@gmail.com

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

A good case for your system is if you have ever taken the time to watch Dan Fletcher plot his way thru elim. He seems to always end up with a good shot at winning based on his qualifing.

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

What does it cost to register it?

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

You are absolutely right, I was going to mention his name but didn't want to be the first to do so. He is always in the path of a bye and avoiding his son(s) during eliminations.

Ed, the program costs $100.

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

Smart phone app?

Great idea as long as DC has the info in right! (But it seems they are right 99.8% of the time)

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

Glad you asked. Smart phone app is the next step. Whoever purchases the program as it is in its current state will get any and all future updates at no charge, this includes any smartphone apps.

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

awesome program, but i'd be willing to bet the hundred bucks that most of the big hitters in stock super are red lit against 50 % of the time. Its just as easy to keep your eyes focused forward, regardless of who you are running, nail the tree to a .015 or better light and run dead on dial. if you get beat it doesnt matter if it was Fletcher or the rookie of the years first pass of the year. if you dont get beat, and make it to the finals, someone will probabley say you did it because of your ladder position! LOL

Ian

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

I agree with you about the heavy hitters getting lots of red light victories and as I said earlier, this program is no substitute for poor driving skills in today's competitive classes. But if you are a slower car in a crowded C/SA class, you will have virtually no shot of winning with your .015 light if you are stuck in any heads up situations. Using this program, you attempt to stay away from situations like that. If you are the baddest C/SA car then you try to pursue heads-up situations like that! And as I also stated earlier, the most common use of the program is to avoid teammates/friends/bosses. Bye runs are always nice too because you don't need the .015 light to win those.

Hey I hope they say it was because of your ladder position! And I hope they tell their friends the same :D

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

Bobby,

I just downloaded it and unzipped the file. Then I went to open up the .exe file and it pops up a window with a bunch of jibberish that says it cannot be opened in a DOS format.

This is on a new MacBook Pro with the latest version of Office for Mac. You need an easier way of downloading it than this. I am fairly computer literate and this is far too frustrating.

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

Sorry, I now see deep into the text at the bottom that it is not compatible with Mac. That leaves me out.

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

I'm sorry Kyle, yes at this time the protected version of the program is not compatible with Mac. While Excel itself does work on Mac, the program I am using to secure the XLS workbook from illegal sharing and copyright infringement is not. It is definitely in the works though. I know I am thinking about switching to Mac soon myself.

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

No worries. I think you have an excellent idea and I wanted to use is for many of the reasons you mentioned in prior posts. Oh well...

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

Install VMware Player and spin up a Win7 VM.

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

Thanks Dave. Here is what the Stock Eliminator ladder looks like in Vegas after the first session.

http://www.dragracetrans.com/Stock_Session_1.pdf


And here is the Super Stock Ladder after the first session.

http://www.dragracetrans.com/Super_Stock_Session_1.pdf


Stock Session 2
http://www.dragracetrans.com/stock_session_2.pdf

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

Thanks for the lead, but I would have to install another Excel for PC and I don't need to bog down my Mac with a virtual machine. Most stuff these days are being written for both formats and/or web based which I plan on sticking with.

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

Interested but I'm running a Mac also:(

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

Mac & iphone for me too. I am interested once you get it all ironed out.

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

Yes I've been working on that and will do my best to get it going as soon as possible.

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

Glad to be a thorn in your side. It wouldn't be such an issue if you hadn't made something so neat. Underachieve next time and we will leave you alone. ;)

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

I don't know if anyone considers me a hitter but I will take that bet! You can have my log book from this year and you'll see that about, maybe,10 opponents have red lit against me! Now, I do play the ladder as many of you know, but it's only to avoid one person, my brother. This program does sound good, and for those that race two cars and don't have time to figure it out by looking at DRC and a ladder book, it may be a wise investment.

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

I don't know if anyone considers me a hitter either,but I have won three National events in the last two years and only ONE round was won because of a redlight against me.

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

Bryan Worner is a hitter. As a matter of fact the only time I raced him, I red lit. :( As for 442OLDS, you sound like a power hitter to me.

Working on Mac compatibility but for now, mac users can use parallels or some other virtual desktop to run windows applications.

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

I know that wall at Columbus considers you a hitter , other than that , probably no one ...lol love ya !

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

The program has been updated to be more "printer friendly" and to load faster. I also made the instructions a little more detailed. All current customers please go back to the website and download the updated version of your program. Thank you.

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

Program sounds legit.....Lol BL

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

Well I am an old school guy who believes you can't place yourself on the ladder to pick who you may run

Everybody can move - this program seems like a good thing to busy myself with at the races

We will try it out - once I get a feel for it - by simulating its use

What's another $100 by now - LOL

Ron

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

I'm with Ron. (don't faint) Every time I try to move, somebody else moves too.

Re: What's The Point of Playing the Ladder?
 

Ed, your concern is a common one. This program gives you a leg up on the competition because most "handwriters" only calculate for one position that they are eyeing up and this severely limits opportunities. They can spend hours handwriting and calculating for numerous positions and filling in the entire ladder but at the risk of error, inaccuracy, and valuable time.

This system calculates every position on the ladder in seconds, thereby allowing the racer to pick solid slots that he or she has the best chance of securing. Don't forget, you can try this program for free.