Class lane choice etiquette

[Bruce Noland]

I had my trusty good luck quarter at the ready when my first round opponent appeared. After greeting and shaking hands, I asked if he would like to flip for lanes? He flatly dismissed my request and said the fastest qualifer gets lane choice. What did you say? He said I'm the fastest qualifier and I get lane choice. I ran this through my weary brain for a few seconds and said Okay, what the hell I'm not even in the same zip code with this guy. What difference does it make?

Then a few hours later a good freind said he approached his opponent with the same fastest qualifier gets lane choice statement and was rebuffed. He had to flip for lane choice.

A short time after that, I'm BS'n with some friends and tell them about my first round experience and they say they've never heard of it at an nhra race and scoffed at the idea of rolling over and giving a racer his lane. They said it had been common practice decades ago at IHRA races but IHRA dropped it. The only time the fastest qualifier gets a break in class racing is when there are an odd number of cars in the class and he/she may get a first round bye if all the racers in the class agree.

Now, I want to know where this fastest qualifier stuff came from and decided to scooter on down to the lanes and have a chat with the nhra lane crew. I asked one gentleman who told me that there was no such thing as the fastest qualifier gets to call his/her lane and that all issues are resolved with a coin flip and this included lane choice. A nice guy, but, then he said it looks like you got snookered and returned to his duties.

Don't be snookered - keep a coin in your pocket....and use it!

[Bobby Brannon]

A always ask which lane do you want. Really don't flip for lane. They are the same. Really. It's a ******* game. Just saying

[The Hawk]

Originally Posted by Bobby Brannon

A always ask which lane do you want. Really don't flip for lane. They are the same. Really. It's a ******* game. Just saying

You`re right Bobby,it is a game. Some racers strongly prefer one lane over the other for their own mental stability. If I know it,I`ll take the lane they like if I win the coin toss `cause it doesn`t matter to me.

As far as the coin toss for lane choice,I believe it`s in the rule book.

[Ken Miele]

Bruce,

Good question, but in my opinion if stock and super stock are a performance based eliminator, I think the fastest car when running heads up does deserve lane choice. If the bye goes to the fastest car, then logically lane choice should go with it. I think the flip works just fine anytime you put a dial in on the window.

I know many times when I was the slower car, I would tell my opponent he had the lane choice.

In my situation I ask my opponent for lane choice because I was faster. He did not agree and we flipped, he seem kind of perturb that I even asked, so not to have any hard feelings I agreed with no argument.

To me it was logical to expect lane choice and I would have been glad to give it to him if he was the fastest. After class was over I ask many racers, and most said you flip for lane choice because that’s the way its always been. I guess its hard to buck tradition.

[thomas sheehan]

The answer is in the rule book... (coin flip)

Section 2, page 6 of the NHRA 2012 rule book...

LANE CHOICE
In the Full Throttle Top Alcohol Dragster/Funny Car, and Pro Mod
categories, lane choice is determined by elapsed times. The racer
with the better qualifying e.t. gets first-round lane choice, and in
subsequent rounds, lane choice goes to the racer with the lowest
e.t. in the previous round.

In Comp, lane choice is determined by elapsed time. The driver with
the better qualifying position gets first-round lane choice, and in
subsequent rounds, the lane choice goes to the driver with the
lowest elapsed time (in relation to his or her index) from the
previous round (e.t. is calculated off the actual index, not the
contestant’s CIC corrected Index). If there is a tie to the thousandth,
speed is not the determining factor - the first contestant posting the
time will take precedence.

In all other categories, competing drivers are to determine lane
choice by a coin flip or a random-draw lane assignment.

[boostedf22c]

^^^That's pretty black and white right there

[Bruce Noland]

Originally Posted by Ken Miele

Bruce,

Good question, but in my opinion if stock and super stock are a performance based eliminator, I think the fastest car when running heads up does deserve lane choice. If the bye goes to the fastest car, then logically lane choice should go with it. I think the flip works just fine anytime you put a dial in on the window.

I know many times when I was the slower car, I would tell my opponent he had the lane choice.

In my situation I ask my opponent for lane choice because I was faster. He did not agree and we flipped, he seem kind of perturb that I even asked, so not to have any hard feelings I agreed with no argument.

To me it was logical to expect lane choice and I would have been glad to give it to him if he was the fastest. After class was over I ask many racers, and most said you flip for lane choice because that’s the way its always been. I guess its hard to buck tradition.

Kenny,

Racers should not make up their own rules and then try to enforce them on other racers. The first round of class is extremely important for many reasons. The most important being that it is the last round of qualifying and no one should be shut out from an opportunity to choose his/her lane.

[Ken Miele]

Bruce,

I agree, it was just my opinion. The text below is from the rule book. I did not know it was a rule, but I do now. My only question is why does NHRA give all byes to the fastest car when making the ladder for class.

LANE CHOICE

In the Full Throttle Top Alcohol Dragster/Funny Car, and Pro Mod
categories, lane choice is determined by elapsed times. The racer
with the better qualifying e.t. gets first-round lane choice, and in
subsequent rounds, lane choice goes to the racer with the lowest
e.t. in the previous round.

In Comp, lane choice is determined by elapsed time. The driver with
the better qualifying position gets first-round lane choice, and in
subsequent rounds, the lane choice goes to the driver with the
lowest elapsed time (in relation to his or her index) from the
previous round (e.t. is calculated off the actual index, not the
contestant’s CIC corrected Index). If there is a tie to the thousandth,
speed is not the determining factor - the first contestant posting the
time will take precedence.

In all other categories, competing drivers are to determine lane
choice by a coin flip or a random-draw lane assignment.

[Lyn Smith]

IHRA did have the better qualified car gets lane choice rule up to a few years ago.They changed it to the coin flip also.

[thomas sheehan]

Ken

NHRA started that two years ago (giving bye to fastest guy in class). It never used to be that way. Never should have changed, but that is for a different thread.