Red light debate update.

[Bobby Fazio]

Originally Posted by Michael Iacono

no thank you.....i understand your problem with the rule because you run a car that is affected by the first red light rule most, if not all the time.....but you get the clean tree and im guessing you have not spun in the last twenty or so years....there are always two sides and you can never make everyone happy...i wouldnt have a problem not displaying the red light on your side until the second car has left....this way the faster car wouldn't be able to see what the slower car did as far as red or green...what about that?

Mike, please refer to my post a couple weeks back:

As far as the red light rule, here is my suggestion (just a suggestion people). How about extending the tree blocker all the way down to cover the red-light bulb and then the worst red-light loses? I believe the red bulb does cause a distraction to the faster car, especially in a 1-3 bulb handicapped race. The scoreboard would not light up until the second car leaves and the computer determines which light is "worse red" so that wouldn't be a distraction either. The code for that loop would be simple to write, we were taught how to write a similar program during my freshman year at college. Rules would stay as they currently are on a bye run, automatic win, no red light or break out in a bye run.

Secondly, just from being the chaser in bracket racing to getting chased like a gang member in Super stock.. anyone who is even attempting to say that slower cars have an advantage in a drag race should really think through their hypothesis again (or must really have eyes in the back of their Simpsons). The whole race is in front of you, and currently you have the red light advantage working in your favor. Now I can't defend the slower car who never references his/her opponent and breaks out while said opponent is parked at midtrack but I am 99% sure a faster car has never gotten around a broken car at half-track and neglected to lift. "Build a faster car" is not the answer people want to hear, especially people who care about preserving great classes that go beyond SS/AM or AA/SA. If that's the case, build a slow car so you can see a clean tree. Not seeing a "clean tree" in my opinion, is only a small (and easily corrected) sacrifice for the advantages that lie ahead for the next 1320 feet. Don't forget being the faster car, my friends, is the reason we have that idiotic tool known as a throttle stop in all the super index classes. People wanna chase.