Red light debate update.

[bill dedman]

Originally Posted by Ed Fernandez

The latest report out of Wash DC states that rogue forces in the Pentagon,led by followers of G W Bush and Dick Cheney and Black Water,have hatched a plot to kidnap Bill Dedman and hustle him off to an undisclosed location to lead a team of interrogators of Muslim Extremists.
Top officials in the Obama administration are appalled.
HEAD FOR THE HILLS BILL.

That's really funny Ed, and goes perfectly along with your typical M.O. to dazzle 'em with distractions, and baffle 'em with bull****; do whatever you can to keep attention away from the real question of how this lopsided rule ever survived THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS of screwing the second car to leave, without getting fixed.

I attribute that to people getting comfortable with it to the extent that they just never considered the effect that a change COULD have, if the second car to leave had a worse red light than the first, AND WAS, SOMEHOW held accountable for it!

I know I never gave it a second thought. I was too steeped in tradition.

By the way, this "worse red light" system is in no way, MY IDEA! I'm not that smart... by a long shot. That much should be obvious, by now....

As best I can tell, it came from a guy in Fremont, California who used to run a '51 Stude in NHRA Stock, until it was legislated out of competition.

He put a blower on it, and ran Brackets with it for many years. Robert Mikulic.

He explained this "worse red light" system to me one day, and I thought he was nuts.

It took me about a month of deliberating to finally understand that what he was suggesting made sense.

Some people seem to understand it, and some people don't. Took me awhile. Guess it takes all kinds....

[Chad Rhodes]

Bill, read very carefully what I am writing here.

1) i, and most others, believe what you are saying about it being fair, its right there if you do the math. SO give that argument up.

2) Things have been this way for a very long time. People have built their cars to these fundamental rules, whether bracket, class, or otherwise for decades, knowing the inherent advantages and disadvantages of faster or slower cars. And YES there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

3) stock and SS is not lagging behind the times here. If bracket racing and all other forms of handicapped racing were already doing the WORST redlight rule then i think you would have a lot more support. I would seriously suggest you speak to some track owners and division directors about trying this in their bracket program. If it becomes widely adopted, then you may have a case for S/SS going to it. Until then work on it somewhere else.

I personally feel like there are much bigger issues in stock/ss to be dealt with at this time (the DP/CJ cars, Payouts, and figuring out a way to get more younger racers involved, etc) than trying to be the mavericks of drag racing by changing one of the fundamentals of how we run a race.

[Jack McCarthy]

the redlight rule is probably UNFAIR.

i spend .10% of what ken meile spends racing
i ALWAYS hook perfectly
i solo for class quite often, pick up my $400, a wally and into the beer by noon at indy
i get the same enjoyment out of winning (maybe MORE!) than the fast guys

would any of you disagree that these too are UNFAIR ?

we all pick what we want (and afford) to race ...

see ya racing, and by the way i hope the track sucks !
captain jack

[art leong]

Originally Posted by Jack McCarthy

the redlight rule is probably UNFAIR.

i spend .10% of what ken meile spends racing
i ALWAYS hook perfectly
i solo for class quite often, pick up my $400, a wally and into the beer by noon at indy
i get the same enjoyment out of winning (maybe MORE!) than the fast guys

would any of you disagree that these too are UNFAIR ?

we all pick what we want (and afford) to race ...

see ya racing, and by the way i hope the track sucks !
captain jack

My sentiments exactly

[John Kelley]

Originally Posted by Chad Rhodes

Bill, read very carefully what I am writing here.

1) i, and most others, believe what you are saying about it being fair, its right there if you do the math. SO give that argument up.

2) Things have been this way for a very long time. People have built their cars to these fundamental rules, whether bracket, class, or otherwise for decades, knowing the inherent advantages and disadvantages of faster or slower cars. And YES there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

3) stock and SS is not lagging behind the times here. If bracket racing and all other forms of handicapped racing were already doing the WORST redlight rule then i think you would have a lot more support. I would seriously suggest you speak to some track owners and division directors about trying this in their bracket program. If it becomes widely adopted, then you may have a case for S/SS going to it. Until then work on it somewhere else.

I personally feel like there are much bigger issues in stock/ss to be dealt with at this time (the DP/CJ cars, Payouts, and figuring out a way to get more younger racers involved, etc) than trying to be the mavericks of drag racing by changing one of the fundamentals of how we run a race.

Another LAME reply......seems to be the norm.... :-(

[Jack McCarthy]

and by the way i just used ken as an example, he is another guy with a 50 year old classic car but his is a tad faster... im sure he is not even close to a leader in $$$$$ spent per pass in the eliminator !!!!!!!!!!!!!

jack

[Bobby Zlatkin]

We probably should have stayed with the flagman and handicapped by car lengths. Oh, and what's all this color television crap. We were perfectly happy with black & white.
Progress & technology sucks.

[bill dedman]

Originally Posted by Jack McCarthy

and by the way i just used ken as an example, he is another guy with a 50 year old classic car but his is a tad faster... im sure he is not even close to a leader in $$$$$ spent per pass in the eliminator !!!!!!!!!!!!!

jack

Jack,
You're another one of my heroes. I WISH I could do what you accomplish on a limited budget... plus for its class, your car is FAST! (How did that 3-speed work out?)

But the idea that Ken Miele's car is also fast, but he doesn't win a lot of races seems to me, to be not in any way pertinent to the red light rule. I don't see the connection.

A bad rule is a bad rule. And, almost everyone admits, it's not a fair rule. I admire Ken's efforts, but even HE could to fall victim to this rule when he runs a faster-dialed car. That's not a likelihood, but it's definitely a possibility.

Let's do him the favor of trying to get it changed.

[Chad Rhodes]

Originally Posted by John Kelley

Another LAME reply......seems to be the norm.... :-(

Care to counterpoint anything that I said? Or are you jus going to be LAME?

[John Kelley]

Originally Posted by Chad Rhodes

Care to counterpoint anything that I said? Or are you jus going to be LAME?

You skirted around the SUBJECT at hand.
It's like the battered wife syndrome...."he always beat me so I thought that was the way it was supposed to be"............. :-)