Red light debate update.

[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?

[Ed Fernandez]

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?

Michael, I agree about hiding the whole tree from the other guy.As far as advantages I feel that it's pretty well a wash.I have my advantages and dis advantages.
Here's one for you.I hate when they spray the track and I'm the next pair down.I slow down a bit in the glue:>)Funny but true.I usually 60' about 1.76 and very rarely spin.But that's because I really pay attention to the condition of the starting line and also my 98"
wheelbase usually puts me ahead of the bad spots.So it's pretty much even slow and fast.
I appreciate someone of your talent and success posting here,as a lot of the complainers
here don't even race in S/SS or if they do couldn't compensate for a situation that they
neither can handle or understand.
Come on Mike,jump in for one race.But you have to dial the car yourself.:>):>):>)

[Michael Iacono]

i also hate when they spray in front me....cant remember having a problem but it scares me to death having to stage on what seems like wet surface....
as far as the gremlin goes....i cant do 6 cylinders...but if you had a 304 with a 3 speed i would be there in a minute

[Ed Fernandez]

Originally Posted by Michael Iacono

i also hate when they spray in front me....cant remember having a problem but it scares me to death having to stage on what seems like wet surface....
as far as the gremlin goes....i cant do 6 cylinders...but if you had a 304 with a 3 speed i would be there in a minute

See ya next year Michael.Have a good holiday season.

[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.

[Ed Fernandez]

Blinding the whole tree and going to a worse foul scenario sounds like a good compromise UNTIL the fast guys will bring up the "I'm distracted by seeing the slower car in my field of vision" song.I guess the solution would be a wall 6' high seperating the lanes out far enough to shield the turtle cars to a point where they would not be visible.

[art leong]

Originally Posted by Ed Fernandez

Blinding the whole tree and going to a worse foul scenario sounds like a good compromise UNTIL the fast guys will bring up the "I'm distracted by seeing the slower car in my field of vision" song.I guess the solution would be a wall 6' high seperating the lanes out far enough to shield the turtle cars to a point where they would not be visible.

Ed do you have any idea how long that wall would have to be? LOL My 1/8 mile times are slower than some superstockers quarter mile times.

[art leong]

One reason I could see NHRA not going for it is breakage.
If I red light a lot of guys can come off the converter, and take it easy.

[GarysZ24]

Originally Posted by Michael Iacono

there has to be something said about the advantage of leaving first and having a clean tree....is nobody else distracted by a competitor driving by the tree when you are spotting someone 3-5 tenths

I don't know about that Michael, because two months ago I had the pleasure of doing something in a drag race that I don't get to do often....leave last (by nearly a full second). Needless to say I carded a .005rt., and my opponent was (.100 +) sleepy (perhaps to be clean and green?), thus allowing me to reel him in by the 1000ft mark, on my way to one of my easiest rnd wins since the last import car I raced!!! I wasn't pressured, but it was different....fun but different!

[GarysZ24]

Originally Posted by Michael Iacono

...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?

I like that idea Mike, because that would (in fact) put the same pressure on the faster car as it does on the slower one...I'm glad that someone with your success in our sport offered it too!