Locking 'Em Up

[TBR151J]

I know I have been guilty of this a few times and been next to someone who has locked them up on me (the last time it was so bad they rolled the trucks thinking they scattered the motor next to me). I have seen and been the one to get warnings (usually my warning came AFTER I lost the round) and have seen one time in all of my years racing where someone got tossed. I will be the first to say I try not to race this way and hate when people race that way next to me...

That being said I think it boils down to two things-type of brake system you use, and how you drive. I know in my bracket car I have factory discs up front, factory drums out back, and if I am to heavy on the brake pedal it will fry the front tires. Conversely, my brother drove a stocker years ago with Wilwoods front and rear, just rubbed the pedal at the stripe in a time shot to get a feel for things and dropped 10 mph quick without locking the brakes up. It all depends on the brake system you use, how it's adjusted, and the way the suspenson is set up (seen cars lock up the tires with no suspension drop and then the nose dig a hole with the tires still rolling). It all boils down to physics...if you have enough forward momentum you can drive through the stopping resistance no matter how hard you hit the brakes.

Second it's driving style...you can rub the brakes, stab the brakes at the stripe and be OK, but when you throw it into an "oh s**t" panic stop that's when you see people get into trouble locking them up more often than not. But this is all just my 2 cents, which is probably worth me owing $100 bucks with the decline in my portfolio

[Greg Gay]

Paraphrasing Bob Bondurant, "The skidding wheel wants to lead". In other words, if your suspension and your brakes are adjusted properly, the car will stay straight when the front tires are skidding. This SHOULD be the case with the narrow front tires that we run.

If the rear tires lock up, they also want to lead. That's when things get nasty. A friend of mine found that out one time when, at 150 mph, he found out how well 2 piston rear calipers work.

[rognelson777]

Originally Posted by John DiBartolomeo

WeÂ’ve all heard of the stories; cars smoking the tires at the finish line, cars getting out of control, and in some cases racers being disqualified for hitting the brakes too hard.

https://dragracingedge.com/the-blog/locking-em-up/

heads up starts. with todays electronic timing systems, both cars pick their dial. both cars leave heads up and the car with the best package gets the win light. no finish line racing.
this would make the racing safer, no 8 second car going by a 13 second car at the finish line and no reason to kill the brakes at the finish line.
of course all of the good racers, who are very good at finish line racing will never go for it.
remember dial in racing started when there were no reaction timers and hand written time cards.

[curtis reed]

Originally Posted by rognelson777

heads up starts. with todays electronic timing systems, both cars pick their dial. both cars leave heads up and the car with the best package gets the win light. no finish line racing.
this would make the racing safer, no 8 second car going by a 13 second car at the finish line and no reason to kill the brakes at the finish line.
of course all of the good racers, who are very good at finish line racing will never go for it.
remember dial in racing started when there were no reaction timers and hand written time cards.

You wouldn't even have to line up against each other then or even be at the same track. Just go to your local test and tune then submit in your slip over the net. LOL

[Greg Gay]

I proposed this a few years ago, but no one seemed interested: one race a year at Charlotte running 4 wide. Same rules that we run under now, but applying to all 4 cars. I THINK it would end up as a best package race since you wouldn't really know which car to sandbag (who's going under, who isn't?), it would be hard to judge cars on both sides of you, or a car 3 lanes over from you. A 64 car race could be run in 3 rounds, or you could run 128 cars in 4 rounds, with the final being just two cars. With Las Vegas now being 4 wide, there could be and east coast and west coast race. I'm not proposing that this become the norm, just a specialty race, much like the cic race that used to run at the Sportsnationals once a year.

[rognelson777]

Originally Posted by curtis reed

You wouldn't even have to line up against each other then or even be at the same track. Just go to your local test and tune then submit in your slip over the net. LOL

What a great Idea. Run a national gamblers race, Everyone pays the track test and tune, all on the same day, then everyone puts up $50.00 into a pot, 400 cars $15,000 for best run and $4,000 for 2nd best run. $500 for 3rd best run and $500 to promoter. Cuts down on travel costs Cheap day to win a lot of money.

[Jeff Stout]

This Best Package races are running here in Az

.500 Sportsman (full) tree
2 time runs, 3 competition rounds
Heads-up start with dial-in
Best Single Run package wins
For run to count – green light, and no break out
Tie-breakers: 1 – most counted passes, 2 – average package
Transbrake – permitted
Open to all vehicles that pass 1320′ NHRA tech
Delay Box & Throttle Stop – must be zero’d out or removed
Payouts:

[curtis reed]

Originally Posted by rognelson777

What a great Idea. Run a national gamblers race, Everyone pays the track test and tune, all on the same day, then everyone puts up $50.00 into a pot, 400 cars $15,000 for best run and $4,000 for 2nd best run. $500 for 3rd best run and $500 to promoter. Cuts down on travel costs Cheap day to win a lot of money.

I kind of enjoy the competition of being the better driver myself so I'll pass. Test and tune holds no enjoyment for me. I do see a great number of guys that just want to make passes so you might have a huge base of, dare I say, competitors? If you can't cut it on the track as it is now that might be the next best thing.

[Keith 944]

that would suck, no fun at all

[Rick Schilling]

Originally Posted by Keith 944

that would suck, no fun at all

I tend to agree. Even with my inconsistent driving ability, I could still, on occasion, make a fluke run. Winning under those circumstances just wouldn't give me much satisfaction. Losing under those circumstances would just make losing that much worse.