SO YOU WANNA BE A DRAG RACER!!
Part II - The Right Stuff
by Merle GrabhornWelcome to the second in a series on how to go drag racing. We’re
not going to look at ways to make your car faster, instead, we'll talk about you, the
driver. The emphasis of bracket racing is on the driver, not on the car, a fact that is
overlooked by beginners. In this segment, we'll look at what it takes to be a bracket
racer, and what it’s like to go out to the track using what is known as "The
Right Stuff."
The Right Stuff
Frank Hawley, a two year winner of NHRA's Winston Funny Car Championship, began funny
car and top-fuel racing at the age of seventeen. Over the course of a successful racing
career, he wrote books about what it takes to be a winner. His ability to define what it
takes to win has lead him into another area of racing-teaching racers. He has become the
owner and headmaster of a professional drag racing school, considered to be one of the
best schools in racing.
His definition of the racers "right stuff" is: Concentration, Judgement,
Awareness, Attitude
You are probably saying to yourself, "Come on, it doesn't take this to mash a gas
pedal to the floor and hold it down for a quarter mile." Yes, it does.
Your job as a beginning racer is to tune your car so it will perform consistently,
round after round. Then, you have to drive it consistently, round after round. Do
burnouts, stage, leave the line, shift exactly the same every pass down the track. This
need for consistency explains the proliferation of electronic aids in the top bracket
racing classes such as rpm limiters for staging, air shifters, and the delay box. The
delay box is essentially a launch computer that is programmed by the driver to launch the
car at a selected time.
Arguably, electronics takes some of the human element away from racing. Yet, it has
been proven, by track champions who win without electronic aides, that the human element
is the deciding factor in bracket racing. As a beginner, it is unlikely you will get
paired against a car decked out with electronics. But, it can happen. You will find that
downing a high tech race car with your skill alone is very satisfying. (And cool, too!)
To get your car to perform consistently takes experimentation, and practice. This is
called "sorting out the car" and it takes concentration, judgement, awareness,
and attitude to accomplish it. You will fight frustrating combinations of problems that
may include wheel hop, engine bogging, hard starting when hot, and erratic reaction times.
These problems won't occur separately, they will happen simultaneously! In racing, you
will have to methodically recognize, sort out, and solve problems to get your car
consistent.
Consistency is only half the battle. Once you get it consisent, you have to be aware of
conditions that change from moment to moment and react accordingly. The changes can be
subtle and complex. Again, you have to use "the right stuff". Look at the
following table:
Street Class 89 Camaro
EngTemp Horsepower Torque (ftlbs) E.T. MPH
160 164 @ 4000 rpm 273 @ 2000 rpm 16.279 81.00
170 163 @ 4000 rpm 272 @ 2000 rpm 16.308 80.80
180 163 @ 4000 rpm 272 @ 2000 rpm 16.308 80.80
190 163 @ 4000 rpm 270 @ 2000 rpm 16.314 80.80
200 162 @ 4000 rpm 270 @ 2000 rpm 16.340 80.60
210 162 @ 4000 rpm 269 @ 2000 rpm 16.343 80.60
This data shows the effect a change in engine temperature has on the E.T. of a stock
small block 89 Camaro, a typical beginners street car. Small changes in horsepower and
torque due to temperature chanhes result in E.T. changes. You have to predict your
car’s E.T.during eliminations to the hundreth of a second. This change in engine
temperature gives you about a .06 range to consider. So what do you do?
Install a good temperature gauge. If the data above comes from your logbook, you know
that you have a temperature range between 170 and 190 degrees where the car will E.T. near
16.31. When you get to the starting line, make sure your engine temperature is in the 170
to 190 degree range. If it takes an electric radiator fan to keep the temperature steady,
get one. If you have to keep warming the motor to keep the temperature up, do it. If you
want to go for the lower 16.27 E.T., be prepared to push the car around and sweat soaring
engine temperatures.
The situation is more complicated then this table because we are looking at only one
variable-engine temperature. There are other things than variables to consider. You want
to know how complicated it really is? The tactics, psychology, the need to make instant
decisions under high pressure are part of the lure and a lot of the fun of bracket racing.
Here is where "the right stuff" is really important. You want to know what
it’s like? Lets go to the track.
Saturday night
Your car sits for two hours in the staging lanes waiting to race. Engine temperature
has dropped below 160 degrees. The last time trial was at 6:30 pm, two hours ago when the
air temperature was 92 degrees. As darkness falls, the temperature drops to 81 degrees.
The humidity has gone up 15% over the last three hours. What does this mean? It means that
air density has increased so your engine will pull in more oxygen and make more power. You
will go faster because you will make more horsepower.
Water in the air (humidity) has increased taking the place of some of that extra
oxygen. This slows you down. You have the air cleaner off your engine and you are pulling
underhood air into the engine. Since the air will be heated by the engine, it will be
warmer then the outside air, so your car will slow down. And, by the way, what will your
underhood air temperature be by the time you get the car staged on the line? Are you first
in line or the last car in the staging lanes? You have to predict your car's performance
and post it on your window, a very critical decision for the all important first round.
So, you must factor in all the data you have and what you think the conditions will be
like on the starting line and make a decision.
Heck, we haven't even considered the 15 lbs of air pressure in your slicks might have
changed due to the drop in temperature so your traction off the line might be different.
And don't worry about the oil down in the right lane, just past the tree. I'm sure the
track crew cleaned up every last molecule of oil, it won't be slippery. Oh yeah, now the
water box area looks like a pig sty. Wannabe's in Street Class have driven through the
water box instead of backing in and gotten water in their front tire treads. Their tires
have tracked water 10 feet in front of the box. It's slippery as Hell in front of the box.
Standing under the lights at the front of the staging lanes, you can see the staging
lane girl talking with the tower on her head set radio and she's looking at your lane.
Small groups of chatting drivers see the look, cease talking, and begin to scatter in the
darkness towards their cars. Anxious racers don helmets. Crews start hustling and
buttoning down hoods. Tension starts building in the air, your heartbeat increases, and
the adrenaline rush begins. Drivers and crew members in the adjacent lane slide closer to
their cars, knowing they will be coming out after your bracket is finished.
They are going to jerk someone, and set them aside for a possible bye since there is an
odd number of cars in your staging lane. Somebody will get a free ride to the second
round, an automatic win. If you are lucky, it'll be you, but don't count on it. So, you
either race the guy in front of you who's faster, or the guy behind you who's slower
depending on where they pull the bye. Depending on the pairing, you have to consider
possible tactics.
Do you freight train, use the slide (normal or reverse), push and dump, or any number
of other tactics? Maybe the guy in front of you is a duck. Yeah, right, not the way the
earth shook when he pulled into the staging lanes...what's the lift on that cam....3 feet?
Those wheelie bars are just for looks, right? Ooops, the guy behind you is frantically
changing his dial-in and the staging lane girl is pointing at your lane yelling
"Bracket two, let's go, you're up now". The line of cars in the staging lane
starts exploding into noise as the unmuffled motors fire up. Somewhere, over all the
noise, a crewman is yelling "Come ON, COME ON!" as the motor in a car cranks,
but refuses to start.
The staging lane girl send the first two cars towards the water box. Then she points to
the next car and motions it to the side. You are envious, he gets the bye and a free ride
to the second round. The driver kills the motor and the crew pushes the car to the side
with big grins all over their faces. They are getting a free chance to check the dial-in
under racing conditions, a lucky break for them.
And, Crap! The staging lane girl points to you and Mr Super Cam and Wheelie Bar as the
next pair. Your competition is tricked out with every conceivable electronic aide known to
man-a cross over delay box, a three-step, a rpm switch tied to an air shifter, throttle
stop, and God knows what else. There no doubt he's got the throttle stop set to slow him
down, because he should be in bracket one. He's dialing the top of bracket two which gives
him the visibility advantage and the statistical win advantage over slower cars. This guy
is a murderer and you have to race him!
Now that darkness has fallen at the track, both of your reaction times will go down
Why? Because the contrast between seeing the incadesent lights on the tree come on in
broad daylight and in darkness is different. Both of you will see the lights sooner so you
will react sooner. Of course, as the slower car, you have a clean tree, but your
competitor has the ability to leave off of your light and his light too because of the
cross-over box. He gets two shots at the tree. You, on the other hand, get only one shot.
He can adjust for darkness electronically, you have to rely on your eyesight.
[Editor's note: It is true that the human eye will pick up the amber starting lights
quicker at night. With delay box users, the result is as expected: Quicker reaction times.
With a footbrake racer, however, who must train himself to launch at a very specific
instant on the tree, the quick flash of light at night can often hamper reaction times.
Experience will be your teacher in night racing situations. Practice, practice, practice!]
And now the guy at the water box just made that oh, so subtle, almost priest like
gesture, that means "C'mon. It is your time." You better have a plan.
The Game of Mistakes
Bracket racing has been called "The Game of Mistakes". The driver that makes
the least number of mistakes wins. If you have miscalculated your dial-in and your
oppenent hasn't, you've already lost. A bad leave will trailer you. A slight delay in your
reaction time, as little as .001 second, can lose a race. You will be constantly faced
with critical decisions and if you make a wrong one at the wrong time, you will lose,
simple as that, no second chances. There is often little time to ponder what your decision
will be and the pressure to make the right one is intense. And, the pure intensity of the
starting line makes concentration difficult.
You back into the water box, and move forward slightly out of the water. You stab the
line-lock that sets and locks the front brakes and releases the back brakes. This allows
the slicks to spin violently, creating heat from friction and causes oils in the slicks to
come to the surface, making them tacky. Line-lock set, you press the accelerator pedal and
engine rpm begins to mount as the slicks begin spinning. The open exhaust becomes a roar,
your car begins bouncing slightly, and a slight haze of tire smoke builds from your
spinning slicks. Your competitior does the same.
The sound of the burnout, the smell of hot oil, mixed with the acrid smell of tire
smoke, and the strangly sweet smell of racing gas fumes overloads the senses. Spectators
and crewmen near the starting line, lean away from the ever increasing noise, wincing,
with fingers in their ears. Your opponent, rear tires spinning, engine roaring, front
wheels locked becomes engulfed in a immense cloud of tire smoke that drifts over the
starting line. The front brakes are locked, front wheels unmoving, yet the violently
spinning slicks pushes the car forward. The front tires dig into the track, trying to hold
back the power, but they skid forward, overcome by the mounting horsepower. The car
violently leaves the waterbox as the front brakes are released. It springs forward like an
uncaged animal and leaps toward the starting line, literally shaking like an excited
racehorse. Waves of engine heat and tire smoke swirl around the starting line like a
dragons breath.
You have trouble imagining how the fragile human being inside your opponents car can
control all the raw power that will soon be released. The driver, tied down by a spider
web of straps is dehumanized by the crash helmet and the darkened crash helmet visor.
Without a face, the driver seems like an android; robotic, stiff and inhuman, part of a
powerful machine, merged into it. Deep down, this is truly frightening at some instinctual
level and that squeezes the adrenal gland.
You both move toward the starting line to stage. You check temperature, oil pressure,
look at the E.T. posted on the electronic clock at the end of the quarter mile to insure
that the tower has entered it correctly. Your opponent stages. You stage carefully,
bumping the car from the prestage into the staged light beams, placing the car exactly on
the starting line. The blue light on top the tree glows, telling you this is an
elimination round. You bring your engine rpm up. Your opponents engine revolutions begin
building and it starts roaring loudly like a primeval beast. He gets against his
three-step, a device that limits rpm buy allowing cylinders to misfire randomly. The noise
increases. Intensity is present on the attitudes of crewmembers and spectators alike. They
lean forward to watch the all important launch. The starter hits the switch, and the
yellow lights start down on your side of the tree, startling bright in the darkness,
spaced at .5 second intervals. Flash, Flash,Flash-NOW! You dump the brake and floor the
accelerator the instant you see the last yellow flash. You've got both your car's rollout
time figured and your reaction time factored into the launch sequence. You never see the
green light come on.
You seem to get a good light and blast down the track, leaving your opponent staged at
the line, waiting for the tree to come down on his side. You can see him clearly in your
rear view mirror, outlined in the bright lights that glare down on the starting line at
night. You keep pulling away. You make your shift point and take another quick glance at
the mirror. You see the lights coming down on his side of the tree and JEEZ, he leaves
like a rocket! The car just disappears out of the lights at the starting line into the
murkiness that is the rest of the track. Night racing can be a bitch. You can barely make
out a shape hurling toward you in the darkness and God, is he coming fast! It's hard to
judge his distance in the darkness because he has no headlights; he's running blacked
out-perfectly legal and part of his strategy - you can't see me, but I can see you. You
have your tail lights on, because it's required by the rules so it's going to be hide and
seek at 100+ mph. You hit your final shift point into high and try to press the throttle
pedal through the floor. It's developing into a top end duel with the finish coming up
fast.
You are 100 yards from the stripe, the distance of a football field with your opponent
heading into your blind spot. This is the big moment for both of you. Your opponent may
judge that he can't pass you. If so, he'll sit in your blind spot, tap his brakes and slow
slightly insuring that he will be over his dial-in. Since you can't see him, you will keep
your foot in it and go quicker then your dial-in. That's a break-out, an automatic lose!
Is he setting you up to be the victim of the classic bracket racing tactic known as
"the dump?" Or maybe you should hit the brakes and try to dump him. Let him go
flying past you full throttle wondering where in hell you went. Problem is, which one of
you got the better leave and who is running closer to their dial-in? You could be giving
the race away by dropping anchor when you shouldn't be. Or, perhaps you are both on a
double break-out run. In that case, the winner is whoever breaks out the least, no matter
what else happens. Or, it could be that.........
The football field seems like a lot of distance but at a speed of 100 miles per hour,
you will be there in two seconds. Your faster opponent will cover this distance in even
less time! You have less then two seconds to look around, determine where your opponent
is, judge if he will pass you, and how you are going to react. Buddy, this is decision
making under pressure! Even professional football quarterbacks have more time to make a
decision. Even over the roar of your open exhausts, you can hear him coming up, like the
proverbial bat out of hell....
The example above is an attempt to illustrate what bracket racing is like for those who
have never made a pass down a track I hope it gives you some insight into what Frank
Hawley is talking about in his definition of the "right stuff". It is much more
then mashing the pedal to the floor and hanging on. You need concentration, judgement,
awareness, and attitude. For further enlightment on the "Right Stuff", read the
"Psychology of Drag Racing" sections on The
Staging Light. The "Right Stuff" practically oozes from those pages. Your
assignment is to read ‘em!
Merle Grabhorn
grabhorn@busprod.com
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