Rules for staging?

[larry dowty]

ART after our talk i called our starter and bimbo jones is right it is legal to stage second an light both bulbs as fast as you want

[art leong]

Originally Posted by larry dowty

ART after our talk i called our starter and bimbo jones is right it is legal to stage second an light both bulbs as fast as you want

Okay. This probably will not be the last thing I learn. I thought different, but now I know.
It will actually be better for me. It will give me more time.

[larry dowty]

I will say i learned something new today also, i am not sure i would call it courtesy staging?

[Alan Roehrich]

I suppose the "courtesy" comes from the first person not lighting both lights at once.

[Bimbo Jones]

Just wondering(sounds like Burke of DRO) has one of the major timing systems ever fix the bug in their autostart software that would allow a racer to trick the autostart timer to be activated? Some multi national event winners learned that if they knew their opponet would try to stage second, they could briefly stage after both cars had prestaged. By bliping the stage light the timer for timing out was started but you had to confident the other guy was a diehard go in second racer. With the count down in motion a racer could go in after waiting a few seconds and the other racer got what was left of the count down of the autostart software. This technique would be more effective in the super classes where a pro tree was used but could be use to throw off slower classes going first by distracting them with a quick tree where handicaps are used. This may be just BS I was told to see how gullible I was, but does make for some interesting questions. Food for thought.

[Michael Pliska]

Originally Posted by Bimbo Jones

Just wondering(sounds like Burke of DRO) has one of the major timing systems ever fix the bug in their autostart software that would allow a racer to trick the autostart timer to be activated? Some multi national event winners learned that if they knew their opponet would try to stage second, they could briefly stage after both cars had prestaged. By bliping the stage light the timer for timing out was started but you had to confident the other guy was a diehard go in second racer. With the count down in motion a racer could go in after waiting a few seconds and the other racer got what was left of the count down of the autostart software. This technique would be more effective in the super classes where a pro tree was used but could be use to throw off slower classes going first by distracting them with a quick tree where handicaps are used. This may be just BS I was told to see how gullible I was, but does make for some interesting questions. Food for thought.

I've heard the same thing, that they have worked it out to where they can slam the brakes and use the "windup" in the slicks to bounce them backwards just after turning on the stage light. I wonder if the autostart system looks for a steady stage light or if it is tripped by a quick flicker like that?

[Mike Carr]

Originally Posted by Michael Pliska

I've heard the same thing, that they have worked it out to where they can slam the brakes and use the "windup" in the slicks to bounce them backwards just after turning on the stage light. I wonder if the autostart system looks for a steady stage light or if it is tripped by a quick flicker like that?

Not sure about NHRA. IHRA in the Rulebook lists a "Staged Minimum", which I believe is the time a car must be fully staged to trigger the Autostart. It also lists "Staged to Start", I think is the time from when both cars are staged til the Tree activates. Stock and S/S (actually all Sportsman classes from T/D to H/R) have a 0.6 seconds "Staged Mnimum" listed. "Stage to Start" is 0.9 seconds for S/SS.