Re: worst red light debate, again!
 

Mark.....It's like the UN where I live anymore. I feel like a foreigner....I speak perfect English.....and can spell reasonably well....



Bill Dedman you have basically taken up the cause that was once championed by Steve Taylor......I used to think like a lot of guys and that was leave well enough alone on this issue.....but I agree it should be changed to WORST redlight, not first.....In all the years I've raced I can't really recall a race where we both redlit.....and I was the faster car in many races and benefitted from opponents redlights. It usually distracted me and I was late, not red.......Fair is fair and it makes sense. I don't race a Stocker anymore so my opinon doesn't count though...same as yours...LOL

Re: worst red light debate, again!
 

Most racers fight anything to do with changes, not that is has anything to do with right or wrong. NHRA didn't bat an eye though at changing the Xmas tree at the 4-wide nationals and then brought it to Houston and beyond. The darn thing looks like the robot out of the movie "Short Curcuit" staring Ally Sheedy and does't display well for the TV viewer. A couple of years back at Bristol they ran TF against FC, and I bet if they had continued that format I bet we would have seen a WRL rule put into effect there, because the Pros will not tollerate their apponent having any kind of advantage if they can help it. "Number five is alive"

Re: worst red light debate, again!
 

NHRA puts the races on, so that is why we will never see a double red light rule. NHRA is not interested.

Re: worst red light debate, again!
 

I'm not sure if I'm reading this right but it appears you are stating in a heads up race with double red light then the worst offender looses, not the first. Is that what your saying? And what track is that system in place because that's not the rule I know. It's FIRST red light loses, not worst red light loses.

Re: worst red light debate, again!
 

I raced Aaron (RIP) two races in a row in 2005(?) at the Arizona Nationals followed by the D7-1 the following weekend. Both times I was the faster car. Both times he red lit first, I red lit second. His red light by a little, mine by a lot. The distraction of an opponents red light sometimes has the opposite affect on my as I seem to side step the clutch at that point. Then again, a red light was maybe in my cards mo matter what the other lane did; we'll never know. I know this, Aaron was mad the first time and furious the second time!

Re: worst red light debate, again!
 

If both racers red light, why not disqualify both of them. If both drivers red light, and both hit the wall, the one with the worst damage loses. If both red light and one hits the wall and one crosses the center line, the one who doesn't cross the finish line wins. If you have a bye run and red light, hit the wall, and cross the center line........who wins then.... If you have a bye run and hit the wall, cross the centerline, leak oil all over the track and take out the timing lights, who wins then................this is all so unfair. First or worse, if the other guy goes red and I then sit and take a 2 second light, will you say that is unfair since I didn't try to cut a light? Give it a rest.....

Re: worst red light debate, again!
 

It seems to me that ,in a heads up race, the first to redlight is also the worst.

(I thought you were speaking that weird dialect too, for a minute there,..buddy)

Re: worst red light debate, again!
 

Can't be any other way in a heads up. First has to also be the worst. Hard to believe it was even brought up.

Re: worst red light debate, again!
 

up state NY Italian i think ed has it down fairly well toooo

Re: worst red light debate, again!
 

Rich, thanks for your contribution to this discussion.

Steve Taylor was a friend who championed this cause for awhile, but he had another system I never could get into that was based on comparing "packages" to determine a winner.

The worse (or, double) red light system was a product of a guy in Fremont CA (and not Steve Taylor, I believe) whose name is Bob Mikulic. He told me about it back in the '90s, when I still lived in the San Francisco Bay area. I couldn't grasp the value of it immediately and frankly, didn't pay much attention to it UNTIL I had had time for it to soak in.

Eventually, I began to understand (I am a slow learner) and finally, one day it was clear as a bell.

I dunno how long that took, but it was a while, as I'd been used to the first red light deal for many, many years... that was my "norm."

Bob Mickuic was a bracket racer who raced supercharged Studebakers for years.

Anyway, he's still around, and is mildly interested in the worse red light rule, but has little hope that he'll ever live to see it in place. I feel pretty much the same way.