[JP1738]

All right so here's what happened to me recently at a bracket race.

I was down to 5 cars at my local track in the bracket race. I was still doubled at the time, down to the final in 6.0 index class at that point. As is customary, I pull into the water box and wait for my opponent, in a 4.9s dragster, to go ahead and do his burnout before I did mine so I wouldn't be waiting at the starting line as long. I do my burnout as he is reversing from his. We get up to the starting line around the same time.

When he made his way to the beams, he had not one, but two different guys at the stage beams pulling him up to them. Now I'm not sure who wasn't paying attention to what, but he ended up rolling all the way into the fully staged position before I prestaged. I don't know if one or both of the guys pulling him up weren't paying attention to the lights or where the car was on the race track, or if the driver wasn't looking at them, or if the two guys up there weren't in agreeance on where the car was yet between one another. All I know is they looked like a bunch of monkeys fvcking a football on the starting line. I see all this take place beside me, and decide to give him a 5 Mississippi count to let him back up. Well, due to the extreme confusion on the other side of the race track, my man was not able to back out of the stage lights in a timely manner, so I went ahead and staged up beside him and tried to get the tree to come down while he was still in panic mode or reverse.

That is exactly what happened. I turned loose a stellar .040 to my man's .400. I haven't been able to decide if I feel bad about it yet or not.