.90 questions from mars....

[Chris "drooze" Wertman]

Far from simple I guess....I cannot get my head all the way around the strategy emploued and the reasoning for it. Thats the problem.

As I said in the start my contrary posts werent disagreement but my way of asking a question, to get someone to tell me why its done a certain way.

But to me, racing to the stripe in a 9.90 race seems contratry you are depending on your opponent to be as close.

Why not hammer it to the 1200 and lock em up and watch your opponent sail by and break out while you crawl across at 50 mph ? To me , if Im racing to the stripe Im depending on my opponent to be dialed accurate ? No ?

Im so flippin confused, and confused why you would even (as a begginer) worry anything about that and run it like a bracket car set dead to 9.90 and forget about the other guy......I dont know like I said, maybe its blood loss.....Maybe all my skull fractures are catching up with me.

Originally Posted by voltdr

Drooze,
Super Class racing is just like Stock or Super Stock or ET Brackets, except that someone else tells you your dial-in. What if in SS and STK you raced on the index and not a dial-under. How would you kill you ET? We use our throttle stops. That's where the problem starts. It's the time ON the stop that causes all the trouble with really knowing what your car will run. The longer on the stop the more chance for error. If you wait until after 660' you will be on the stop way too long. There was a SC car at INDY last year only running 118 MPH. However you are right that winning is about leaving on time and running your dial-in, just like other classes. Why do some Stk and SS racers hold .03-.05. It's because of the RT. If I'm .04 late on the tree but my car is setup to run a .86 then our race may look close to the other guy running .90x and .005 RT. That's where driving the finish line comes in. That is where it's easier to race the stripe if you can see your opponent, and the finish line w/o turning around, especially if there is a 15-20MPH difference in speed. We always like to have someone new come in show us how simple it appears to be. Just let go of the button and run the number. Nothing to it, come on in, the water is fine.

[voltdr]

You want to run a .90 w/o letting the other guy know how you do it. Unlike Stk and SS there are numerous ways to get to a .90 If you think you can run a .90 at 50 mph then you better be right, because you have no time to say OH ***** and get back on the gas or brakes. A 15 MPH closing rate in our racing is hard to judge. In my SC dragster, if the I run 166 and the other guy is running 180. He is still behind me by more than 23' at the 1000' cone. There are some people that will just drive their car out the back door no matter what is happening in the other lane. They think they have their car dialled-in. When they breakout by.001 and took .02 stripe it gets hard to swallow sometime.

[Chris Williams]

The easiest and fastest way to understand index racing is to watch any .90 class (10.90, 9.90, 8.90) standing near the finish line. Watch the racers and listen to the engines. You'll see people:

- Running it out the back door -- they think they've got it dialed perfectly and they're happy with their light. Or they're unhappy with their light and they're just hanging on hoping they'll catch the other guy and win.

- Racing the stripe (on and off the gas/brakes) -- they think they're pretty close but they want to be sure to win by just a wheel or so, take any more than necessary and you risk breaking out.

- Dumping the other guy (off the gas or on the brakes hard) -- they think the other guy is fast and will break out, they want to be sure they don't. This takes the biggest cahones, because you better be right. You're giving up the win, betting on a breakout. If they don't, you're hosed.

- Looking over their shoulder -- they're the slower car in MPH (so they're on the stop a shorter time, and have taken off on the other guy), they're trying to judge the stripe (see above) with a car that's coming up on them fast.

- Slapping their head -- they made one of the above choices wrong, and they are pissed... Remember, this is all happening at 150-200 mph, it takes a lot of practice to get it right.

Watch at the end, note the times and the win light, and you'll catch on soon enough.

[Bob Verwold]

Or just throw a throttle stop on that Drag Pak # 24 and get first hand knowledge, it's easy anybody can do it, but you'll want to run S/St with that car.........

[Chris "drooze" Wertman]

Maybe thats the ticket to understand the strategies employed, thats where I seem to have a total lack of understanding.

I understand the win/loss but how/why people do what they do, like I said the person that explained exactly what you all have I take as gospel.....but its like a 3 year old being read Revelations, they may hear it but not understand.

Seeing is understanding, and to that end I think youre right, I would still like to and need to understand it..

Thanks for one of the better explanations of how what why

Cheers

Chris

Originally Posted by Chris Williams

The easiest and fastest way to understand index racing is to watch any .90 class (10.90, 9.90, 8.90) standing near the finish line. Watch the racers and listen to the engines. You'll see people:

- Running it out the back door -- they think they've got it dialed perfectly and they're happy with their light. Or they're unhappy with their light and they're just hanging on hoping they'll catch the other guy and win.

- Racing the stripe (on and off the gas/brakes) -- they think they're pretty close but they want to be sure to win by just a wheel or so, take any more than necessary and you risk breaking out.

- Dumping the other guy (off the gas or on the brakes hard) -- they think the other guy is fast and will break out, they want to be sure they don't. This takes the biggest cahones, because you better be right. You're giving up the win, betting on a breakout. If they don't, you're hosed.

- Looking over their shoulder -- they're the slower car in MPH (so they're on the stop a shorter time, and have taken off on the other guy), they're trying to judge the stripe (see above) with a car that's coming up on them fast.

- Slapping their head -- they made one of the above choices wrong, and they are pissed... Remember, this is all happening at 150-200 mph, it takes a lot of practice to get it right.

Watch at the end, note the times and the win light, and you'll catch on soon enough.