Class versus brackets winning a round

[Matt Welker]

Originally Posted by THE LEGEND

Matt,
You make some good points. HEADS UP is HEADS UP no way around it, but when you put shoe polish on the window it's still a bracket race.

The key is "WHEN", when a class racers puts show polish on his window. Tell me, "WHEN" does a bracket racer take it off his window? I do like your focus, the approach is correct, because as a class racer, it is a matter of "when", because it doesn't happen all the time and there are specific instances when we run a whole race within a race (like class eliminations after qualifying where we don't use it), then later, when it is necessary, we use show polish for those special bracket runs.

Bracket racers are the same to me as guys who race in a heads up only eliminator (pro or sportsman level), they each have a different, SINGLE focus. In S/SS, there is a duality at work and you need both skills (driving and performance) to win (and I'm taking high car count divisions like 1 and 3, no disrespect to the other divisions or those running cars in less populated classes). Sure, you can make it through a race without a heads up run, but it is unlikely a World Champ won't have one or be effected by a heads up run in some manner during a season. (Please don't response that a bracket racer has performance issues/concerns, they have no necessity to get every last ounce of efficiency out of their car within strict limitations that will be verified, and we both have the same consistency issues.)

For me, INDY is the pinnacle for S/SS, you need performance to get in, performance for class, and you also need driving (those bracket skills) for much of the eliminator. Any racer who can put together both the performance and bracket skills together has my attention and respect. When you bracket race, is there a qualified field where some don't make the eliminator? No, oh, must be that performance issue again for class racers....lets just ignore it, it's just a bracket race, right? And, yes, I have been at a divisional with a full field in stock where racers didn't make the field. Yes, we have been to Indy and not had our cars make the eliminator and we don't complain, we work harder on our performance. Why? Because it's not just a bracket race.

I don't look down on a racer who has a single focus (bracket/heads up only), but I do look up to a S/SS racer who can do both with repeated success. Any serious racer/fan has seen what someone like John Shaul (just one example) has done the past two years. Won national events (I think both on the west coast had heads up runs, one with multiple heads up runs), won a divisional event (don't think he had any heads up runs), and many Class wins along the way.

Sorry, but I think it's harder, and I have more respect, for a driver and their team who not only has to complete in a bracket style race, but also must be ready to go from a bracket round to a heads up run and back again. It is hard enough to do one thing well in racing, but S/SS guys have to do two things well and the ability to do both is the challenge in these classes, that's why it isn't "just a bracket race".

I would still show up if only class winners got to race in the eliminator. If that was the case, then I'd give a **** about what NHRA does with the AHFS. It's not, so I'll continue to play that game as well as the ladder game, sometimes avoiding and sometimes seeking, LOL.