Locking 'Em Up

[Mike Pearson]

Personally I don't race that way. I dial my car what I think it will run and do my best to have a better light and package than the other driver. If you are good on the bulb and run close to your dial you will win rounds. I can say that I have had very few races where the other guy hammered the brakes on me and I have been doing this a good while. I keep track of the other racers Q times and see how their dial in compares to their Q time and the weather conditions at the time of the round. Then I plan my strategy for the round. I don't find many sandbagging. Might be different in Stock eliminator

[Dave Gantz]

Originally Posted by Mike Pearson

Personally I don't race that way. I dial my car what I think it will run and do my best to have a better light and package than the other driver. If you are good on the bulb and run close to your dial you will win rounds. I can say that I have had very few races where the other guy hammered the brakes on me and I have been doing this a good while. I keep track of the other racers Q times and see how their dial in compares to their Q time and the weather conditions at the time of the round. Then I plan my strategy for the round. I don't find many sandbagging. Might be different in Stock eliminator

I certainly could have been lucky that I didn't lock them. They were drums, if that matters.
We (my partner and I) always dialed 1 or 2 faster than we thought it would go, and depend on a good light and the car's ability to run the number. I had to decide if I would breakout or not, depending on how good I thought my light was.

[Bryan Worner]

Maybe those who "lock em up" should do just that in testing to prevent smoking the tires. I know in my car i can slam the brakes on at the finish line and my brakes never lock up. I guess i have them adjusted perfectly, I don't know. But if others who do this regularly would test the way they race, maybe they could prevent locking em up also??

[HawkBrosMav]

Originally Posted by Bryan Worner

Maybe those who "lock em up" should do just that in testing to prevent smoking the tires. I know in my car i can slam the brakes on at the finish line and my brakes never lock up. I guess i have them adjusted perfectly, I don't know. But if others who do this regularly would test the way they race, maybe they could prevent locking em up also??

I'm with Bryan on this subject.... I've been know to hit the brakes at the stripe fairly regularly.. sometimes pretty hard... I can even time the "stab" to take the beam with the nose instead of the tire if I feel that will get me a round (has cost me a few).. but I CAN'T get them to lock.. 4 wheel discs.. maybe people need to put some effort into setting there car up and testing it in a non-elimination setting so they know what it will do when they make certain actions.. An educated driver is a safe driver..

I've driven MANY cars over the years and some could lock the tires... some easier than others, but most if I had driven them long enough could be controlled to where I either couldn't lock em up.. or I knew what it would do with a sharp stab and had no issues driving through it. When people lose control it's because they stab the brake.. it slides... they panic and push harder and have no control of said car because they had no expectation of the reaction to their action.. they couldn't plan ahead..

Obviously at the speeds we run things will happen, and we call them accidents for a reason.. but if you take some time to learn your cars reactions to various driver inputs MANY "loss of control" situations could be avoided..

just my opinion...

Brad