Drag Racing Online- "Dead-On" Vol. II No. 2

"The Madness Could End, But It’s Up to Us."

My first column, titled, "Will the Madness Ever End" came from the heart…mine. This sport has consumed over 20 years of my life. It rates number two in my life, right behind my children and wife. You all know how much time is involved to own and maintain a competitive race car, not to mention a reliable tow vehicle and trailer. Throw in a couple tons of spare parts and garage, etc., etc. This makes us one bunch of committed "crazies" and I am damn proud of it. The people in this sport are why I enjoy it so much. The car is secondary, but gets the most attention and the most money.

The first column generated tons of responses and I am happy to say that 99 percent of it was good. I know you can’t satisfy everyone and that is not my objective. I am hoping to create some THOUGHT by racers, crew, wives and track owners. From the responses I received, I have been successful so far.

The most common response I received was along these lines, " Now that you have brought out all of the problems, really impress us and come up with some solutions."

I will try to do just that. What you are about to read is not groundbreaking news, but it needs to be brought up from time to time. We are all getting a bit accustomed to some of our problems and have forgotten that we have a say in how our sport evolves.

I feel there are several "problem areas" for drag racing, specifically bracket racing. They are, in no particular order:

top-heavy payout structure
multi-tech card events
two rounds of buy-backs
cheating (or the threat that it exists)
how to identify and penalize cheating
should there be some "fundamental changes" in bracket racing
track safety.

Here are my opinions of what we might be able to do to keep our sport growing and prospering for the next generation or racers.

• TOP HEAVY PAYOUT STRUCTURE
We have seen this get more out of hand almost every year. Seems that we all want to go to a $10,000 to win, $2,000 r/u race. That is surely your choice, but at what cost? Higher entry fees, less round money and less of a chance to take home some money. Why not take the same total $12,000 and guarantee $5,000 to win with $4,000 runner-up and the other $3,000 spread out to eighth finalists. Some brave track owner will have to try an event like this to see if racers are paying attention. All they need do is tell the racers they regularly send flyers to that they have spread $5,000 around for the racers reaching 16 cars. If that doesn’t attract more racers it would sure surprise me.

• MULTIPLE TECH CARD EVENTS

This has grown almost out of control, but finally some major bracket racing series are limiting this option. It simply provides the racers who bring more money a better chance to win the event. It was originally used to protect the event from financial loss. It could still be used that way, but should not be allowed after a certain number of entries are reached. That way the track owner is still protected in case of bad weather or low car turnout, but racers with the money for only one entry fee are not penalized because another racer has more cash to buy more entries.

• TWO ROUNDS OF BUYBACKS
This is another method that tracks use for making more money from racers who have the cash to spend for more chances. Just like multiple tech cards, this is attractive to racers with extra money to "gamble with." It’s not the racers’ problem for doing it; it’s the track’s problem for doing it. To have buybacks to save an event from financial failure is fine with me, but if an event draws enough cars to make a good profit, why not drop the buybacks, especially two rounds of them? If a second chance is a good draw for racers, why not have a "Second Chance Race" for first and second round losers like the Tenn-Tuck Series has?

• CHEATING
There have been all sorts of rumors and hours of internet postings on who is and who isn’t cheating; how they cheat; what to do if they get caught; and how to catch the cheaters. Is there really much cheating going on? There are a million questions and a million answers on this. The simplest answer may be the best: Make a CLEAR SET OF RULES and if they are violated MAKE THE PENALTY SEVERE ENOUGH TO PREVENT CHEATING.

There should be a Winner’s Inspection Procedure: Every winner and runner-up goes back to staging for inspection. Racers must make the car available and have the car wired to make tracing wires easy. Racers can help the track inspectors by watching how different cars react during runs, watching for unusual things like consistent e.t.’s with varying intermediate times, unusual driver motions on the starting line, etc. Just keeping your eyes open when watching the competition seems to be the best policy.

• HOW DO THEY CHEAT?
This is the Big Question. I can’t act like I know all the ways, but it breaks down to only a couple of things: controlling your e.t. or controlling your reaction time. Controlling your e.t. would require some sort of motion sensor or counter on a constant turning part, i.e. a wheel counter, shaft rpm counter, etc. Reaction controllers would be controlled by something to sense the Christmas tree bulbs. That would be hard to disguise.

I aimed photocells at my drag strip for years and it is difficult to set them up when they are bolted down. To get them to be accurate without aiming them would be super difficult and probably not accurate. I really don’t think cheating is a big problem; it just makes for a lot of conversation and bad-mouthing of racers who win a lot. As you can tell, I think we ought to look closely for cheaters because they can undermine the sport quickly if they aren’t busted early and dealt with quickly and firmly.

• FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES
There are a few changes that should be considered that could make for a more level playing field countrywide. Some of these are controversial, but so were a lot of things that we now take for granted.

Partial shield on tree. The top bulb on each side would be open and visible from both lanes with the rest of the bulbs shielded, including the green and red bulbs.
First or worst red light. This will raise some eyebrows, but why is it different than first or worst breakout or first or worst where a red-light can be reinstated if the other car touches a track boundary marker. It is NOT a penalty for fast cars, only an equalizer for all cars. It’s worth a trial basis in my opinion, but some track would have to be brave enough to give it a try first.

• TRACK SAFETY
Are tracks really prepared for an emergency? Are you prepared? Is it the responsibility of the track to protect the racer? Should the racer be more prepared for emergency situations? What can racers do to be more prepared?

During my time as a track owner I was always concerned that I was doing enough. I had two very close friends die in crashes at my track and I have always wondered what else I could have done. The reality was the cars did not protect the drivers well enough in the crashes. The roll bar of one car was bolted to plates on the floor, but was not tied into the sub-frames to protect the driver from a side impact. The side bar collapsed at the cowl.

The other car was a short dragster and the roll cage was too close to the driver’s head. Even though it was padded, it was so close that the impact was severe to the helmet in a hard roll over.

I urge you all to PROTECT YOURSELF. Look over the car; think what might happen in a wreck. How tight do you buckle up, even if this is your 500th pass in the car with no problems? Do you think it is worth having the belts loose so you can see the car coming up on you? Do you have a fire extinguisher (which works) in the car and in the trailer?

The track has an ambulance crew for when there has been an accident, but it’s up to you to prevent accidents and protect yourself. Give it some thought. Racing season is coming up and now is the time to check everything out.

I hope you found this column thought-provoking. If you have an opinion I want to hear it and so does the Big Kahuna here at Drag Racing Online. Just email me at Jok@racingnetsource.com.

Be safe and be "Dead-On" in 2000!