Dale Wilson is a bracket racing "retiree" who was editor of Bracket Racing USA from 1991 to its demise in 1998. His latest dream is to return to racing in either a front-engine dragster, a slow motorcycle or the family Mazda wagon. Everything else he has is for sale.

GOIN' DEEP

By Dale Wilson

Deep staging in drag racing -- the act of rolling your race car past the second staging light and turning out the first, in order to get a better reaction time -- is almost as controversial as the Auto Start starting system, the delay box and buy backs.

We've seen Fuel Dragster and Funny Car pilots occasionally deep stage and reward themselves with a better reaction time, but in Stock Eliminator classes and in brackets, some MUST deep stage in order to cut a competitive light. Their argument for it might go thusly: "Hey, I have to deep stage. My car is so slow off the line that I can't cut a good light without deep staging."

Cynics might look at a move by NHRA to outlaw deep staging in the Stock and Super Stock ranks as another way the association has intruded on the racer's rights, but in this case, you really can't blame the NHRA for this one. The racers themselves, says one NHRA official, voted to ban deep staging at all national and divisional events for 2002 and beyond.

According to NHRA tech advisor Rick Canning, the ban was begun after a polling of select Stock and Super Stock racers throughout each of the organization's seven divisions, who then turned in their poll results to the NHRA competition committee. The poll was in the form of an open questionnaire to all Stock and Super Stock racers to see how many people wanted deep staging and how many didn't. About 80 percent of the racers responding, Canning said, wanted deep staging taken away for 2002.

"We had a lot of complaints from a lot of racers before this, and we put out an open question as to how many people did or didn't want deep staging, and we found that a majority didn't want it," he said.

The reasons? A good friend of ours, Bob Lundholm of Roswell, Georgia, who races a Woodro Josey-powered G/ and H/Stock Automatic Nova in Stock, affirmed the polling and explained things this way: "A lot of guys said it caused confusion at the starting line."

The confusion took the form of not knowing if deep staging would trigger the Auto Start system (one guy rushes in and turns on both staging bulbs before the other has completed the burnout ... "Is the Auto Start system on now?" the other racer might think. "Am I going to be red-lighted if I don't get up there and stage? Is he trying to get away with something here?"). There were even cries of a lack of courtesy among racers, Lundholm said.

"Here (in Stock Eliminator) there was no synergy between the two racers," Lundholm said, meaning there was absolutely no discussion between competitors in the staging lanes as to what one or the other might do in the staging process, or even what they were going to dial in. These guys are serious about their racing.

"NHRA surveyed racers via the internet and most voted against deep staging," he said. "Collectively, more were against it than for it. NHRA, I think, was very fair in this case."

One racer who hates to see the deep staging option go is Toby Lang of Auburn, Washington, who has won five national events and four divisionals (NHRA divisions 1,2, 6 and 7) in Jim Meador's Yorba Linda, California-based 396/325- horse G/Stock Automatic 1969 Chevelle. Except for one, a recent 2002 divisional race win, Lang has won all his races in the deep-stage mode.

"I used to have to deep stage the car to cut a tree, but I don't now because NHRA made it against the law," Lang said with a laugh. Now he has to put on a small, 25-inch diameter front tire to cut a tree, and he is thinking about going even smaller. Also, instead of stalling his engine at 2,000 rpm, now he must bring it up to 4,000 rpm to cut a light. He tried to leave at 4,000 rpm using a rev limiter, but in a time run he found that the Chevelle rolled through the lights and red lighted, so he now footbrakes it off the starting line.

"It puts the hurt on me," Lang said. "At my recent (2002) division win, I wasn't cutting killer lights. I started out with a .540, then I got a few .530s and in the final, I got a .526 and was pushing the tree quite a bit. If I would have been deep-staging on the last round, I'm sure it would have been a .490 leaving where I usually leave. I was pushing it so hard I was probably close to a red light. The rule is a handicap to me."

Ditto for his brother Jody, who races an N/Stock Automatic Malibu wagon and who relied on deep staging to cut a competitive light.

"It's tough on him because he hits 1.60 60-foot times, and he has to actually roll in a little bit to get a light. In a case like that, you don't know where you are staging on the starting line," Toby said.

Lang's and Meador's Chevelle can hit low 1.50-second 60-foot times in cool weather, "and I like to leave on the third amber," Lang said. To adjust his car to shallow stage, in addition to the smaller tires and higher rpm leave, he may change his TH-400 trans first-gear set to a lower ratio, like a 2.52 first gear, just to leave like he did before.

"The racers say deep staging will screw them up. Well, I don't believe it," Lang says. "Some racers say the deep stager, when he goes in and blinks two lights, that rushes me. They have 15 seconds to stage, and I don't understand that. If you can't stage in 15 seconds, something is wrong."

Here is my take on it. If I were racing Stock or Super Stock, I wouldn't care what the guy in the other lane did, as long as I had a fair chance to stage and go. In brackets, especially footbrake class brackets, deep staging for some is de rigueur, and especially for an old man like me, who can't cut a good light if next month's mortgage depended on it.

In my lifetime, I have driven a slew of footbraked cars, including the family "Wagonmaster" '78 Malibu station wagon, the "General's War Wagon" '81 wagon, and our latest Footbrake entry, "Little Zoom-Zoom," our 2002 Mazda Protege 5 wagon. Two years ago, I got runner-up at a B&M Racer Appreciation Series go at Memphis Motorsports Park in a rent-a-car, went four rounds in another at Las Vegas, and went a couple in the Mazda at Atlanta Dragway.

There are several tricks to deep staging, and if Editor Burk is nice enough and lets me tell you about them, you'll read about the in future issues of Drag Racing Online. For now, though, here is how I generally approach the issue of deep staging.

First, I'm courteous. If I'm going to deep stage, I'll physically get out of the car in staging and approach my opponent and tell him so. In brackets, deep staging is still legal, but there is no rule that says you have to tell your opponent. Courtesy here pays off, and besides, you just might meet a new friend.

I'll shoe-polish the words "Deep" all over my car, and with the wagons, I've gone so far as to have the words "Deep" in permanent letters on the windshield, the back glass and both sides. Once, when I was racing the "Wagonmaster" in pure Footbrake form, I had "Deep" made up in shocking pink letters, just so everyone could see my intentions on the starting line.

I'll go up to the starter and introduce myself and say, "I'm driving the Malibu wagon and I'm going deep. Could you let me deep stage?" Odds are he won't mind a bit, and again, you may have met a new friend. I'll also go to the tower and tell them the same, and often I'll pull out of the water box and approach pre- staging, roll down the window and point to "Deep" on the left-side glass to the starter. Most will nod their heads and say, "Yep, I understand." Courtesy, you know.

Staging in straight line racing is a science, and I have learned a lot. Look for more stories soon on racing in the slow mode from me at this site. Next time you may learn how to stage your slow, slow street car in the Footbrake mode. I've taken plenty of lessons from the experts around here, and I'm willing to pass them on.

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