james

BRACKET RACING IN A NUT SHELL:
At a race, you are given several time trials, which are used just as practice, and to see what times your truck runs. In eliminations, which are single elimination tournament style, it's you against one other racer. You select a time that you think your truck will run. That's called your DIAL-IN. The DIAL-IN should be written on the front or drivers side window so the track officials can easily see this information and plug it into the timeing computer. The DIAL-IN can be changed between rounds at the racers discretion. When two trucks compete, the computer subtracts the dial-ins, and the slower truck gets that much of a head start which means if you are the slower of the two trucks based on your dial-in, your side of the tree will fall first. The theory is that if both drivers get identical reaction times, and both run what they predicted, they will meet right at the finish line... a tie. In practicality, this never happens. Reaction times will differ, and the truck may run quicker or slower than predicted.

Now you say, "Why don't I just dial-in at 18 seconds, and I'll get a big head start and win?" There's the trick. If you run quicker than your dial-in, you lose! This is called a breakout. Basically, this means that you want to guess exactly what your truck will run. If you guess far quicker than what the truck can run, you won't be able to run fast enough, and your opponent can easily beat you to the finish. If you guess far slower, a practice called sandbagging, it is very likely that you will break out and lose.(run faster than your dial-in)

There are many complex situations that arise from these handicapping rules. What happens if both trucks break out? In this case, the truck that breaks out the least wins. How can someone win if they didn't cross the finish line first? If the other truck breaks out more than you do, or he breaks out and you don't, you win, no matter how much he beat you to the line by. Because of the possibility of breaking out, there are actually many instances where you will hit the brakes to win!

The tree is made up of three major parts. At the top of the tree, you see two sets of double yellow bulbs for each side of the tree (each lane). The top set is called the Pre-Stage bulbs. This is an indicator for the driver that he is approaching (and near) the starting line. The second set is called the Stage bulbs. They indicate that the driver is actually on the starting line, and presumably ready to race.

The next section is the three amber starting signals. In most bracket racing classes and Sportsman classes, these bulbs will light in sequence, a half-second apart. This is called a Full Tree. Some classes, however, use a Pro Tree. A Pro Tree will light all three ambers simultaneously, with a four-tenths of a second delay between them and the green light. We will concentrate just on the workings of the Full Tree.(This is the tree for E.T. Truck)

The last two lights then, of course, are the green and red lights. The green will come on after the amber bulbs if the driver has not left the starting line too soon. Leaving the line before the green light will result in the dreaded red light... a foul start.(automatic loss)

As we said earlier, a Full Tree counts down at half-second intervals. The cycle goes: Amber on, delay, amber off and next bulb on. Here's the important part. The reaction timer starts when the third amber comes on. Since there is a half-second (or .500 seconds) delay until the green light comes on, a .500 reaction time is perfect. (In the same way, the four tenths delay of the Pro Tree makes a .400 a perfect light on that one) Now, the reaction timer stops when the truck leaves the starting line. To understand this better, we must examine the starting line, and how it relates to the Tree.
The Starting Line

The starting line is composed of two pair of photocells, one for each lane. The photocells detect your truck when your tire interupts the light beam that crosses the lane. The Compulink timing system uses infrared beams. The timing system down the track uses a system of beams and reflectors, too. When the beam is complete (ie, the beam is reflected back to its origin), nothing is blocking it. When the cycle is broken, the beam has been interupted, and thus a tire has been sensed.

The two photocells are linked to the Tree: the Pre-Stage, and the Stage lights. When the truck inches forward and blocks the first photocell, the Pre-Stage light comes on, indicating that the driver is close to the starting line. Most tracks have a rollout, or distance between the Pre-Stage and Stage beams of 6-8". The driver can now nudge the truck forward until the tire blocks the Stage beam, thus lighting the Stage bulbs on the Tree. This means that the driver is on the starting line, and is presumably ready to go. The driver also has the option of deep-staging, however, which means he bumps his truck forward even more until the Pre-Stage bulb goes out. This means that his tire has just left the Pre-Stage beam.

Let's go back to the Christmas Tree. We said that each light was a half-second apart, and thus a .500 light was a perfect reaction time. The reaction timer starts when the third amber lights, and stops when the truck's tire leaves the starting line (ie, stops blocking the Stage beam). How does deep-staging affect your reaction times then?

First Yellow is Pre-Stage roll forward until TOP bulb lights and wait for other truck
Second Yellow is Staged.STOP HERE!! until other truck does the same.
Both trucks are now ready to race
First yellow will fall
Second yellow will fall
Third yellow you should be ready to gas on it .There is a fine line between last yellow and green in order to get a good reaction time.

If you leave before the green you will redlight and be disqualified.

RECAP FROM ABOVE:
#1 Pre-stage indicator lights: Small amber bulbs warn drivers that they are approaching the starting line and the staged position. These bulbs are illuminated when the front tires of the truck interrupt a light beam that crosses the lane.
#2. Stage indicator: This signals to the driver that he is on the starting line and ready to run.
#3. Three amber lights starting system: (Outlaw)All three large amber lights flash simultaneously before the green light comes on for a Pro start. The racers that are running in the handicapped bracket (E.T. Truck) get a countdown until the green light comes on.
#4. Green light: Once the green light flashes, the driver is free to make his/her run. Any time that the green light is shown in a racer's lane indicates that a fair start was accomplished.
#5. Red light: When the front wheels of the truck leave the starting line before the green light flashes, or if a driver stages so deep that he/she crosses the starting line, the red light will shine. It indicates that the driver in that lane is disqualified.
Two light beams cross the starting-line area and connect to track side photocells, which are wired to the Christmas Tree and the electronic timers in the control tower. When a truck front tire breaks the first light beam, called the pre-stage beam, the pre-stage light is illuminated on the Christmas Tree to indicate to the racer that he/she is approximately seven inches from the starting line.
When the racer rolls his/her truck forward into the stage beam, the front tires are exactly positioned on the starting line and the stage bulb is lit on the tree, indicating to both racers and to officials that the truck is ready to run. When both trucks are fully staged, the starter will activate the tree and the drivers will turn their attention to the three large amber lights that dominate the center of the Christmas Tree.
Depending on the type of racing, the Christmas Tree either will flash all three large amber lights simultaneously, followed four-tenths of a second later by the green light (called a Pro Tree), or will light the three bulbs consecutively five-tenths of a second apart, followed five-tenths of a second later by the green light (a full tree).
If a driver reacts too quickly and the truck leaves the starting line before the green light flashes, the red foul light will illuminate, signaling disqualification.
Timing Methods: Two separate performances are monitored for each run: the elapsed time and the speed. Upon leaving the staging beams, each vehicle activates an elapsed time clock which is stopped when the same vehicle reaches the finish line. The start to finish clocking is the vehicle's elapsed time, which serves to measure performance. Speed is measured in a 66-foot "speed trap" that ends at the finish line. Each lane is timed independently.
1. Pre-staged beam: A light-source-to-photocell connection (one per lane) triggers the pre-stage beam when the driver is approximately seven inches from the starting line.
2. Stage beam: The beam controls the final staging and timing in each lane. A race cannot be started until both racers are fully staged.
3. Speed Trap & Elapsed Time time-clock beams: The first of these beams is located before the finish line and is used to trigger the speed trap clocks. A second beam is located at the finish line and it shuts off both the speed and elapsed time clocks in addition to triggering a win indicator.

Other disqualifications include leaving the lane boundary (either by crossing the centerline, touching the wall or the guardrail or striking a track fixture, failure to stage, and failure to pass a post-run inspection. A red light is considered worse than a breakout; crossing a lane boundary is worse than a red light, even though it may have occurred after the red light; and all technical disqualifications supersede any on track disqualifications.
Who can compete? Virtually anyone with a valid state drivers license can compete in Elapsed Time drag racing.