any old bracket racers on this board?

hey everyone. got a few questions for you bracket guys. i'm not runnin anything special (just a 14 second 72 nova) but i'm lookin for some help. i have two main issues, consistency and getting beat by men with no balls who build trailered bracket cars with slicks and all them fancy bells and whistles and run in sportsman bracket. on the first issue.... i don't have traction problems and i religiously watch my temp gauge, the car is tuned up DECENT.... and when it's really warm it runs fairly consistent but i have problems keeping it consistent through the early rounds since turnaround time is 1-3 hours depending on where i am....

as if it wasn't long enough heres' my second question.....

k i can cover the guys in the street cars, and i can tree all them weenies in their 11 and 12 second cars sandbaggin, but they're so damn consistent it's hard to consistently beat them. i'm lookin for a few sneaky tricks or just any other ideas fore example... i'm workin on wiring up a switch to turn my brake lights on when i'm not on or brakes and also switch the brake lights off completely..... so i can hit the button at half track and throw them for a loop. anything along those lines? ANYTHING will help

First, Buy a FORD. (Sorry I couldn't resist, Just Kidding)
Second, Learn your Car and Learn to drive (or better yet feel) your car. Shit-can the dirty tricks and pay your dues on the track. I know it's not the answer you were looking for but sometimes you gotta learn to get beat before you can win. I had the great fortune to see the legends of drag racing up close and personal during the hay-day of real ingenuity (late 60s thru the 70s) When practice, skill, preparation, and a drive to win where the only real things the drivers could count on. When I was growing up my father owned a pretty infamous Top-Fuel and Performance Fabrication and Machine shop. We made and built everything from the ground up the old fashion way. When National events where in town we were open 24 hours and let the crews and driver use our machine shop for what ever they needed. Sometimes it was to machine blocks and cast new intakes and sometimes to sleep on the couch in the upstairs office. Back then it wasn't uncommon to see our shop lot full of the old pick-ups and RVs of Don Garlitz, Bob Glidden, Shirley Moldowney, Don Prudhomme, Connie Kaletta, etc., etc., etc. It wasn't uncommon to see these folks dragging all the tools they owned in the back of the truck and a top fuel dragster hooked to the truck by way of a Tow-Bar. They would drive half way across the country JUST FOR THE CHANCE TO RACE. Although they were just some drivers and grease monkey mechanics back then when I was a dirty faced kid hanging around my old man's shop listening to all there funny stories and off handed smart ass comments. I got a big kick out being there watching them work and seeing first hand their winning strategies. What made them legends isn't the fact that they won, but how they won. There were a lot of drivers using cheap parlor tricks back then too but, you’ve never heard of THEIR names, and I can't Remember THEIR names.

that's good advice! the thing is i know my car fairly well... not really well haven't had it long enough. i have a decent seat of the pants feel...... i have a run thinkin i had a horrible light and it was only a .55.... not as bad as i thought.... or i think i launched horrible... and my 60s only drop a couple of hun, but i need tricks. (not just dirty tricks) mechanical tricks for consistency...... and hey..... there's nothing wrong with mind games. if it doesnt bother you but the other guy gets good and mad then why not? this bracket things mostly mental anyway, isn't it? i grew up racin juniors, and my life has been consumed with racing and nothing elsse for a long time, i just don't know enough about cars, and keepin them consistent.

Do you have an automatic???

Powerglide or Turbo 350 work well towards consistency.

Also, a one-use throttle stop works too, for your launch. You tag it once and it releases to allow full throttle once you are off.

If you are running a Turbo 350, trans fluid temp has an effect on consistent times. Install a trans temp gauge and monitor its temp and adjust accordingly. ALWAYS run the trans at full operating temp. That way, if the other guy stalls at the line and you get a by-run, the waiting-to-go doesn't heat your tranny past where you know its consistent.

Things that make you NOT consistent: fuel coolers, ice on intake, ram air, adjusting tire pressure between heats (set when you get there and leave them alone), adjustable fuel pressure regulators (that hole on top is a vent to atmosphere, and when the track temp/pressure changes, so does your fuel pressure), wearing different shoes every weekend, different amounts of fuel in tank, those cheeseburgers you had for lunch (okay, just kidding, but you are getting the idea)

Dirty tricks make you just that, DIRTY.

I would rather have Honor and Respect than trophies. If I wanted a trophy that bad, I'd go buy one with my winnings.

Some very good points have been brought up allready on temps, and fuel pressure. The only thing I can say is quit racing the other guy and race your own dial in. If you do the things the same way every round, and your car is consistant, it doesn't matter what the other guy is dialed in at as long as you can run your dial in. Once your procedure and consistency is establised the only thing left to work on is reaction time and staging. Try to get "into the beams" the same amount every time you stage the car, this will make your 60 foot times more consistent, and after a lot of passes you will learn how much you can "crowd" the light and your reaction times will improve. Get a "practice tree" and work on it. If you can run on your dial in and get good on the tree, you then become the car the others have to beat. Leave the cheap tricks home, they don't work anyway when you are up against experienced bracket racers, cause they don't watch your car. Practice, practice, practice. Run as often as you can, brackets, gamblers race, grudge night, time trials, the more passes you make the more methodical you will become and the better bracket racer you are.

thanks again guys. i guess i didn't give completely enough info though...
my lights are fine, i could compete in pro bracket with the lights i cut most of the time... except that i have the largest collection of .495 to .499 time slips you've ever seen. i stage very consistently, so slowly that i usualy flicker the bottom bulb before i go in. no offense guys.... but i've hard that don't pay attention to the other guy thing a lot.... but never from anyone who wins a lot of races. the guys who win are the ones who do, and drive the other end really well. i don't see how pullin a few sneaky tricks are so bad, like if the other guy wants to stage last, then i sit there all day (no slicks, so i'll let theirs get nice and cold while i sit here and get relaxed....) anything like what mr. streets said above, about trans temp and what not
and thanks streets.... for the fuel cooler thing... i actualy was goign to put one on FOR consitency lol

one more question... set the tires when i get to the track and leave them?

i set them every pass, but i set them to the same pressure, don't change them. isn't that good..... by my logic anyway... but my logic is usually wrong so that doesn't mean anything

I think you DID here it from a Few Guys THAT HAVE won ALOT ! (in the above threads) Good Luck, It sounds like you've got it all figured out, You should be "wuppen up " on Dixon, Force and Scelzi any day now.

dang man... not sayin i'm great or anything... but i'm no duck.

Hang in There !

Use a log book, summit gives them away, Take excellent notes in it, from EVERY run.... bring a barometer, and a thermometer, in a few months you will be able to look in the book to dial your car. Pick your spot on the tree and adjust accordingly. Find what works and STICK with it. watch the guys you will be racing, pay attention to how and when they stage etc... and then you still have to be good and LUCKY.... LUKE

Dave S. said it best run as much as you can. Time trial weekends are the best way to learn your Hot Rod -- practice,practice,practice.
Run your own race and don't think about the in the other lane.
Hope this helps.

Lon