What is the Challenge at Countyline Dragway Drag Racing Series?
It has happened to all of us. You stop at a light in your nice clean shiny deep breathing
Corvette and look at the car next to you. All of a sudden you feel like Kenny
Bernstein staring down John Force as you each wait for the light to go green. It goes green and you are off. Then you realize you want to do this all the time and legally. So where do you go? What do you do? How do you compete? The Countyline Dragway Challenge Series is the answer.
Bracket Racing
Drag racing is simple to figure out. You line up next to someone, wait for the light to go green and drive as hard and fast as you can for 1/8 mile. Whoever gets to the finish line first wins. This model is simple until you figure out that if you modify a car and spend just a little more money on it, then you will always win. This scenario or "flaw" opens the door for Bracket Racing. Bracket Racing is when you drag race against an opponent you each are racing in your "bracket" so to speak. This bracket is also called a "dial-in". Basically each driver has to honestly predict what amount of elapsed time (ET) is needed for the car to travel the 1/8 mile. To keep it honest, you cannot go faster than you predict or you lose in what is called a "breakout". What this does is equalize the cars and shifts the race to the driver's ability to predict a time and react to the starting lights.
The Tree
The starting lights are affectionately called the "Christmas Tree" because there are so many lights and in varying colors. The car with the slower dial in will be given a head start. The faster car will have to wait for his Christmas tree until the slower car has made up the difference in the dial-in ET. Example. I dial my car in at 13.50 seconds and my opponent at 12.50 seconds. My opponent is 1 second faster than I so I will get a 1 second head start. That means if we do everything the same we will cross the finish line at the same time.
Reaction Time
The amount of time it takes for the driver and his car to react to the green light is where you can win your race. If it takes you one half (.50) second to react to the tree, and your opponent takes 1 full second ( 1.00), then you will be .50 quicker to the finish line. This, in a nutshell, is Bracket Racing. There are many lessons to learn but the key takeaway for now is that the fastest car will not win. The better driver will win. Which is how you and I can play in multimillion-dollar sport that Bernstein and Force play without going broke.
Schedule of Events
See schedule on the top left of this page or visit Countyline Dragway, Miami, FL for details. Drivers will be featured on our web page until the next event. You will also may win prizes. Then you can come back to the next event and try all over again. It is that simple. Come out race, play, and watch and have fun.
Spectators and supporters are welcome.
You can come out to meet new people, watch the racing and friendly competition. Many drivers bring their spouses for support or even their entire families. Clubs bring members to race and members to cheer, support and maybe even engage in a little friendly "trash talking". Even owners who choose not to race still bring their cars to support the Series.
This is what the Countyline Dragway Challenge is about. We hope that you can make it to at least one of our events if not all in the future.
Attendance
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modified: December 31, 1969 - 7:00 pm
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