Thread: Heads Up or Bracket? what do you prefer?

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Man, where are THOSE days?

I think if you are young, those days are still here. When I was 19, I was what?---foolish and irresponsible????? well maybe, but then again I had nothing to lose but my life and/or drivers license. I was unencumbered with age, responsibilities, and personal posessions. ---let me tell you a story---When I was 19, I had just started the first year of a 5 year government sponsored apprenticeship for mechanical engineering. It was 1965--Vietnam for the American kids, hippies, free love--protests--(remember Bob Dylon?) Everybody I knew was strapping their guitar to there back, hitch-hiking to California, living on the beach at Malibu, toking up, San Francisco, Haight-Ashbury---if you are too young to remember it, you have no doubt read about it. All of my family and educated peers said "Don't go!! You would be a fool to give up this wonderfull apprenticeship opportunity". I stayed, and eventually the sixties went past and somewhere between then and now, I got old. Now I could afford to fly first class to San Francisco if I wanted to----but why would I?----Guess what I am trying to say is---the good old days are now---if you have the magic of youth.

Well said

"The Good Old Days are Now"

That's going on my wall. Cheers!

Originally posted by brianrupnow
Most fun I ever had racing was the midnight drags, 3 miles outside of town, out on Cooneys flats. Illegal as hell, 2 cars lined up side by side, quarter mile layed out in white paint across the highway, and a guy about 200 feet out in the middle of the road----points at car on right---points at car on left, throws both hands up and runs for his life to the side of the road. If you see headlights coming the other way, a quick slow down, pull into the correct lane, pray its not the cops.----all the hotrodders from town parked on the sides of the road watching the showdown, ready to split down the nearest sideroad if red lights started flashin. I don't know if it was really as great as my memories make it, or if its just that I was young (19 yrs. old in '65). I went on to sanctioned drag racing at the eastern Ontario drags, even ran the dragster for a short time, but nothing got my blood racing like those old side by side midnight drags. I never could get any enjoyment out of bracket racing---whole idea seemed kind of foolish to me.

we used to drag all over, but my favorite place was when they were putting in interstate 95, through Halifax co., NC in the early 1960. we used the new constructed part of it before they opened it up. best drag strip in the world. I had a 56 chev. with a 396 in it and I think I was the slowest thing there.

ps the fastest thing there was a 1955 chev with a pont. motor in it , dont know the size motor.

Killer .... The good old days ARE now.... I much rather hit the street @ midnight in the middle of nowhere like i used to when I was 19 also. That was only 13 yrs ago ...... It's amazing how many people those midnight races attracted. There were guys from all over showing up and running just about anything that had wheels. eventually the word reached the police.... and well ... that was that.... but it'd sure be nice to do it again.... I enjoy running bracket at the track .... but to me.... nuthin beats the street .....

We had 3 or 4 - 1/4 mile spots marked off. You had to know what to look for to spot the start & finish lines didn't wanna telegraph to everybody where they were. We would skip around from 1 to the other soz' to keep the cops (make that cop .... small town) quessin'. We didn't let it get too out of hand and in return he cut us (just a little) slack. Those days are gone I believe.

Originally posted by pro70z28
We had 3 or 4 - 1/4 mile spots marked off. You had to know what to look for to spot the start & finish lines didn't wanna telegraph to everybody where they were. We would skip around from 1 to the other soz' to keep the cops (make that cop .... small town) quessin'. We didn't let it get too out of hand and in return he cut us (just a little) slack. Those days are gone I believe.

i out run this pont. one night and dint know it was a cop until i stopped to laugh at him. i was 17 and those hand cuffs wont funny. i lived in VA and did most of my racing in NC. he put me in jail in Jackson, NC. that was one and only time i got caught. funny now wont then.

I ran a 70 Chevelle 454 SS (Let's say circa 1970 ..... it was a long time ago) at the 1/8 mi. track we usta' run @ from time to time. The guy trailered it to the track. Rolled it off the trailer pulled the valve covers and set the lifters, set the timing and whatever else, ................. he was at it for awhile...... I drove down with the panel truck, uncorked the headerz', put my indy tires on (They were about 6" shorter than the N-50's for better 1/8 mile gear. Still only ran 1 and 2 through the traps (400 turbo). I got paired up with the Chevelle in time trials so it was heads up. The guy was p.o'd when the big red panel truck whoooopped the Chevelle. HEHEHEHEHE
Then in the first round (E.T.) I ran a small block chevy II. (Not a street car). When I left ..... his tree hadn't even started yet. @ the finish line he blew by me big time. But he broke out. HEHEHE
I wasn't so fortunate in round 2 ....................... I wuz' a spectator for the remainder of the evening................... but .................... I whoooopped the Chevelle.

i was running a ply at the strip one night and i dailed in a 11.0 and i looked at his dial in time wrong. so i thought he was gonna leave first but when the lights came down i was gone, so i kept looking in the mirrow to see where he was, knowing i was gonna brake out, when i got close to the line i let off of it and this ply blew by me at something like 140 mph and i was running about 120 mph and it felt like i was stopped. raced my ownself car from then own and didnt worry about what nobody else had.

I prefer heads up..... And keeping in on the street.
I know I'll probably get flamed for saying that but its true. There is just much more of a rush to run on the streets. Plus it's a great feeling when you cruising back towards the spectators and they are all yelling and giving thumbs up. I've raced at the track only to get et's, its just too boring.

headsup

Originally posted by Stu Cool
I guess I am going against the grain here, I like the brackets. But I agree with J. Robinson, get rid of all the electronics stuff and let the driverers drive mano a mano. I like the brackets because you really have to know your car, and you better cut a good light or you lose. You can have the fun of building a car, going as fast as you can afford, and can still be competitive. You can also build one that does not break a lot of parts trying to get that last hundredth

One of our local tracks has a "No Electronics" bracket class and it is very popular.

Pat

I have always Raced Bracket style put what your car has been running during time trials and run it, sometimes your backing out of the throttle so you don't break out but its alot of fun.
I think throttle stops and delay boxes are not driving the car, but trans brakes and rev limiters I enjoy, they give a better launch.
As far as which type of racing I like the best may just be heads up
but I agree with some of you who said you have to have some cash to compete in heads up, me not so lucky.

Heads-up was always more fun, and on the street was the most exciting. That said, I was a school bus driver, and had to protect that license, so my racing was at the local airports. They used to run brackets one Sunday a month at Oroville, and the airport at Orland was just a mile-square asphalt mat from WWII, and the airport manager was cool as long as you stayed west of the runway - way west.

Brackets were too much work - worrying about breaking out. Heads-up at the Orland airport was the ticket. No money changed hands. It was just friendly competition, and we had a great time.

But man, watching the hedges go by, stoplight dragging the Esplanade in the shotgun seat was great fun! I'm trying to talk my friend into getting his Camaro back on the road. Don't see any of the other old-timers with their original cars, but we still have ours.

I can't get used to the buzz-boxes with the "fart tube" mufflers, but they look like they're having fun. Like said in earlier posts, now is the good old days if you're young. I'm too old, and my car's gotten too valuable to want to race, but it's fun to watch. (Now I've gotta set an example for my kids... the Camaro guy doesn't tell his kids about his racing career of 30+ years ago.)