how does bracket racing work
 

can anyone explain it to me please?

I really don't know very well but the tree is delayed so technically if both people get a .500 reaction time and run the dialed in time, they will cross the finish line at the same time. If you don't react fast enough the other person now has the difference between your two reaction times as an advantage. Then the run as well determines the turn out. If you go under your time your disqualified. If you redlight you are disqualified.

The simplest way to describe it is you set a dial-in time of what you think your car will run, and then you try to get as close to that as you can. Whoever comes closer to their dialin time without going faster or redlighting (R/T faster than .500) wins.

lol, every round I was asking sean and his dad what to do... LOL. The first car I ran was that lt4 trans am, he didn't redlight.

ok so lets see if I have a good idea of it.

I goto the track and inform them I believe my car will run 14.0 now every run I have to be as close to that as possible without being faster so if I ran a 13.9 I would be dqed.

Now all I have done is test and tune nights were r/t does not matter. How does it factor in here since everyone is just sort of racing themselves. I mean if my r/t is 1.6 but I run a perfect 14.0 and say my opponents dial in was 14.0 and he ran a 14.09 but with a .500 r/t would I still win?

Nope just broke out by a couple .01's.:p We had some good races going.:D

Here's a link to one of our local boards that describes the dial-in in some detail although what has already been said is pretty much it for bracket racing.

http://www.racewindsor.com/Articles/dialin.html

Your reaction time plus your dial is call your total package. So if you ran a 14.00 on a 14.00 dial =0 plus your 1.60 reaction = 1.6
Your opponent ran a 14.09 on a 14.00 dial =.09 plus his .500 reaction = .590
He just beat you by 1.01 seconds

I understood it like this...

*You establish the time your car will run (dial-in).
*When you stage, the difference between your dial-in and your opponents dial-in is the amount of time delay on the tree. The slower person will always get the green light first. Once the second person gets his green light, it's all about playing catch up.
*The first person to cross the line at the end of the 1/4 is the winner...as long as he didn't run faster than his dial-in. If he did run faster, than he "broke out" and is disqualified.

Basically, the two variables that your trying to control are your reaction time and the time it takes your car to get through the 1/4. That's why people always say being consistent and having a great reaction time is the secret to winning in bracket racing. :D

It sounds fun. I run fairly consistent all the time I think I will try this.

I like bracket racing :D

usualy this is true, but there is at least one exception. If both drivers break out, the one goes farther from his dial in is DQed, the other one is given the win.

I would also assume that both drivers broke out by the exact same amount, they woudl use another method of determining the winner, such as the one that crossed the line first. Of course the odds of this happening are extremely small...