Beat by a Corvette at Ennis

[BUCKWHEAT]

Cool day (60 degrees) at Texas Motorplex on Sunday 10/26. Mine was the only Marauder out for the North Texas Muscle Car Challenge. Running a 14.5 dial in, I made it thru two rounds of eliminations beating a Hemi Dodge pickup and a '79 Firebird TA. On both those runs I had to slow down to win. Third round, I ran against a '64 Vette coupe running a 14.0 dial in. He beat me by 0.0342 seconds even tho I ran a 14.533. Gap on the reaction time was 0.038 in his favor. Must have been a senior moment. Oh, well.

[TAF]

Hey...nice runs though! See...she does run mid to lower 14s with simple, bolt-on mods:up:

[Bigdogjim]

Nice job! :)

[cruzer]

Congrats Buckwheat !! Wish I could have been there--family affairs kept me busy--hope to get back to Ennis before the season ends

[rumble]

Hey Buckwheat, GOOD JOB!

[martyo]

Buckwheat: Congrats!

Now, explain to me when you know you need to slow down. I think that's what killed me my last time out.

[BUCKWHEAT]

Martyo, I'm not the bracket racing expert, but this is what the guys say. Slow down at the end of the track when you think you are comfortably ahead. The idea is to avoid a breakout. You only need to cross the finish line first to win, you don't need much margin.

The trick is not to scrup too much speed or the other guy can blow-by-you at the finish line. What I do is pick out a recognizable spot on the wall short of the finish line by about 50 feet. Pick an advertisement painted on the wall or something. Then, if you are ahead, tap the brake while keeping the pedal to the metal. That way when you let up on the brake, you don't lose so much engine momentum.

If your opponent is coming up fast, don't brake, just go for it and hope he breaks out more than you might.

You'll get a feel for the distance. I have done it previously and managed to eliminate myself-arrgh.