I used to race my car at Beaver Springs almost every Friday night for 7 years, 2008-2014. I had to give it up for reasons I don't want to go into, but I keep the memories alive by looking back at all the pictures, videos and records I kept. I'm kind of a compulsive record keeper. I have spreadsheets for everything.

As a bracket racer I always appreciated how important it was to cut a good light. If you win at the tree the race should be yours unless you screw up at the stripe. At least that's the way I always looked at it. So I pulled up the sheet with all my round runs on it and did some ciphering.

I disregarded the 25 bye runs I made as there is no winning at the tree on them. Always everyone's favorite opponent good ole Mr Byron. I have records for 163 rounds I ran against actual opponents. 85 times I had the better R/T and got the win. 41 times I was later at the tree and lost the race. So in my eyes 77% of the time the winner at the tree was the winner of the race.

There were 23 times when I had the better light but managed to lose the race anyways. About a half dozen of these were due to some mechanical failure on my car during the pass. Usually it was the T5 complaining about running behind a 408. It made it's displeasure known by shredding gears and breaking inputs on occasion. A few of them were due to me not getting good traction and therefore not being able to cover my dial. Most however were races that were there for me to take but I gave them away by taking too much stripe and running out. That was always my biggest weakness.

On the other side of the coin there were 14 times when I was beaten at the tree but still managed to get the win. That's a tough way to go as you need the opponent to make a mistake or there's really nothing you can do. Some of them were when he had mechanical failures as those things tend to even out. I distinctly remember running the class big dog once and he had the much faster car so I was watching him close on me near the end when he suddenly started to fall back, handing me the win. He told me later he thought he had enough nitrous for one more run but it turned out he only had enough for 3/4 of a run.

If I were asked for advice for a beginning bracket racer I'd say two things. First get all the seat time you can and really concentrate on cutting good lights. As mentioned above it's the most important thing you can do to increase your win percentage. Secondly I say to over tire your car. You want to be able to hook consistently even when track conditions are less than perfect. If you can count on getting good hook every time you should run a consistent number which makes dialing in easy. Cut a good light and run your number and the win lights will be there. Even if you suck at driving the stripe like I did.

OK, I'm done rambling for now. I just like reminisce about the good old days same as any other old fart.