Bad job of red lighting?

[flapjack]

So, Langdon cuts a 0.011 RT in the finals. Bad job of red lighting, or was he on it?

 

[Paul]

You can call it whatever you want, he got the win light. It was an awesome side by side race and that's all we can ask for in a final round.

 

[Huge]

It was a great race that's for sure.

 

[Muddy]

He has a history of cutting great lights. Probably due to his super comp and bracket racing background. Like him or not the boy can drive.

 

[sammi]

Unless someone steals AJ's clutch disk supply, you gotta wonder if the other TF guys and girls are fighting now for second place. Never give an expert bracket racer rounds, they will always get better and better on the tree.

 

[flapjack]

I like Langdon, so this wasn't meant as a criticism of him. I just heard Dunn say that his RT might have been a bad job of red lighting and wondered about it. I read the Competition Plus article

http://www.competitionplus.com/drag-racing/news/24167-langdons-hometown-win-evokes-memories

in which Langdon admitted:

Fortunately I didn't mess up that final. I hit the gas and my heart kind of dropped a little. I kind of felt I was a little too early. But you've got to have a little luck.

 

[Paul]

Unless someone steals AJ's clutch disk supply, you gotta wonder if the other TF guys and girls are fighting now for second place. Never give an expert bracket racer rounds, they will always get better and better on the tree.

A little early to be giving them the title. The hottest car in the top 10 after Indy will be the Champ. Look at what has happened to JFR the last 2 yrs, they kicked ass early in the year only to fall flat at the end of the year.

 

[Billy]

Shawn had the best average reaction time of any Top Fuel driver last year. He can be an assassin.

 

[Rajunz]

Also, as Mike Dunn said on the broadcast, when it gets dusk outside, the LED lights on the tree appear a lot quicker, I'm sure that had a lot to do with Shawn's light a well as Jeggie's.

 

[mick]

he is just going on yello

 

[sammi]

I am praying that in my lifetime NHRA will snag a sponsor that is both good for you and doesn't taste awful. My choice would be the NHRA Mocha Frappacino Drag Racing Series.

 

[twostep]

You CANNOT cut an .011 light in a Top Fuel Dragster without guessing. They flat out don't react that quickly. Ask any TF driver.

Which, of course, doesn't take away a thing from Langdon. He's every bit as quick as anyone else and his car wasn't going to be denied. 3.72, wow.

 

[Speed1288]

Live by the sword, die by the sword

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

That comment is my only complaint of Mike Dunn in the booth. He says it often. Sounds like sour grapes on Mikes part. I don't recall if he was a poor leaver or not, but why be so negative Mike, yer better than that.

A .011 light is outstanding, no matter what class, no matter who's driving.

Give credit where credit is due.

 

[Jeff]

There is a driver reaction time, what is it ...roughly 2/10th of a second for your brain to see the light and tell the foot what to do, and have the foot do it?

Then there is the car reaction time ... getting the back edge of the front wheel past the staging beam.

There is not much changing the driver reaction time, some are better, and the best are fast and consistent.

The car reaction time can be significantly different ... I'm going to hazard a guess that the Dote car doesn't have the fastest car reaction time out there.

If Mike thinks (or knows) that the best drivers have a 2/10ths reaction time, and the best cars have a 4/10ths reaction time, then on a 400 pro tree an .011 light is a "bad job of red lighting."

My numbers may be wrong, but that is the concept that Mike is talking about, he's saying that you can't see the light and get the car to go red unless you staged deep (or really left before you saw the light).

The Racepak can tell you the car reaction time .... who knows if Mike's information on this is up to date.

 

[Rollout96]

he is just going on yello

I think I heard that a few times on the telecast. What is the over/under for the season? 100? LOL!!

 

[Larry jr.]

Keeping in mind the guy has been in and around the Super Classes his entire life, and has been driving something since He was about 8 years old.

He just flat tree'd Tony.

 

[twostep]

That comment is my only complaint of Mike Dunn in the booth. He says it often. Sounds like sour grapes on Mikes part. I don't recall if he was a poor leaver or not, but why be so negative Mike, yer better than that.

A .011 light is outstanding, no matter what class, no matter who's driving.

Give credit where credit is due.

He picked up that saying from Warren Johnson, and uses it often. I believe he's thinking "uh oh, you nearly threw away a 3.72 winning run, buddy", rather than being sour on Shawn Langdon. He says exactly the same thing when a PS or PSM cuts a .000 or 001 light, which isn't guessing - those cars and bikes actually react that quickly.

 

[PDQ]

I think that saying was probably right a couple of years back when a good light seemed to be around a 1.00 even some drivers said they guessed at the light when they had a .10 or .20 light. If you waited for the yellow that 1.0 was as good as it got. The tree lights, Better chassis, clutches and computers have shown the savy crew cheifs how to make the car react faster and the driver now has to put more pressure on himself to leave on time with The racing getting so much closer so I don't think Langdon guessed.

 

[Jeff]

On WFO Radio last night Langdon admitted that the "slow tree" this weekend almost bit him. He said the light turned on right as he hit the pedal (e.g. not the other way around).